There evidently prevailed, some centuries ago, much vagueness in the designation of certain stringed instruments with a key-board. The term clavichord seems to have not unfrequently been applied to any stringed instrument with a key-board, no matter what its interior construction might be. Johann Walther, in his “Musicalisches Lexicon,” Leipzig, 1732, describes the virginal (or “Virginale,” as he calls it), in these words:-"Ein Clavier vors Frauenzimmer” (a clavichord for ladies). The following brief explanation of the difference between the spinet and the clavichord may therefore be of interest to some inquirers.
The spinet (Italian, spinetta or spinetto; French, épinette) is said to have derived its name from the little quill (spina) used in its mechanism, which is the same as that of the harpsichord and the virginal, described before.
The more commonly-known spinet ([Figs. 63] and [64]) resembles in shape the harpsichord and the grand piano. It is, however, smaller than the harpsichord, and its key-board is placed in a somewhat oblique direction. The tone of the spinet was generally a fifth higher than that of the harpsichord.
The clavichord (Italian, clavicordo; German, Clavier, or Klavier), differs from the spinet inasmuch as it is of an oblong-square shape ([Fig. 65]), and especially in its being constructed with so-called tangents, i.e., metal pins which press under the strings when the keys are struck. The strings are of thin brass wire. The oldest specimens of the clavichord still extant are from three to four feet in length, and about two feet in width. The lower keys are black, and the upper ones are white. There is only a single string for each tone and its upper semitone; thus, there is but one string for C and C-sharp, and likewise for D and D-sharp, and so on. The semitone is produced by a second tangent, which touches the string at a place a little distant from that at which it is touched by the tangent producing the whole-tone. On being pressed under
the string, the tangent divides it into two vibrating parts, one of which is considerably longer than the other and gives the sound. The other part is too short to be distinctly audible, and therefore does not very perceptibly interfere with the clearness of the sound. Moreover, its vibration is checked by a strip of cloth interlaced with the strings. It will easily be understood that of the two tangents, the one which most shortens the sounding part of the string, must produce a tone of a higher pitch than the other.
Such was the construction of the clavichord until about the year 1700, when it was improved in so far as that each key was supplied with a separate string. The clavichord is pre-eminently a German instrument. Although now almost entirely supplanted by the pianoforte, it is still occasionally to be met with in the house of the German village schoolmaster and of the country parson. Though but weak in sound, it admits of much expression; and most of the German classical composers who lived before the invention of the pianoforte preferred the clavichord to the harpsichord. In England it has never become popular. Considering the simplicity of its construction, it might be surmised that the price of a clavichord was generally very moderate. In the latter half of the eighteenth century the prices charged for such instruments by some of the best manufacturers were as follows:—Carl Lemme, in Brunswick, made clavichords of various qualities, which fetched from three to twelve Louis d’ors a-piece; he also made, for exportation to Batavia, clavichords with a compressed sounding-board, invented by his father in the year 1771; Krämer, in Göttingen, charged from four to fourteen Louis d’ors, according to size and finish; and Wilhelmi, in Cassel, charged from twenty to fifty thalers,—from about £3 to £7 10s.
Fig. 66.—Clavicembalo. Signed “Joanes Antonius Baffo, Venetus.” Italian. Dated 1574. H. 9½ in., L. 83 in., W. 36 in. No. 6007-’59.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
The clavicembalo (often designated merely cembalo) is called in German “Flügel,” on account of its shape somewhat resembling the wing of a bird. Clavicembali formerly in use generally had a compass of five octaves. The instrument was usually supplied with some stops by means of which the quality of sound could in some measure be modified. Furthermore, it was frequently made with two keyboards, one for the loud and another for the soft tones. The harpsichord made in England was precisely of the same construction. In fact, the best harpsichord makers in England were emigrants from the continent, and the founders of some of the great pianoforte manufactories still flourishing in London. Burkhardt Tschudi, for instance, a harpsichord maker from Switzerland, was the founder of Broadwood’s celebrated manufactory, which dates from the year 1732. Kirkman, a German (who, before he established himself in England, wrote his name Kirchmann) sold his harpsichords in London, according to the German Musical Almanac for the year 1782, at the price of from 60l. to 90l. apiece. In the beginning of the eighteenth century many of the harpsichords made in England had, according to Grassineau (Musical Dictionary, London, 1740), a compass of only four octaves.