The action of the clavichord is unique among all keyboard instruments in that one part of the action simultaneously initiates the sound vibration while at the same time defining the endpoint of the vibrating string, and thus its pitch.

Because of this intimate contact between the player's hand and the production of sound, the clavichord has been referred to as the most intimate of keyboard instruments.

Cristofori's great success was solving, with no prior example, the fundamental mechanical problem of piano design: the hammer must strike the string, but not remain in contact with it ( as a tangent remains in contact with a clavichord string ) because this would dampen the sound.

As with many keyboard manuscripts of the time, the pieces were not written for a specific instrument, and most sound happily on all contemporary keyboard instruments, including virginals, harpsichord, clavichord and chamber organ.

It is similar to the tangent of a clavichord only in the sense that they both are driven ultimately by the player's finger to strike the string to initiate sound.

It is similar to the tangent of a clavichord only in the sense that they both are driven ultimately by the player's finger to strike the string to initiate sound.

Large five-octave unfretted clavichord by Paul Maurici, after Johann Adolph Hass | J. A.

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.

As Speerstra and also note, the compass of the keyboard parts of Bach's six organ trio sonatas BWV 525 – 530 rarely go below the tenor C, so could have been played on a single manual pedal clavichord, by moving the left hand down an octave, a customary practice in the 18th century.

Among recent clavichord recordings, those by Christopher Hogwood ( The Secret Bach, The Secret Handel, and, most recently, The Secret Mozart ), break new ground.

Depressing a key on the keyboard causes the instrument to produce sounds, either by mechanically striking a string or tine ( piano, electric piano, clavichord ); plucking a string ( harpsichord ); causing air to flow through a pipe ( organ ); or strike a bell ( carillon ).

In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are plucked by quills.

Paisiello at the clavichord, by Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1791.

Antonia herself learned to play the harpsichord, spinet and clavichord, as well as the harp, taught by Gluck.

Marie Antoinette at the clavichord, by Franz Xaver Wagenschön ( 1768 ).

He was by this time one of the foremost clavier-players in Europe, and his compositions, which date from 1731, include about thirty sonatas and concert pieces for harpsichord and clavichord.

The clavichord, though technically a fixed-pitch keyboard instrument, is capable of producing a type of vibrato known as Bebung by varying the pressure on the key as the note sounds.

At adolescence, her mother took personal charge of her education at home by hiring tutors who taught her to recite entire plays by heart, play the clavichord, dance, sing, paint and engrave.

Music continued to play a central role in his life ; he acquired a Neupert double manual harpsichord, and a clavichord made by the Hamburg builder Walter Ebeloe, as well as a silver flute made in Hamburg by G. Urban.

One exception was Lambert's Clavichord ( 1928 ), a rare example of a composition by a 20th-century composer for a clavichord.

It was inspired by a clavichord lent to Howells by his friend Herbert Lambert, an instrument maker and photographer based in Bath.

The heyday of the virginals was the latter half of the 16th century to the later 17th century until the high baroque period when it was eclipsed in England by the bentside spinet and in Germany by the clavichord.

He also recorded on the clavichord ( e. g. Bach's two-and three-part inventions, as well as both volumes of the Well-tempered Clavier ) and on the fortepiano ( especially works by Mozart ).

The Cathal Gannon Early Music Room was opened in May 2003 ; it contains a harpsichord and clavichord made by Cathal Gannon, a Broadwood grand piano restored by him, a square piano and information about Mr Gannon.

In the clavichord, strings run transversely from the hitchpin rail at the left-hand end to tuning pegs on the right.

Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin strings, and were much quieter than the modern piano — but compared to the clavichord ( the only previous keyboard instrument capable of dynamic nuance via the keyboard ) they were much louder and had more sustain.

Basically, it was a chordophone not unlike a clavichord — in other words, the strings were struck, not plucked.

The first mention of the word is in Paulus Paulirinus of Prague's ( 1413 – 1471 ) Tractatus de musica of around 1460 where he writes: The virginal is an instrument in the shape of a clavichord, having metal strings which give it the timbre of a clavicembalo.

Guy Sigsworth has played clavichord in a modern setting with Björk, notably on the studio recording of " All Is Full of Love ".

In 1976 Oscar Peterson played ( with Joe Pass on acoustic guitar ) songs from Porgy And Bess on the clavichord.

Much of the musical repertoire 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.

He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house.

When a clavichord key is pressed, a small metal tangent strikes a string and remains in contact with it for as long as the key is held down.

The Jesuit missionaries introduced songs which used the Tupi language with Christian lyrics, an attempt to convert the people to Christianity, and also introduced Gregorian chant and the flute, bow, and the clavichord.

He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house.

Items were removed from the house such as baby carriages, a doll carriage, rusted bicycles, old food, potato peelers, a collection of guns, glass chandeliers, bowling balls, camera equipment, the folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, a sawhorse, three dressmaking dummies, painted portraits, pinup girl photos, plaster busts, Mrs. Collyer's hope chests, rusty bed springs, the kerosene stove, a child's chair ( the brothers were lifelong bachelors and childless ), more than 25, 000 books ( including thousands about medicine and engineering and more than 2, 500 on law ), human organs pickled in jars, eight live cats, the chassis of the old Model T with which Langley had been tinkering, tapestries, hundreds of yards of unused silks and fabric, clocks, 14 pianos ( both grand and upright ), a clavichord, two organs, banjos, violins, bugles, accordions, a gramophone and records, and countless bundles of newspapers and magazines, some of them decades old.

She was skillful with the clavichord, often played for the King.

While she pursues the clavichord with ' an inflexible discipline ', to placate Fernanda, she also enjoys partying and exhibits the same tendency towards excess as her father.

Its final incarnation came in the Hohner Pianet / Clavinet Duo model which combined a Hohner Clavinet ( essentially an electric clavichord ) with the Pianet T in one compact ( albeit heavy ) instrument.

In the clavichord, the tangent remains in contact with the string to keep the note sounding, while in the tangent piano, the tangent immediately rebounds from the string so that the string is allowed to vibrate freely ( that is, it has an escapement ).

A manual is a musical keyboard designed to be played with the hands, on an instrument such as a pipe organ, harpsichord, clavichord, electronic organ, or synthesizer.

Many of his works were designed with flexibility of instrument in mind: a particular piece could be played on the organ, the harpsichord, or the clavichord, depending on the situation in which the performer found himself.

The third track, " Knife Edge ", is based on the first movement of Leoš Janáček ’ s Sinfonietta ( 1926 ) with an instrumental middle section that includes an extended quotation from the Allemande of Johann Sebastian Bach's first French Suite in D minor, BWV 812, but played on an organ rather than clavichord or piano.

The clavichord and some electronic keyboards also respond to the force with which a key is held down after the initial impact ; they are pressure sensitive.

This can be used by a skilled clavichord player to slightly correct the intonation of the notes when playing on a clavichord, and / or to play with a form of vibrato known as bebung.

" Symphonia " is applied by Praetorius to an instrument which he classed with the clavichord, spinet, regal and virginals, but without giving any clue to its distinctive characteristics.