The "Lautenwerck" or lute harpsichord is a keyboard instrument with gut strings instead of metal strings, making the instrument look like a harpsichord but sound like a lute. Unfortunately no lute harpsichords have survived, giving the instrument a somewhat arcane reputation. It is known that Bach owned at least two lute harpsichords, one of which was probably built by the organ builder Zacharias
… Hildebrandt, after a design by Bach himself. It could therefore be that some of Bach's lute or harpsichord works were intended for the "Lautenwerck". According to the lute player Nigel North, in order to trace these works, we must realize the sound and playing possibilities of both the harpsichord and the lute, because the lute harpsichord moves somewhere between those two worlds. North wrote this explanation for a CD by "lute harpsichordist" Kim Heindel, with lute and harpsichord works by Bach, but played on the lute harpsichord. (HJ) _more
