Four Centuries of Great Music July 20, 2025 Pedal Harpsichord

Today on Four Centuries of Great Music I will be playing music  performed on pedal  harpsichords.  I was unfamiliar with the concept of the pedal harpsichord until last Sunday’s Evening Eclectic conversation with Matthew Aubin conductor of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra about his new album Fernande Decruck-Concertante Works Vol. 2.  
Fer-nan deh-croohk

One of the pieces on that album was Les Trianons, suite for harpsichord  and orchestra.  Matthew Aubin stated that the harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani needed a pedal harpsichord, which they had to search for.  So that stimulated my curiosity in this musical instrument I had not heard about before.   Hence, today’s episode of Four Centuries of Great Music.

There are two forms of harpsichords with pedals, the design from the German baroque,  which is true pedal harpsichord and the 20th century design which uses the pedal as stops (the functions of which will be discussed later).  

Both the piano and the harpsichord are keyboard instruments with each key associated with a note.  The principal difference  between these instruments is the mechanism of activating the string.  The piano uses hammers to bang the string when the key is depressed by the player, while the harpsichord uses  a complicated mechanism for a plectrum (like a guitar pick) to pluck the string as the key is depressed.  

This mechanism provides a fundamental difference between the instruments.  In the piano (short term for its proper name pianoforte) the power of the striking of the string depends upon how forcefully the key is depressed.  Lightly striking the key produces a quiet tone (piano), while forcefully striking the key produces a loud tone (forte).  And thus the proper name for the instrument, pianoforte.  On a harpsichord the string is plucked the same amount no matter how hard to hit the key.  Therefore, volume of the sound cannot be controlled in that way.  It can be changed slightly in another way I will talk about later.

In both instruments the strings are arranged by pitch.  In a 88 key piano there are usually 230 string with lower (base) notes having a single thicker wound and longer string per note, the middle range notes having 2 to 3, narrower and shorter strings per note  and upper notes having 3 even narrower and shorter strings per note.  The narrower strings require a greater number of strings produce a more full richer tone quality.  

The harpsichord has strings of varying pitch arranged in choirs or ranks, most commonly an 8 foot choir and 4 foot choir.  This terminology is derived organ terminology, specifically from organ pipe lengths.  The lowest C note on the keyboard is the based upon the C of the 8 foot pipe on an organ.  The 4 foot choir adds string tuned to an octave above.  Adding choirs or ranks give the harpsichord a more richer, fuller sound. There are knobs called stops (also terminology from the organ) which are used to change the timbral characteristics of the tone.  One function of these stops can determine which of the different choirs or ranks are activated.

And rarely there will be a 16 foot choir or rank which is set to an octave below the 8 foot choir.

Adding additional keyboards to a harpsichord adds more of these choirs or ranks, so adds more strings and complexity of the timbre of the sound.  And by adding additional keyboards you can also slightly add to the volume of the instrument.

Instead of adding a keyboard to be manually operated, one can add foot pedals as a “keyboard” to add choirs or ranks to the sound.  Organists who needed to practice music with a pedal part in the music could also purchase this specially-designed pedal  harpsichord with pedals for the feet instead of regular keys. This pedal unit would be aligned below the regular instrument to match the layout of an organ’s manual and pedal keys.

Organ practice in churches was difficult.  Scheduling the church sanctuary was often a problem.  Also some willing collaborator had to be found, and paid, to pump the organ. And the church could be very cold in winter. Therefore  the purchase of these pedal harpsichords were most common among organists which allowed them to practice in the warmth of their own home.

As mentioned before,  there is a 20th century redesign of the harpsichord using the robustness of piano technology first developed by the French piano company Pleyel. This redesign, which kept the traditional plucking of the strings but with more robust components, was done under the direction of Wanda Landowska, who in the early 20th century launched the harpsichord revival. This redesign patented in 1912 allowed for a greater volume of the instrument so it had sufficient power to be heard in a concert hall.  And this added robustness of the instrument allowed for it to withstand frequent moving.  This new design moved the stops from the manual to pedals.   So this harpsichord has pedals but strictly speaking it is not a pedal harpsichord.

Today I will be including recordings using pedal harpsichord designed in the baroque period.  And there will be one recording using the 20th century harpsichord design.

Johann Sebastian BACH:  Toccata in f-sharp minor, BWV 910        12:54
Isolde Ahlgrimm, Ammer pedal-harpsichord 
Johann Sebastian BACH:  Six Harpsichord Toccatas
The Bach Collection

Johann Sebastian BACH:  Passacaglia & Fugue in C minor BWV 582    
Isolde Ahlgrimm, Ammer pedal-harpsichord
Passacaglia, Fugue and Fantasy
The Bach Collection

Johann Sebastian BACH: Toccata & Fugue in d minor, BWV 565    
Nicholas Danby, Feldberg pedal-harpsichord
BACH in WEIMAR: Works for Organ and Pedal-harpsichord
The Bach Collection


Johann Sebastian BACH: Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue BWV 903        
Isolde Ahlgrimm, Ammer pedal-harpsichord
Passacaglia, Fugue and Fantasy
The Bach Collection

Francis Poulenc:  Concert champetre -  I. Adagio - Allegro molto
Francis Poulenc:  Concert champetre -  II.  Andante
Francis Poulenc:  Concert champetre -  III.  Finale- Presto
Wanda Landowska, harpsichord with Leopold Stokowski & Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra
A Treasury of Concert Performances, Vol. 1
Music and Arts Programs Records



FERNANDE DECRUCK: Les Trianons, suite pour clavecin et orchestre - I. Allegro moderato
FERNANDE DECRUCK: Les Trianons, suite pour clavecin et orchestre - II. Andante
FERNANDE DECRUCK: Les Trianons, suite pour clavecin et orchestre - III. Allegro     

MAHAN ESFAHANI,  harpsichord
Jackson Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matthew Aubin
Fernande Decruck-Concertante Works Vol. 2 
Claves Records


Prelude & Fugue in C Major, BWV 547        
Lionel Rogg, Feldberg pedal-harpsichord
BACH AND BUXTEHUDE
The Bach Collection