Books › American history and encyclopedia of music, 1910 › scan 131
Scan 131
American history and encyclopedia of music, 1910
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The volume of tone of the clavichord compared with that of the modern piano is very small. But its small tone is capable of the most subtle shading, the sharpest staccato as well as the smoothest legato. The finger, through the key, is in direct communication with the strings and feels their elasticity all the time. If the pressure of the finger is increased, a sharpening of pitch which produces the impression of a swelling of the tone is produced,—if the key is balanced up and down by the finger, the alternate sharpening and flattening of pitch produces a beautiful vibrato.
3The importance of these properties of the clavichord cannot fail to be recognized, if one remembers the great value of such alterations of pitch as a means of expression in music. They constitute the chief distinction between the living tones of the voice or the violin and the mechanical tones of the piano or organ.
5Another advantage of the clavichord is that its tone production is accompanied by very little mechanical noise. When the hammers of a piano strike the strings, a distinct blow is heard, even more powerful at times than the tone of the strings. This emphasizes the beginning of each note to such an extent as to make it difficult for the ear to follow the individual movement of each part of the music, undue attention being constantly called to every movement of the other parts.
7The older clavier music is for the most part contrapuntal and for this reason ineffective upon the piano.
9To hear an expressive fugue upon the clavichord is a revelation. There the interweaving of the parts is clearly followed, and each one stands out characterized by its own proper expression. Beethoven, during whose youth the clavichord was still used in Germany, acknowledged it the most expressive of keyboard instruments. J. S. Bach wrote for it most of his clavier music.
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