Scan 127
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1perfection, and his six sonatas for the viola d'amore are our most precious compositions for that instrument. But one must not forget that Bach used it frequently in his cantatas and chamber music, and mention must be made of an exquisite concerto by Antonio Vivaldi for viola d'amore and lute accompanied by muted violins and a figured bass. Should this bass happen to be discreetly performed upon a sweet old organ, the effect of the whole composition is a dream of loveliness such as is never to be forgotten if once heard.
3SECTION III.
5THE CLAVICHORD.
7The mechanism of the clavichord is very simple. The strings, made of brass, and hardly thicker than a hair, rest upon a bridge at one end as in other stringed instruments, but the other end instead of going to a nut, loses itself among folds of damper felt, by which they are so completely deadened that no musical sound is perceivable upon their being plucked. When a key is pressed down, the tangent, a thin blade of brass driven perpendicularly into the key near its back end, comes in contact with the two strings allotted to that note at a point between the damper and the bridge, slightly raising them over the other strings. Under these conditions this pair of strings can vibrate between the tangent and the bridge and yield its particular note. The tangents of the clavichord perform the same office as the fingers of the left hand of the player upon the violin or guitar. They are movable nuts or frets. Furthermore, by their impact, they agitate the strings sufficiently to cause them to sound. The tangent, therefore, measures off the length of string necessary to produce the required pitch, at the same time, excites the tone.
9When the finger is lifted from the key the sound instantly ceases, for the tangent is thereby removed from the strings, which relapse into their formal musical inertia.
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