This is the kind of piano, or clavichord, that Bach used.
THE CLAVICHORD.
And here is the beginning of the very first piece in the collection of which we have just spoken in Bach's handwriting.
BACH'S HANDWRITING. [Listen]
MORNING PRAYERS IN THE HOME OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Sebastian Bach had a very large family, twenty children altogether. Two of them studied music faithfully with their father.
One was Friedmann, for whom the father wrote a book called Little Preludes. Friedmann's brother, Philipp Emanuel Bach, was a very fine clavichord player. He wrote a book about music and composed many pieces.