CYNTHIA A. HOOVER

DIVISION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY

Harpsichords and Clavichords

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS
CITY OF WASHINGTON
1969

Cover: Virginal by Giovanni Battista Boni, 1617 (see pages 22-25)
Photo: Robert Lautman

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402 Price 40 cents

Harpsichords and Clavichords

The harpsichord and the clavichord represent the two most important types of stringed keyboard instruments used from the 15th through the 18th centuries. By the 19th century, the piano had become the most important domestic keyboard instrument.