The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Johann Adolph Rudolph Hass (variants Johan, Haas, Hasse, Hase, Hasch) ( 12 March 1713 - 29 May A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a Musical keyboard. The term medieval music encompasses European music written during the Middle Ages. Renaissance music is European music written during the Renaissance, approximately 1400 - 1600 Baroque music describes an era and a set of styles of European classical music which were in widespread use between approximately 1600 and 1750. The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as 1750 to 1810 Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition. The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with small metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through the bridge(s) to the soundboard. The name is derived from the Latin word clavis, meaning "key" (associated with more common clavus, meaning "nail, rod, etc. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. ") and chorda (from Greek χορδή) meaning "string, especially of a musical instrument".
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History and use
The clavichord was invented in the early fifteenth century. In 1504, the German poem Der Minne Regeln mentions the terms clavicimbalum (a term used mainly for the harpsichord) and clavichordium, designating them as the best instruments to accompany melodies. A harpsichord is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard.
It was very popular from the 16th century to the 18th century, but mainly flourished in German-speaking lands, Scandinavia, and the Iberian Peninsula in the latter part of this period. Terminology and usage As a cultural term "Scandinavia" has no official definition and is subject to usage by those who identify with the culture in question as well The Iberian Peninsula, or Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe, and includes modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra It had fallen out of use by 1850. In the late 1890s, Arnold Dolmetsch revived clavichord construction and Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, among others, helped to popularize the instrument. (Eugène Arnold Dolmetsch ( 24 February 1858 - 28 February 1940) was a French -born Musician and instrument maker who spent Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (nee Gwynne ( 23 April 1872-1951 was an acclaimed British harpsichordist and clavichordist, highly influential in bringing both Although most of the instruments built before the 1730s were small (four octaves, four feet long), the latest instruments were built up to seven feet long with a six octave range.
Today clavichords are played primarily by Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical music enthusiasts. They attract many interested buyers, and are manufactured worldwide. A modern clavichord can range in price from $2,400 to as much as $20,000. There are now numerous clavichord societies around the world, and some 400 recordings of the instrument have been made in the past 70 years. Leading modern exponents of the instrument include Derek Adlam, Christopher Hogwood, Richard Troeger, and Miklos Spányi, and fine modern instruments are widely available. Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood CBE (born 10 September 1941) is an English conductor, Harpsichordist Writer and scholar Some modern makers include Peter Bavington and Karin Richter in Great Britain, Joris Potvlieghe in Belgium, Thomas Steiner in Austria, and Ronald Haas, Owen Daly, Charles Wolff, David Jensen, and Andrew Lagerquist in the United States.
In rock music
The clavichord has also gained attention in other genres of music, like rock in the form of the clavinet, which is essentially an electric clavichord which uses a magnetic pickup to provide a signal for amplification. Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. A Clavinet is an electrophonic Keyboard instrument manufactured by the Hohner company A clavinet played through an instrument amplifier with guitar effect pedals is often associated with funky, disco-infused 1970s rock. An instrument amplifier is an Electronic amplifier that converts the inaudible electric or electronic signal from musical instruments such as an Electric guitar An effects pedal (or a " Stomp Box " is an electronic Effects unit housed in a small metal or plastic chassis used by musicians usually Electric Funk is an American musical style that originated in the mid- to late-1960s when African American musicians blended Soul music, Soul Disco is a Genre of dance-oriented music whose origins are hard to define
Tori Amos also uses the instrument on "Little Amsterdam" from the album Boys For Pele as well as on the song "Smokey Joe" from her 2007 album American Doll Posse. Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is a Pianist and Singer-songwriter of dual British and American Boys for Pele is the third studio album by American Singer and Song-writer Tori Amos. American Doll Posse is the ninth studio album by Singer-songwriter Tori Amos. And in 1976 Oscar Peterson played (with Joe Pass on acoustic guitar) songs from Porgy And Bess on the clavichord. Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, CC, CQ, OOnt ( 15 August 1925 – 23 December 2007) was a Canadian Keith Jarrett also recorded an album entitled "Book of Ways" (1987) in which he plays a series of clavichord improvisations. Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945 in Allentown Pennsylvania) is an American Pianist and Composer. The Beatles' "For No One" (1966) features Paul McCartney playing the clavichord to tremendous effect. The Beatles were a pop and rock band from Liverpool, England formed in 1960 Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE (born 18 June 1942 is an English rock Singer, Bass guitarist songwriter Composer,
Structure and action
In the clavichord, strings run transversely from the hitchpin rail at the left-hand end to tuning pegs on the right. Towards the right end they pass over a curved wooden bridge. The action is simple, with the keys being levers with a small brass tangent at the far end. The strings, which are usually of brass, or else a combination of brass and iron, are usually arranged in pairs, like a lute or mandolin. When the key is pressed, the tangent strikes the strings above, causing them to sound in a similar fashion to the hammering technique on a guitar. Unlike in a piano action, the tangent does not rebound from the string; rather, it stays in contact with the string as long as the key is held, acting as both the nut and as the initiator of sound. The nut of a String instrument is a small piece of hard material which supports the strings at the end closest to the Headstock or scroll. The volume of the note can be changed by striking harder or softer, and the pitch can also be affected by varying the force of the tangent against the string (known as Bebung). Bebung may also refer to a musical composition by Michael Jarrell. When the key is released, the tangent loses contact with the string and the vibration of the string is silenced by strips of damping cloth.
