Baroque Keyboard Instruments

Keyboard Instruments of the

Baroque Period

During the Baroque period, there were a number of musical instruments in regular use that are rarely seen today outside of museums or university music schools.

Among these were three now-obsolete keyboard instruments, including:

• Virginal• Clavichord• Spinet

But before we take a look at these obsolete Baroque keyboard instruments,

here are two that survived.

The HarpsichordThe harpsichord was in wide use from the

late Renaissance through the

late Baroque. It produces sound

by plucking a metal string when a key is

pressed.

Larger harpsichords have two manuals (keyboards) which

enable them to play loud, using one

keyboard, and soft using the other,

enabling terraced dynamics.

Nowadays, the sound of the harpsichord can be approximated by using an electronic keyboard.

Listen to this example of the same music played on an electronic keyboard using a synthesized harpsichord

sound. Can you hear the difference?Musical Example 2

Listen to this example of the sound of a harpsichord.

The music is Johann Sebastian Bach’s Two-Part Invention No. 1

in C Major.Musical Example 1

The other keyboard instrument that was in wide

use during the Baroque period that is still in use today

is the Pipe Organ. Listen to this excerpt of

J. S. Bach’s “Little Fugue” in G Minor performed on

a pipe organ.Musical Example 3A fugue is a type of

polyphonic work in which multiple voices (usually 4)

enter one at a time, imitating each other.

This is a reproduction of a 17th century Spinet, a smaller version of the Harpsichord.

Here is a short video that

demonstrates the sound and

appearance of a Virginal.

Musical Example 4

Here is a picture of a Clavichord. Listen to this excerpt from J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations,

performed on a Clavichord: Musical Example 5

Baroque Keyboard Instrument Review:

Instruments Still Widely Used Today:Harpsichord, Pipe Organ

Instruments No Longer Commonly Used:Virginal, Spinet, Clavichord

Listen now to a performance of the same music (the “aria” or theme from

J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations) played on a modern piano.

Musical Example 6Notice how the piano has much more capability

for subtle shade of tone color and dynamic (volume) control.

For this reason, the piano gradually replaced the harpsichord toward the end of

the Baroque period.