Reflections of an American Harpsichordist Unpublished Memoirs, Essays, and Lectures of Ralph Kirkpatrick

the early piano ❧ 117
what their instrument contains beyond the narrow confi nes of its keyboard,
and an imaginative and discriminating new approach to the possibilities of
piano building and of the uses of the piano itself.
Then only will be halted the ridiculous fl ight from the prison to the strait-
jacket by those persons who, in rebellion against the restrictions of the modern
piano, take refuge in the even greater restrictions of musical antiquarianism.
The harpsichord has regained its place in our musical life, both for the right
and the wrong reasons, but the place of either instrument should not be won
or maintained at the expense of a view beyond it into music and musicianship.
Instruments, no matter how much they fascinate their makers, players, and
owners, are only tools, not ends in themselves.
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