Clavier‐Büchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725

Harpsichord music is the body of solo and ensemble repertoire written for the plucked‑keyboard instrument that dominated European art music from the Renaissance through the Baroque. Its sound—produced by quills plucking strings—lacks sustain, which shaped a highly articulated style built on counterpoint, dance rhythms, figuration, and ornamental nuance. National idioms emerged: the Italian toccata and variation tradition, the English Virginalists’ song- and dance-derived pieces, the French clavecinistes’ agréments-rich character pieces and dance suites, and the German synthesis of contrapuntal rigor and stylus fantasticus. In the 20th century the instrument was revived for historically informed performance and new works, and its timbre migrated into popular styles such as baroque pop.