The virginal, spinet, and harpsichord followed the clavichord in rapid succession, considering that the last named instrument had been in favor for such a long time, with seemingly no attempt at improvement.
Illustration: Clavichord made by John Christopher Jesse, Germany, 1765] In shape the spinet resembled the harp placed horizontally in the framework.
At a later period theclavichord was copied by the Germans and Belgians.
This effect the Germans called "bebung," and it was one of the most familiar graces of clavichord playing.
Pressure, with its direct communication of the finger-touch to the string, was the secret of clavichord playing, and it was this which made the instrument so beautifully responsive to the thought of the performer.
The discovery of the value of the thumb revolutionized clavichord and harpsichord playing.
The old polyphonic compositions for the clavichord and harpsichord demanded of the player a technic which would enable him to bring out clearly the three or four voice parts.
The reader will understand that, as the clavichord string ceased sounding as soon as the tangent was permitted to drop by lifting the finger from the key, the method of playing it was different from that employed for the piano.
The invention which overthrew the clavichord and the harpsichord and brought into existence the piano was the hammer action.
The clavichordwas always built in oblong shape, like our square piano.
Emmanuel Bach, who wrote an important book on clavichord playing, proclaimed his belief that the singing style was the only true one for the instrument.
Its combination of polyphony with development of a theme--Johann Sebastian Bach and his organ and clavichord fugues--Fundamental traits of this music.
A work by Lorenzo Penna, published at Bologna in 1656, shows very clearly what the general principles ofclavichord and harpsichord technic were in that day.
The first mention of the clavichord and harpsichord is found in the "Rules of the Minnesingers," by Eberhard Cersne, A.
She deserves credit for making a remarkable collection of old clavichord and piano music, and writing a clear summary of the terms and abbreviations employed by the early musicians.
Her ability as a performer on the clavichord was something remarkable, and she left behind her a number of works for her instrument.
Only on the clavichord was a blow delivered directly against the string, and, as has already been said, only on that instrument was the dynamic shading regulated by the touch.
It is to the special fondness which Bach felt for the clavichord that we owe, to a great extent, the cantabile style of his music, its many-voicedness and its high emotionality.
Her relations intended her for Clement, who had been teaching her theclavichord for the last three years.
The elder daughter, who was going to marry an actor, was extremely beautiful, an accomplished dancer, and played on the clavichord like a professional, and was altogether most charming and graceful.
The clavichord was sometimes provided with pedals for the use of organ students.
Mishka had opened the clavichordand was strumming on it with one finger.
After dinner Natasha, at Prince Andrew's request, went to the clavichord and began singing.
Nicholas, and went again into the dancing room where the clavichord stood.
I will tell him myself, and you'll listen at the door," and Natasha ran across the drawing room to the dancing hall, where Denisov was sitting on the same chair by the clavichord with his face in his hands.
Before they reached the room from which the sounds of the clavichord came, the pretty, fair haired Frenchwoman, Mademoiselle Bourienne, rushed out apparently beside herself with delight.
It was not a ball, nor had dancing been announced, but everyone knew that Catherine Petrovna would play valses and the ecossaise on the clavichord and that there would be dancing, and so everyone had come as to a ball.
Mavra Kuzminichna flicked the dust off the clavichord and closed it, and with a deep sigh left the drawing room and locked its main door.
You see, my dear fellow, I have been thinking about you," said Prince Andrew when they had gone into the large room where the clavichord was.
The young people, at the countess' instigation, gathered round the clavichord and harp.
He alone could play on the clavichord that ecossaise (his only piece) to which, as he said, all possible dances could be danced, and they felt sure he had brought presents for them all.
He ordered a clavichord for her, gave her music lessons (he himself played fairly well on the flute), read books aloud to her, had long conversations with her.
The clavichord retained the box shape of its prototype, the monochord.
A defect of theclavichord was, however, its lack of power.
Neither on the clavichord nor on the harpsichord could the player vary the strength of the tone which he produced, by the degree of force with which he struck the keys.
Time and improvements were required before they made their way, and how slow many professional musicians were in giving up the beloved clavichord for the pianoforte already has been pointed out.
The clavichord was piano, the harpsichord was forte.
This principle is so obvious that it seems as if it must have been applied to the clavichord almost immediately and a separate string provided for each key.
Not until after the clavichord had been in use several centuries, were its strings made of varying length and a separate string assigned to each key.
You cannot possibly make a piano sound like a clavichord through any medium of touch or pedals.
The oldest known specimen of the clavichord (dated 1537) is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York City.
