The Harpsichord in J. S. Bach's Time

J. S. Bach: Concerto D Minor BWV 987
Grave/Presto/Grave/Presto/Grave 2:24; Un poco allegro 2:24; Adagio 0:27; Vivace 1:11

F. W. Zachow: Suite B Minor
Allemande 3:43; Courante 2:00; Sarabande 1:46; Fuga Finalis 1:49

J. Krieger: Fantasia è Partita in C
Fantasia 3:19; Allemande 3:54; Corrente 1:15; Sarabande 2:13; Gigue 2:09

J. Chr. Bach: Prelude and Fugue E flat Major
Präludium 1:56; Fuge 2:34

J. H. Buttstedt: Suite F Major
Allamand 2:38; Courant 1:29; Sarabanda 2:11; Air and double 1:02; Menuet 1:14

J. Kuhnau: Suonata Quinta E Minor
I 2:17; II 3:00; III 1:48; IV 1:45

J. Pachelbel: Arietta F Major
Airetta (with 9 variations) in F Major 8:14

J. Ph. Krieger: Passacaglia in d
Passacaglia in d 10:05

Total time 69:43

Claudia Schweitzer, Harpsichord

Information is scarce about German harpsichord building of the seventeenth century,
and therefore also about the instrumentarium that German harpsichordists
around 1700, i.e., that the young Bach and his contemporaries had at their disposal.
Among the surviving instruments from this time is a single-manual, unsigned instrument
from Thuringia that was built around 1715 and is today found in the collection
of the Bachhaus in Eisenach (inventory number 177). Its structural and tonal characteristics
point back to the seventeenth century. A distinctive feature of this sort of instrument
is an acoustic conception incorporating two soundboards, which explains
the astonishing volume of the relatively small instrument. The tonal character is dark
and lacking in overtones, and, since the plucking point of the strings is substantially
shifted toward the middle due to the double soundboard, reminiscent of the virginal
and lute.
The copy of this instrument used on the present recording is from the workshop of
Jürgen Ammer (1993). It has a compass of G1– d3, two 8’ registers and a buff stop.
The principle of double soundboards would seem to be a characteristic of earlier
German harpsichords, and is found already on the earliest preserved instrument by
Hans Müller (Leipzig, 1557). In the Thuringian region it appears again during the
Bach era as a miniature in the puppet collection „Mon plaisir“ of the Arnstadt countess
Auguste Dorothea von Schwarzburg-Arnstadt. To be seen there is a replica of
a harpsichord that may have been played by Johann Sebastian Bach and his uncle
Johann Christoph Bach.
On the present recording are to be heard works from Central Germany, whose composers
were familiar with the tonal character of instruments from this tradition of
harpsichord building.
Other release with Claudia Schweitzer: Sonatas op. 1 by Genovieffa Ravissa
(M 56865, first recording).