Harpsichord, instrument of death?

 

A lone driver in an orange Lamborghini weaves around the bends of the Great St Bernard Pass, Italy. Above an echoing bass guitar and shimmering strings, MaMonro wistfully sings "On Days Like These" (Quincy Jones) while the jangle of a stuttering harpsichord seems t underscore the song with menace. Blithely oblivious to the musical warning, he drives on. Most know what happens next. The car hits a bulldozer strategically placed in an Alpine tunnel by the Mafia. Of course it's the opening of the film The Italian Job (1969).

I was starting to continue the espionage blog theme with further posts, but I too seem to have detoured on one of those meandering Apine bends into the world of the harpsichord. I began wondering why Its iconic sound was so common in the 1960s in British film and TV: the Gothic, the arcane, the murder mystery, the unusual, the baroque, the grotesque, tales of espionage, tales of romanticised intrigue in middle Europe. Other instruments were used for similar effect. Much earlier, The Third Man (1949) used the Zither for the trans-Danubian ambience of the “Harry Lime theme”. Its mysterious sound maybe set the scene for similar musical associations long before the big harpsichord revival of the sixties.

The harpsichord had its origins in Italian keyboard instruments from the 14^th Century, becoming an important instrument across Europe until the end of the 18^th Century. The first fortepiano, later pianoforte (“soft and loud”) was built in 1700, paving the way for the harpsichord to be almost totally displaced by the piano in the 19^th Century. The piano was more powerful and more expressive. In the mid 20^th Century, rekindled interest in early music and authentic performance led to the harpsichord being rediscovered and rebuilt in forms both ancient and modern. It was dicovered by different musics too.

Numerous rock and pop songs emerged from this harpsichord revival to incorporate its often dainty sound, including: “Love is Blue” (Paul Mauriat 1967), “Different Drum” (Linda Ronstadt 1967), “Je ne sais pas ce que je veux” (Françoise Hardy 1968) “Blackberry Way” (The Move 1968), “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” (Jimi Hendrix 1968), “MacArthur Park” (Richard Harris 1968), “Golden Brown” (The Stranglers 1981), “Teardrop” (Massive Attack 1998). Most examples seem to emerge from the late 1960s, an era giving rise to a genre aptly named “Baroque Rock”. There are too many to list here.

Among keyboard instruments, the unique sound of the harpsichord comes from the way a note starts, and then due to its inability to produce sustained notes. Simply, when a key is pressed, a string is plucked by a plectrum (originally bird quill) attached to a wooden “jack”, the note immediately damped when the key is released. The mechanism looks so fragile I'd be afraid to touch the instrument in case I was too heavy handed. Its recent association with the macabre came even from those in the music business. Conductor Thomas Beecham complained “The sound of a harpsichord is two skeletons copulating on a tin roof in a thunderstorm”. Beecham (1878-1961) also allegedly referred to the sound of the “toasting fork drawn over the parrot’s cage”. He died just as the revival began. Just as well for him, but also for us, as his notorious misogyny in his professional and personal life would have been utterly unacceptable. His position of privilege, the wealth from his family's pharmaceutical company, maybe ranked him up there with today's seemingly “untouchables”.

Across similar genres, the harpsichord has been used to various effects from quirky to sinister. The Miss Marple series of films, with Margaret Rutherford in the title role, was illuminated by Ron Goodwin's harpsichord theme. A delightfully quaint neo-Rococo tune with blues progression and ever-so-slightly jazzy syncopation conjures images of old village tea rooms. The rapid runs in the violins also place it in the context of so-called “Light Music Classics” of an earlier era (Jumping Bean, Puffing Billy etc.).

In contrast the punchy almost boogie-woogie harpsichord theme from Danger Man (1960-68) (aka “High Wire” composed by Edwin Astley) adds that frisson of menace and excitement. Some say the character of John Drake metamorphosed into The Prisoner (1967), and indeed Patrick McGoohan's moral personality shone though both. The actor insisted on not carrying a gun, and his respect for women led to him never being cast as James Bond,

Astley also composed the theme for Randall & Hopkirk Deceased (1969). The ghostly detective series was imbued with a sense of mystery with its minor key and triplet rhythms, although actually a comedy. The harpsichord had a prominent role in US comedies of the time such as The Munsters and The Addams Family (both 1964-66). Character Lurch even had his own instrument. It provided a rolling tinkly accompanimemnt to Laurie Johnson's theme for The Avengers (1965-1968). While set in Cold War Britain, the series later incorporated elements of Sci-Fi; also referred to as Spy-Fi. The instrument's later use in The Persuaders (1971) with Tony Curtis and Roger Moore as “two wealthy playboys” is probably best forgotten for its blatant misogyny.

So is the harpsichord the “instrument of death”? Overall it seems a lot more fun than than. Some of the macabre connections were rather unexpected. Long may its reincarnation continue,

LINKS

Danger Man – Random Connections

Fugue in cm-The Munsters-Harpsichord Mix song by Erik-Peter Mortensen - N1M

“Harpsichord In America” on Digital Publishing at Indiana University Press

Misogyny on the podium | Page 17 | Classical Music Forum (talkclassical.com)

Revival Harpsichords - Christopher D. Lewis University Academic & Harpsichordist (christopherlewis.net)

The Death and Second Life of the Harpsichord on JSTOR

THE VOYAGE OF THE HARPSICHORD: POPULAR TELEVISION AND THE REVIVAL OF THE INSTRUMENT OF DEATH by Marcus Harmes | CST Online