From Avery <avery1@houston.rr.com>
Personally, after doing a little research, there seems to be quite a
bit of difference between the two!
Avery
Doesn't look like any 'harpsichord' we have! :-)
Avery Todd
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The virginal uses the same plucking action as the harpsichord, but it
is oblong rather than wing shaped and the keyboard is in the long
side. In this regard, it resembles the clavichord in shape. The
virginal has one string per note running parallel to the keyboard and
its range is approximately four octaves. The name virginal
supposedly comes from the fact that young ladies usually played this
instrument and possibly due to a reflection on Queen Elizabeth I, the
Virgin Queen, who reigned at the time. It is more popular than the
harpsichord in northern Europe.
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The early English instruments were mostly virginals, and a great many
survive. The virginal is similar to the harpsichord, but smaller, and
with the keyboard arrangement on the side instead of the end. The are
generally disposed 1x8', and have a range of C/E-c''. Important also
in the Italian and Flemish schools, the virginal in England was the
instrument of royalty as well as burgher, and it has a considerable
literature designated for it. The keyboard can be placed to the left,
the center, or the right, the last of which is called a muselar and
has a distinctive flutey sound.
[]
Virginal
Plucked stringed keyboard instrument of the 16th and 17th centuries,
often called 'virginals' or 'a pair of virginals' in England, where
the term was applied to any quilled keyboard instrument well into the
17th century. The virginal is rectangular or polygonal in shape and
is distinguished from the
<http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0016355.html>harpsichord
and
<http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0018173.html>spinet
by its strings being set at right angles to the keys, rather than
parallel with them.
The most likely explanation of the name is that the instrument was
often played by girls. There are several manuscript collections of
virginal music by English composers, including The Fitzwilliam
Virginal Book, My Ladye Nevells Booke, Will Forster's Book, Benjamin
Cosyn's Book, and Elizabeth Rogers's Book.