HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OP MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 105 



The clavichord was much more expressive than the harpsichord 

 and was the favorite instrument of John Sebastian Bach. It was 

 carried by Mozart on his musical journeys, and Beethoven also was 

 partial to the instrument. 



An interesting old clavichord is 94886, brought from Bohemia in 

 1791 by Henrietta Decker. It is supposed to have been made in 1741. 

 There are two wires to each note, and the instrument was placed on a 

 table when played. It was collected among the Moravians of Penn- 

 vania by John B. Kevinski. 



In the course of time a musician saw the key principle used on 

 the clavichord and put a plectrum on the upright at the end of the 

 key lever. When he pressed the key downward the plectrum, forced 

 upward, twanged the string. This was the inception of the spinet, 

 virginal, harpsichord, and similar instruments, which, in method 

 of tone production, were psalteries twanged mechanically by means 

 of a keyboard. The dulcimer was at first a small, flat instrument, 

 placed on a table when played. Later it was made with longer 

 strings set in a rectangular frame with legs at the corners, but the 

 strings were still struck by hammers held in the player's hands. 

 Nevertheless it contributed to the development of the pianoforte, in 

 which hammers were substituted for plectra at the ends of the key 

 bars, vibrating the strings by percussion instead of by plucking, as 

 in the spinet group of instruments. The early forms of the psaltery 

 and dulcimer are considered on page 91. 



SPINET AND VIRGINAL. 



The name "spinet" is applied to a group of keyboard stringed 

 instruments with one string to each note, vibrated by twanging. The 

 name is said to have been derived from the little crow-quill plectrum, 

 somewhat resembling a thorn (Latin spina) with which the strings 

 were sounded. In England the instrument was called a virginal. 

 Neither of these, however, was the original name, for in 1404, in the 

 rules of the Minnesingers, the instrument was called a "clavicym- 

 bolum." Various names were given the instrument in various coun- 

 tries, and it was made in oblong, trapeze, and wing shape. There 

 was also an upright spinet called a clavicytherium, which in some 

 instances had gut strings. The early keyboard of the spinet group 

 followed the keyboard of the organs of that day and had keys of 

 such width that the player could compass an octave with his hand. 

 The earlier organ keys were so wide that a player could compass 

 only a fifth. Boxwood seems to have preceded ivory for the lower 

 (natural) keys, while the upper (sharp or flat) keys were of ebony 

 or were stained a dark color. The present arrangement of ivory 

 and ebony keys came into use during the last 30 or 40 years of the 

 eighteenth century. A model of the instrument is 95789. 



