virginal

The virginal is a small keyboard instrument of the harpsichord family, popular in England from the late 15th through the 17th century. Its strings are plucked by quills (like a harpsichord) rather than struck by hammers (like a piano). The origin of the name is uncertain and has inspired centuries of speculation. The most common theory connects it to the Latin virga, meaning 'rod' or 'jack'—referring to the mechanism that plucks the string. Others link it to the Virgin Mary, or to the young women (virgins) who were its typical players.

In England, the virginal was the domestic keyboard. It sat on a table or a stand in the parlor, and young women of good family were expected to play it as part of their education. Elizabeth I was a skilled virginalist—a portrait at Hatfield House shows her playing. The association between the instrument and female accomplishment was so strong that the name may have reinforced itself: the virginal was played by virgins, therefore it was called a virginal, therefore virgins played it.

The English virginalist school of the late 16th and early 17th centuries produced extraordinary music. William Byrd, John Bull, and Orlando Gibbons composed works of dazzling complexity for the instrument. The Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, compiled around 1619, contains nearly 300 pieces and is one of the most important collections of keyboard music in existence.

The virginal was superseded by the harpsichord and eventually by the piano. It had a smaller range, a lighter tone, and a more limited dynamic range than its successors. But the music written for it survives and is played today on modern harpsichords and period instruments alike. The name remains, carrying its ambiguity—no one is quite sure whether the instrument was named for young women, a queen, a saint, or a stick.