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Martin Elste, From Landowska to Leonhardt, from Pleyel to Skowroneck: historicizing the harpsichord, from stringed organ to mechanical lute, Early Music, Volume 42, Issue 1, February 2014, Pages 13–22, https://doi.org/10.1093/em/cau009
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Abstract
There is a tendency to dismiss early 20th-century harpsichords as inferior to the supposedly faithful reproduction of historical harpsichords made during the second half of the century. This belief in an organological progress in harpsichord-making does not, however, do justice to the makers and players; during the first half of the 20th century, Wanda Landowska’s notion of the harpsichord and of playing it shaped the acknowledged standard of harpsichord playing, based on the idea of the harpsichord as a ‘stringed organ’ rather than as the predecessor of the pianoforte. During the 1950s, Gustav Leonhardt, along with some other performers, departed from this idea: for them, the harpsichord was based not just on objectivity, but also on the idea of the harpsichord as a ‘mechanical lute’. This shift replaced the previous emphasis on richness in instrumental colours with a focus on touch. These musicians found allegedly original evidence in surviving instruments and in copies of them. There was thus a second revival of the harpsichord and harpsichord playing, which had very little to do with the first. Gustav Leonhardt was to become the leading figure in the early years of the second revival.
