There is a very fine specimen of the so-called clavicytherium (upright spinet) in the Donaldson museum of the Royal College of Music, London, acquired from the Correr collection at Venice in 1885.[4] The instrument is undated, but A.J. Hipkins[5] placed it early in the 16th or even at the end of the 15th century. There is German writing on the inside of the back, referring to some agreement at Ulm. The case is of pine-wood, and the natural keys of box-wood. The jacks have the early steel springs, and in 1885 traces were found in the instrument of original brass plectra, all of which point to a very early date.
A learned Italian, Nicolo Vicentino,[6] living in the 16th century, describes an archicembalo of his own invention, at which the performer had to stand, having four rows of keys designed to obtain a complete mesotonic pure third tuning. This was an attempt to reintroduce the ancient Greek musical system. This instrument was probably an upright harpsichord or clavicembalo.
For the history of the clavicytherium considered as a forerunner of the pianoforte see [Pianoforte].
(K. S.)
[1] Mersenne, Harmonie universelle (Paris, 1636), p. 113, calls the clavicytherium “une nouvelle forme d’épinette dont on use en Italie,” and states that the action of the jacks and levers is parallel from back to front.
[2] Musica getutscht und auszgezogen (Basel, 1511).
[3] See “Une Pièce unique du Musée Kraus de Florence” in Annales de l’alliance scientifique universelle (Paris, 1907).
[4] See illustration by William Gibb in A.J. Hipkins’s Musical Instruments, Historic, Rare and Unique (1888).
[5] History of the Pianoforte, Novello’s Music Primers, No. 52 (1896), p. 75.