Clavecin

As Printed on a Score

French for harpsichord, labelling its two keyboard staves in French scores and naming whole books of keyboard music (Pièces de clavecin). In Baroque ensemble scores it often has no staff of its own: it reads the figured bass line (basse continue) and realizes the harmony from the figures.

Abbreviations: Clav.

How Composers Use It

Plucked strings give a crisp attack and quick decay, and touch cannot make it louder or softer: contrast comes from registration, from adding or thinning notes, and from ornament. Couperin and Rameau published Pièces de clavecin with careful ornament tables, and Falla and Poulenc revived it with concertos in the 1920s. It is easily covered, so keep the texture light around it.

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