When the fortepiano replaced the harpsichord at the end of the 18th century, many valuable harpsichords by renowned makers were burned as firewood. For example, of the 1155 harpsichords originally built by the famous English workshop Shudi, only 50 still exist today.

As the fortepiano could play loudly and softly, it offered more expressive possibilities than the harpsichord with its constant metallic sound. In the 1780s, English harpsichord makers sought an answer to the new competition by giving the harpsichord more timbres and volume variation through technical innovations such as
1. plucks made of two-layer pieces of leather, which made the strings sound as if they were being plucked with a finger,
2. damping of the strings with felt,
3. shifting the plucking point of the string,
4. wooden slats above the soundboard that could be opened and closed with a pedal (Venetian swell).

In England, harpsichords with a particularly full, powerful sound with a lot of reverb were preferred. English harpsichord makers succeeded in softening the metallic sound while still retaining fullness and power. In this piece of music, I have experimentally blended lute and harpsichord and find that the result is particularly close to the soft-sounding registers of the English Shudi harpsichords shortly before the instrument disappeared.


[Instrumental]