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CLAVICYTHERIUM

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 469 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLAVICYTHERIUM , a name usually applied to an upright See also:

spinet (q.v.), the soundboard and strings of which were See also:vertical instead of See also:horizontal, being thus perpendicular to the keybcard; but it would seem that the clavicytherium proper is distinct from the upright spinet in that its strings are placed horizontally. In the See also:early clavicytherium there was, as in the spinet, only one See also:string (of gut) to each See also:key, set in vibration by means of a small See also:quill or See also:leather plectrum mounted on a See also:jack which acted as in the spinet and See also:harpsichord (q.v.). The clavicytherium or keyed 1 The words clavicorde, clavicordo and clavicordio, respectively See also:French, See also:Italian and See also:Spanish, were applied to a different type of See also:instrument, the spinet (q.v.). 2 See See also:Sebastian Virdung, Musica getutscht and auszgezogen (See also:Basel, 1511) (facsimile reprint See also:Berlin, 1882, edited by R. Eitner); J. Verschuere Reynvaan, Musijkaal Kunst-Woordenboek (See also:Amsterdam, 1795) (a very scarce See also:book, of which the See also:British Museum does not possess a copy) ; See also:Jacob AdIung, Musica Mechanica Organoedi (Berlin, 1768), vol. ii. pp. 158-9; A. J. Hipkins, The See also:History of the See also:Pianoforte (See also:London, 1896), pp. 61 and 62. See also:cythera or cetra, names which in the 14th and 15th centuries had been applied somewhat indiscriminately to See also:instruments having strings stretched over a soundboard and plucked by fingers or plectrum, was probably of Italian ' or possibly of See also:south See also:German origin. Sebastian Virdung,2 See also:writing early in the 16th See also:century, describes the clavicytherium as a new invention, having gut strings, and gives an See also:illustration of it.

(See PIANOFORTE.) A certain amount of uncertainty exists as to its exact construction, due to the extreme rarity of unrestored specimens extant, and to the almost See also:

total See also:absence of trustworthy See also:practical See also:information. In a unique specimen with two keyboards dating from the 16th or 17th century, which is in the collection of See also:Baron See also:Alexandre Kraus,' what appear to be vibrating strings stretched over a soundboard perpendicular to the See also:keyboard are in reality the wires forming See also:part of the mechanism of the See also:action. The arrangement of this mechanism is the distinctive feature of the clavicytherium, for the wires, unlike the strings of the upright spinet, increase in length from See also:left to right, so that the upright See also:harp-shaped back has its higher See also:side over the See also:treble of the keyboard instead of over the See also:bass. The vibrating strings of the clavicytherium in the Kraus Museum are stretched horizontally over two kinds of psalteries fixed one over the other. The first, serving for the See also:lower See also:register, is of the well-known trapezoid shape and lies over the keyboards; it has 30 See also:wire strings in pairs of unisons corresponding to the 15 lowest keys. The second See also:psaltery resembles the kanoun of the See also:Arabs, and has 36 strings in courses of 3 unisons corresponding to the next 12 keys, and 88 very thin strings in courses of 4, completing the 49 keys; the See also:compass thus has a range of four octaves from C to C. The quills of the jacks belonging to the two keyboards are of different length and thickness. The jacks, which See also:work as in the spinet, are attached to the perpendicular wires, disposed in two parallel rows, one for each keyboard. There is a very See also:fine specimen of the so-called clavicytherium (upright spinet) in the See also:Donaldson museum of the Royal See also:College of See also:Music, London, acquired from the Correr collection at See also:Venice in 1885.' The instrument is undated, but A. J. Hipkins 6 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 See also:Ulm.

The See also:

case is of See also:pine-See also:wood, and the natural keys of See also:box-wood. The jacks have the early See also:steel springs, and in 1885 traces were found in the instrument of See also:original See also:brass plectra, all of which point to a very early date. A learned Italian, Nicolo Vicentino,6 living in the 16th century, describes an archicernbalo of his own invention, at which the per-former had to stand, having four rows of keys designed to obtain a See also:complete mesotonic pure third tuning. This was an See also:attempt to reintroduce the See also:ancient See also:Greek musical See also:system. This instrument was probably an upright harpsichord or See also:clavicembalo. For the history of the clavicytherium considered as a forerunner of the pianoforte see PIANOFORTE. (K.

End of Article: CLAVICYTHERIUM

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