They say that everything old is new again. In the case of the harpsichord, this definitely applies – or should anyway.
It’s hard to imagine, but before there was the venerable piano, everyone played the harpsichord. Actually, they played a whole group of similar instruments, including the virginal, spinet, clavicytherium, ottavino, and clavichord.
Then, around two hundred years ago, these instruments almost all went extinct.