Fretting
Since the string vibrates from the bridge only as far as the tangent, multiple keys with multiple tangents can be assigned to the same string. This is called fretting. Early clavichords frequently had many notes played on each string, even going so far as the keyed monochord — an instrument with only one string — though most clavichords were triple- or double-fretted. A monochord is an ancient musical and scientific Laboratory instrument. Since only one note can be played at a time on each string, the fretting pattern is generally chosen so that notes which are rarely heard together (such as C and C#) share a string pair. The advantages to this system compared with unfretted instruments (see below) include relative ease of tuning (with around half as many strings to keep in tune), greater volume (though still not really enough for use in chamber music), and a clearer, more direct sound. In Music, there are two common meanings for tuning: Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice Chamber music is a form of Classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber Among the disadvantages: temperament could not be re-set without bending the tangents; and playing required a further refinement of touch, since notes sharing a single string played in quick succession needed to be slightly separated to avoid a disagreeable deadening of the sound, potentially disturbing a legato line. In Musical tuning, a temperament is a system of tuning which slightly compromises the pure intervals of Just intonation in order to meet other requirements of the In Musical notation the Italian word legato (literally meaning "tied together" indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly
Some clavichords have been built with a single pair of strings for each note. The first known reference to one was by Johann Speth in 1693 and the earliest such extant signed and dated clavichord was built in 1716 by Johann Michael Heinitz. Such instruments are referred to as unfretted whereas instruments using the same strings for several notes are called fretted. Among the advantages to unfretted instruments are flexibility in tuning (the temperament can be easily altered) and the ability to play any music exactly as written without concern for "bad" notes. Disadvantages include a smaller volume, even though many or most unfretted instruments tend to be significantly larger than fretted instruments; and many more strings to keep in tune. Unfretted instruments tend to have a sweeter, less incisive tone due to the greater load on the bridge resulting from the greater number of strings, though the large, late (early 19th century) Swedish clavichords tend to be the loudest of any of the historic clavichords.
While clavichords were typically single manual instruments, they could be stacked to provide multiple keyboards. With the addition of a pedal clavichord , which included a pedal keyboard for the lower notes, a clavichord could be used to practice organist repertoire. A pedalboard (also called a pedal keyboard pedal clavier or with electronic instruments a bass pedalboard is a keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to In the era of pipe organs which used hand-pumped blowers, and of churches which were only heated during church services, organists used pedal harsichords and pedal clavichords as practice instruments (see also: pedal piano). The pipe organ is a Musical instrument that produces sound when pressurized air (wind is driven through a series of pipes, controlled by a keyboard The pedal piano (or pedalier piano) is a kind of Piano that includes a pedalboard, enabling bass register notes to be played with the feet as is standard There is speculation that some works written for organ may have been intended for pedal clavichord. An interesting case is made by Joel Speerstra that Bach's "Eight Little Preludes and Fugues", now thought to be spurious, may actually be authentic. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" The Eight Short Preludes and Fugues are a collection of works for keyboard and pedal by Johann Sebastian Bach. The keyboard writing seems unsuited to organ, but Speerstra argues that they are idiomatic on the pedal clavichord.
Music
Much of the music written for harpsichord and organ from the period circa 1400–1800 can be played on the clavichord; however, it does not have enough (unamplified) volume to participate in chamber music, with the possible exception of providing accompaniment to a soft baroque flute, recorder, or single singer. A harpsichord is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. The organ (from Greek όργανον – organon "organ instrument tool" is a Keyboard instrument of one or more divisions each J. S. Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a great proponent of the instrument, and most of his German contemporaries regarded it as a central keyboard instrument, for performing, teaching, composing on and practicing. WikipediaWikiProject Composers#Lead section.2 This article is written in British English including maximised use of "-ise" Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach ( March 8, 1714 &ndash December 14, 1788) was a German musician and composer the second of five sons Among recent clavichord recordings, those by Christopher Hogwood ('The Secret Bach', 'The Secret Handel', and, most recently, 'The Secret Mozart'), break new ground. In his liner notes, Hogwood points out that these composers would typically have played the clavichord in the privacy of their homes.
References
- Brauchli, Bernard, The clavichord. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998
- Joel Speerstra (2004). Bach and the pedal clavichord: an organist's guide. University of Rochester Press. ISBN 1-58046-135-2.
External links
- A brief history of the clavichord
- Tuning for playing J. S. Bach
- British Clavichord Society
- Boston Clavichord Society
- "Clavichord," poem by Jared Carter. Jared Carter is a contemporary American poet with particular interests in traditional lyric and narrative poetry and in the geographic and cultural area of the
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