Harpsichord

As Printed on a Score

Labels a two-stave keyboard part (Harpsichord, Hpsd. later). In Baroque scores the instrument often has no staff of its own: it reads the figured bass line marked Continuo or Basso continuo, and an editor’s realization may be printed in small notes above it.

Abbreviations: Hpsd., Hpschd., Hpsch.

How Composers Use It

Plucked strings give a crisp attack and no touch dynamics; contrast comes from registration, from thickening or thinning the texture, and from ornament. In Baroque music it is the harmonic engine of the continuo; in twentieth-century concertos by Falla and Poulenc it is a colour in its own right. It is easily covered, so keep the accompaniment light around it.

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