HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 107 



An outstanding peculiarity of the harpsichord was the use of 

 stops, probably suggested by the organ. These were slides placed 

 above the keyboard and by means of them a wide variety of effects 

 could be produced. For instance, the player could draw out a stop 

 and only the string twanged by the quill would be vibrated, suggest- 

 ing the sound of a lute. Another stop would cause two of the strings 

 to sound. Some harpsichords had sets of strings of different lengths. 

 A set of long strings produced a 16-foot tone like the long pipes of 

 an organ, another set produced 8-foot tones, another produced 

 4-foot tones (an octave higher), while some harpsichords had a set 

 of very short strings producing 2-foot tones. The famous Ruckers 

 family, of Antwerp, made harpsichords as well as spinets, continuing 

 the work to the third generation. The greatest harpsichord makers 

 of the eighteenth century in London were Jacob Kirckman and 

 Burkat Shudi, who began business in 1732 in the house which later 

 was occupied by his descendants the Broadwoods, makers of early 

 pianos. Kirckman's harpsichords had a swell, the cover being gradu- 

 ally raised by means of a pedal. Later the organ swell with its 

 shutters was evolved from this appliance. On a harpsichord with 

 two keyboards the upper produced the normal or 8-foot tone, the 

 lower keyboard being used for combinations which were effected by 

 levers pressed by the knees as well as by stops above the keyboard. 

 A particular fine harpsichord (95234) was made by Nicolaus Dequoco 

 in 1693 and obtained in Florence by Doctor Goode in 1892. The 

 body of the instrument is of plain unvarnished wood, and it is en- 

 closed in a painted outer case that rests on a carved gilt stand. It can 

 be removed from the outer case, and that, in turn, may be lifted from 

 the gilt stand. Originally it had three wires to each key, two tuned 

 in unison and the third tuned an octave higher. Originally it had 

 three stops moved by sliding knobs in the face of the name board. 

 These are now missing. 



PIANOFORTE 



The dulcimer, as already indicated, was a percussive instrument, 

 and a larger dulcimer was in a frame with legs at the corners, re- 

 sembling the frame of a small " square " piano except that it had no 

 keyboard. The strings were struck by hammers held in the player's 

 hands and it had no damping contrivance, so the tone was very 

 harsh. Several attempts were made to combine a keyboard with it 

 during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, but the first success- 

 ful instrument of this sort was invented in 1711 by Bartalomeo Cris- 

 tofori, a harpsichord maker of Florence. It was called the piano- 

 forte in Italy and the hammerclavier in Germany. Beethoven 

 designated the instrument by both terms. The mechanism for strik- 

 ing the string may be compared to the finger of a violin player, as 



