Italian Harpsichord

This was the most widely used instrument throughout much of Europe for the improvisation of basso continuo and for accompaniment in general - indeed, such operatic composers as Monteverdi, Vivaldi, and Alessandro Scarlatti prized the immediacy and 'speaking' qualities of these instruments, which were light in construction but big in sound. Equally significant, however, was the instrument's long and glorious pedigree as a vehicle for solo performance by some of the greatest virtuosi of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, including Girolamo Frescobaldi, Bernardo Pasquini, and, of course, Domenico Scarlatti.