The document discusses keyboard instruments from the Baroque period, including three that are now obsolete: the virginal, spinet, and clavichord. It also covers two instruments that are still used today: the harpsichord and pipe organ. Examples of music played on each instrument are provided to illustrate their distinct sounds. The harpsichord was widely used in the Baroque era but was later replaced by the piano, which allows for more nuanced tone and volume.

1. Keyboard Instruments
of the
Baroque Period

2. 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.

3. The Harpsichord
The 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.

4. Larger harpsichords
have two manuals
(keyboards) which
enable them to play
loud, using one
keyboard, and soft
using the other,
enabling terraced
dynamics.

5. 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

6. 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 3
A fugue is a type of
polyphonic work in which
multiple voices (usually 4)
enter one at a time, imitating
each other.

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

8. Here is a short
video that
demonstrates the
sound and
appearance of a
Virginal.
Musical Example 4

9. 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

10. Baroque Keyboard Instrument Review:
Instruments Still Widely Used Today:
Harpsichord, Pipe Organ
Instruments No Longer Commonly Used:
Virginal, Spinet, Clavichord

11. 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 6
Notice 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.