Harpsichords: The epitome of elegance or painful noisemakers?

Like skeletons fucking on a tin roof. There's a reason the piano replaced it.

They really are the Theremins of the Romantic era.

They’re wonderful when used in the right conditions...they have to be well-built and maintained (no, your DIY Zuckermann kit version doesn’t apply)...they have to be played by someone who understands them ( just because you play some other keyboard instrument does not a harpsichordist make you)...they have to play the appropriate repertoire. They’re incredibly finicky, need constant regulation, and the fact that the strings are plucked, rather than struck, means they go out-of-tune constantly. (The first thing they teach you in music school is how to tune them, which is no small feat.) There are few things more beautiful than Bach’s Brandenburg Concerti when played correctly. Listen to the harpsichord obligatory in the Brandenburg No. 5 (link below) snd see if it changes your mind.

Obligatory = Obligato

Harpsichords have two places: Serious music and enjoyment of the Addams Family theme and interludes. For the former, no other instrument can replace the harpsichord (the pieces being written FOR HARPSICHORD and for the latter one, the instrument's capacity for humor rather than punctilious tink-tink-tik that sounds like a Pomeranian clicking toenails on the parquet and yipping how it wants to go out.

Grow up, OP. It's not like it's a tenor saxophone.

For those who think the harpsichord must yield to the piano, here's the Carter concerto with both.

The epitome of elegance is the accordion.

The harpsichord is great as a continuo instrument with cello accompanying voice or other solo instrument. It also is enjoyable in a chamber orchestra.

Tori makes it work.

The Partridge Family did, too.

[quote]Like skeletons fucking on a tin roof. There's a reason the piano replaced it.

You and I travel to the beat of a different drum