Even were this possible, the clavichord is an instrument which is out of date, though the music of Bach is still a part and parcel of the musical literature of to-day.
There can be nothing wrong about that, but to transform the modern pianoforte, which has distinctly specific tonal attributes, into a clavichord or into an organ must result in a tonal abuse.
One may have the clavichord in mind in playing one piece and the organ in mind in playing another.
The clavichord had a very short sound, resembling in a way the staccato touch on the present-day piano, whereas the organ was and is capable of a great volume of sound of sustained quality.
Both alike are adapted by Bach to the clavichord in such a manner that they are completely naturalised in their new-found country.
He asked him to breakfast, and, knowing Bach's habits, laid among the music upon the clavichord a piece of simple and innocent appearance.
One of the points on which Bach insisted was that the practice of the clavichordshould from the outset go hand in hand with composition.
In the same way he would at sight combine scores on the clavichord with astonishing fluency.
In the meanwhile Schumann's widow was asserting, by her wonderful playing, the rightful place of Bach's clavichord works among the treasures of the pianist.
To complete the picture of Bach as a performer, we must add to his command of the organ and clavichord the skill he acquired as a violinist.
Forkel instances Bach and the son to whom his gifts were transmitted in a special measure, Wilhelm Friedemann, as solitary examples of consummate skill equally on clavichord and organ.
The clavichord works admit of a double classification.
At Ohrdruf Bach lived until he was fifteen, learning the clavichord from his brother, who was a pupil of Pachelbel, and apparently exciting his jealousy by the facility of his progress.
A young lady sat down to the clavichord and played while Rouget de l'Isle sang: "Ye sons of freedom, wake to glory!
After dinner, he went to his chamber, sat down to the clavichord and began to play and sing.
Composed fugues and other pieces | | for the clavichord and pianoforte.
Everyone acquainted with the character of the clavichord will probably admit that Luther's advice was judicious.
A small clavichord was then brought in, on which I preluded, and played a sonata and the Fischer variations.
At last they brought a clavichord of Stein's out of the next room, a very good one, but inch-thick with dust.
But already at the beginning of the sixteenth century was the clavichord established as its successor.
The strings of the dulcimer were played upon by hammers held in the hand; the clavichord strings were mechanically pressed up; those of the harpsichord were plucked by quills; whereas the pianoforte is supplied with hammer-action.
Despite this fact, both the clavichord and the harpsichord continued to hold their own beyond the boundaries of that century.
The clavichord was derived from the monochord, the harpsichord from the psaltery, the pianoforte from the dulcimer.
Fétis states that Keiser employed in his opera "Frédegonde" sometimes the strings alone, or the clavichord together with plucked stringed instruments and a bass.
In combination with these, lutes, guitars, organs, theclavichord and the harpsichord were still employed.
The next instrument in the upward development after the clavichord was the virginal, a parallelogram in shape, with a projecting keyboard.
She was very well accompanied on the clavichord by Miss Rutteledge and on the harp by Monsieur Ottow, Secretary to the French Minister.
Anderson sat on the music-stool before the clavichord turning over the pages of a volume that rested on the rack.
A lesser artist might have endeavoured to amplify the chords, but Wilhelmine played her accompaniment in thin arpeggios, making the clavichord sound like a stringed instrument, and achieving a charming effect.
There is a clavichord in the panelled room, and we will leave the garden door open in order to hear the music.
Reischach led the newcomer to the clavichord in the panelled room, and the company gathered near the garden-door to listen.
The story goes that the indulgent mother had smuggled a clavichord into the garret.
Whether or not theclavichord was confiscated the result of the parental raid was a stern prohibition of all sorts of music-making.
In the third place, stroking the note with uniform pressure permits the string to vibrate freely, improves and prolongs the tone, and though the Clavichord is poor in quality, allows the player to sustain long notes upon it.
Both for practice and intimate use he regarded the Clavichord as the best instrument and preferred to express on it his finest thoughts.
He possessed five Clavicembali, but not a single Clavichord at the time of his death.
Many advantages arise from holding the hand in Bach's position and from adopting his touch, on the Clavichord and Harpsichord,(120) and on the Organ as well.
Bach preferred the Clavichord to the Harpsichord, which, though susceptible of great variety of tone, seemed to him lacking in soul.
These were known as the clavichord and the virginal.
It is only needful to say that it was the outgrowth of clavichord and virginal and spinet, and had some of the defects as well as the good points of all three.
He imported a clavichord for her, gave her music lessons (he played very fairly himself on the flute), he read books to her, he had long talks with her.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "clavichord" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
