Passacaglia BWV 582 (JS Bach) on the pedal harpsichord

From the CD “Pro Cembalo Pleno: Bach on the Pedal Harpsichord“, available from Priory Records and as a download from the major online music stores. The pedal harpsichord is described in several 18th-century sources, but no original instrument has survived. The pedal harpsichord was probably intended as a practice instrument for German organists, especially useful in winter when churches were very cold and organists wished to practice at home. (Some organists had pedal clavichords, and one or two 18th-century pedal clavichords still exist in museum collections.) Colin Booth designed this instrument as two instruments in one: a two-manual harpsichord (with two 8’ stops and a 4’ stop), and a separate instrument played by the feet (with two 8’ stops and a 16’ stop). The 16’ stop, an octave lower than normal pitch, gives the instrument greater depth.