WHAT ARE HISTORICAL KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS?

Keyboard instruments, as the name suggests, are musical instruments which are played by means of a keyboard--that is, the pitches to be sounded are selected by means of a set of levers (the keyboard), which is manipulated by the fingers, hands, or feet of the player. Under the fingers and/or feet of a sensitive performer, the keyboard may also be used to control dynamics, phrasing, shading, and other elements of expression, depending on the design and inherent capabilities of the instrument.
Keyboard instruments fall principally into two distinct categories: stringed instruments (pianos, harpsichords, clavichords, etc.) and wind instruments (organs, harmonia, regals, accordions, etc.). Other types of keyboard instruments include celestas (struck metal bars), carillons (tower chimes), and non-acoustic instruments, such as the various electronic organs, synthesizers, and keyboards which were designed to imitate the sound of acoustic keyboard instruments.

The most familiar keyboard instrument of our time (disregarding the various electronic instruments of relatively recent invention) is the piano, with which virtually everyone is familiar. However, many are surprised to learn that the modern piano is actually only the current end product of a long period of evolution, dating back to the first years of the 18th century. In its current form it is a product of the 20th century, and is far removed in both sound and appearance from the "pianos" of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. In fact, the modern piano is significantly different from even the 19th-century pianos of Liszt, Chopin, and Brahms. While it is fine to play music of these composers on our modern piano or organ, it must be remembered that the resulting sound, as well as the technique used to produce it, will be different from what would have been experienced in the composer's own time.

It is that difference which defines the concept of "historical" keyboard instruments. A growing movement to re-create music of earlier times (i.e. music of antiquity through that composed in the early years of the 20th century), in as authentic a manner as is possible, has flourished in the 20th century. When we wish to create such an authentic performance today, we must employ an instrument similar to that which would have been utilized by the composer. Historical keyboard instruments, then, are instruments of types which composers of earlier times might have employed in performances of their own music. In a practical sense, these might be genuine antique instruments, or modern instruments built in the style of the antiques.