Scan 99
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
4 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 75. See the scan on archive.org.
1The harpsichord, with its slightly stronger voice, for a time attained a prominence over the clavichord, but its lack of expression allowed it only a comparatively short period of popularity. The action of the clavichord was so susceptible to the touch that, after the key lever had been lowered, a slight increase or decrease in the power of depression was followed by a similar change in the tone. In the beginning of the Eighteenth Century Gottfried Silbermann revived the principle of the clavichord in the cembal d’amore, which was in reality a clavichord doubled as to size and as to vibrating length of the strings.
3The search for an action capable of producing either soft or loud music continued until about 1710, when Christofori profited by the experience of his predecessors, and produced what he named “gravicembalo col piano e forte,” in other words, a keyboard instrument capable of soft and loud effects. The action was weak and mechanically crude, but the theory was correct, and Christofori’s action has been the groundwork of all later makers. Scipione Maffei, in the “Giornale dei Litterati d’ Italia” (1711), announces the invention. It had been considered impossible to attain the two effects successfully, and Maffei says: “Signor Bartolomeo Christofoli, of Padua, harpsichord player of the Most Serene Prince of Tuscany, has already made three harpsichords in which the production of more or less sound depends upon the force the player uses in striking upon the keys. Instead of jacks that produce sounds by quills, there is a little row of hammers that strike the string from below, the tops of which are covered with leather. Every hammer has the end inserted in a circular butt, that renders it movable. These butts are partially embedded and strung together in a receiver. Near the butt and under the stem of the hammer there is a projecting part, or support, that receiving the blow from beneath, raises the hammer and causes it to strike the string with whatever degree of force is given by the hand of the performer, hence the sound produced can be greater or less, at the pleasure of the player.”
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