# Baroque Music: Harpsichord or Piano?



## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Do you prefer baroque music to have a harpsichord or piano?


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

Haven't we had this discussion (numerous times) before? I think the consensus was that it doesn't matter as long as the performance is genuine and in good faith.


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## BabyGiraffe (Feb 24, 2017)

Portamento said:


> I think the consensus was that it doesn't matter as long as the performance is genuine and in good faith.


Harpischords lack dynamics, right? And the timbre is harsher with higher overtones.
I guess more sensitive ears would prefer pianos.


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## flamencosketches (Jan 4, 2019)

Trick question, because I prefer the vast majority of Baroque music on a harpsichord, but with JS Bach, the greatest of all Baroque composers by a very wide margin in my eyes, I prefer piano. Nevertheless I voted harpsichord.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I prefer the harpsichord, although I love Bach's music on piano also. What I do find problematic is modern strings for baroque music - just sounds all wrong to me.


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## classical yorkist (Jun 29, 2017)

Only on harpsichord for me or clavichord. Never, ever piano.


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## Guest (Jun 10, 2019)

I didn't vote - I like both. In an ensemble, I prefer the harpsichord. For solo pieces, I prefer piano.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I prefer the piano. Harpsichord in smaller doses only, with a spacious sound, or with a concertante role in ensembles.
Becham's well-known dictum did have a point ...


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## Open Book (Aug 14, 2018)

We talking about solo harpsichord or harpsichord as an accompaniment?


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

In ensembles I prefer harpsichord, for solo works I like the two about equally.


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## Schoenberg (Oct 15, 2018)

Piano reigns superb for Bach, however for all other baroque composers I don't have a preference, as long as the harpsichord is in A440.
For all ensemble music and for continuo, I strongly prefer harpsichord.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I tend to prefer the harpsichord for more virtuosity based pieces, the piano for more tender pieces, and for moodier stuff I think each one is great in its own way. The harpsichord is too nasally and abrasive to me for something like the 13th fugue of book 1, or the 9th of book 2, but it's beautifully haunting for something like the 2nd fugue of book 2, and it gives teeth to something like the French Overture in a way that a piano just can't for me. Or even listen to the opening of the fantasia - I don't feel like a piano could express the vigor of that piece as well as the harpsichord.


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## Rogerx (Apr 27, 2018)

Does both count?


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## Xisten267 (Sep 2, 2018)

Harpsichord (or clavichord). Sounds more authentic to me.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Harpsichord - I love that sound.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

A piano is a bit like a big clavichord, so in principle I can’t see a problem with putting music which will work on clavichord onto a piano. 

When a musician tries to put music written for harpsichord on a piano, should s/he use piano effects? Large dynamic changes to draw listeners’ attention to a short phrase, rather than agogic hesitations, for example. Or is that in some sense disrespectful, just as (eg) altering the notes is sometimes said to be disrespectful. It’s a question about professional ethics, not about what you find enjoyable to hear. 

What do you do if the music needs two keyboards?


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

Mandryka said:


> It's a question about professional ethics, not about what you find enjoyable to hear.


I disagree, because assuming to know what a composer would or wouldn't approve of is conjecture. What we can go by is what gives the listener pleasure.

"Pleasure is the law" 
Claude Debussy

"The purpose of harmony is to give pleasure." 
Joseph Fux, _Gradus Ad Parnassum_


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