Author Description

"The organ was developed in Roman times, but its value was appreciated afresh during the Renaissance in the Low Countries. The virginal and harpsichord emerged more recently. The first references to Antwerp harpsichord makers date from the early sixteenth century, but between 1560 and 1660 Antwerp was known as the undisputed world capital of harpsichord making. When an organist pulls out all the stops, the sound can fill a cathedral just like an orchestra. Nevertheless, in the domestic setting of a salon, a virginal or harpsichord was able to enchant listeners in a different way, drawing them along with cadences of warm, mellifluous sound. Artists in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries tried to express this magic through their paintings"--