Claviciterium

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Clavicytherium (top right) (In: Michael Praetorius : Syntagma musicum , 1615–1619)

A Klaviziterium or Clavicytherium (also Claviciterium , Klavizitherium or Klavicitherium ) is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the sound is generated by plucking the strings with quills like the harpsichord . With the Clavicytherium, however, the body is upright and the strings run vertically, i.e. vertically to the keys, which means that it can be placed on a wall to save space.

The name Clavicytherium is made up of the Latin words clavis for key, and cytherium , which is commonly derived from the ancient Greek kithara - a literal translation into German would therefore be: "key kithara" (or "key zither"). The word part cytherium can also be derived from the Latin adjective cythereus or cythereius : This means "holy to Venus" because there was an important sanctuary of this goddess on the island of Kythera (today Kythira). Accordingly, the clavicytherium would be a “keyboard instrument consecrated to Venus”.

As early as 1388, in a letter from John I of Aragón to Philip the Bold of Burgundy, an instrument is mentioned that "resembles an organ, but sounds with strings" ( semblant dorguens que sona ab cordes ) - this instrument could have been a clavicytherium be. That would mean it's older than the harpsichord. The name "Clavicytherium" appears for the first time in 1511 in Sebastian Virdungs Musica tutscht .

Clavicytheria were apparently rather rare, but were built until the 18th century, later also with fortepiano mechanics.

Received instruments (without claim to completeness):

  • The earliest surviving clavicytherium is a small anonymous instrument from around 1470/1480, probably from Ulm; it is now in the Royal College of Music in London and is the oldest surviving keel instrument ever. As a special feature it has only half a soundboard , other instruments with this detail are available in Oslo: Norsk Folkmuseum (Anonymus), and in Stockholm: Musikmuseet (Henning Hake 1657). In the upper area, the strings swing freely like a harp . The instrument has only one undamped register, i.e. H. after plucking the string, the sound can vibrate unhindered, with an “ethereal” effect reminiscent of a psaltery .
  • An anonymous clavicytherium of typical southern German provenance from around 1620 in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg . This is an extraordinary and tonally colored instrument with three 8 'registers with only two 8' strings and one 4 'octave. One of the two 8 'covers can be plucked from two different registers at different points and therefore produces two different sound qualities: a dark virginal- like register and a nasal register, the third 8' is in between and has a "normal" silvery harpsichord sound . The 4 'is also a nasal register. At least one of the stops also has brass picks, and split stops , such as in Spanish organs - d. H. different sounds can be selected in the bass and treble.
  • An anonymous 17th century Italian clavicytherium has a square case with painted double doors (like an organ) and a picture of King David inside, who appears to be playing the actual instrument like a harp (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
  • A magnificent pyramid clavicytherium by Martin Kaiser from the 2nd half of the 17th century, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, comes from the possession of Emperor Leopold I. It is decorated with tortoiseshell , ivory and gilded bronze. This instrument does not have the typical irregular harpsichord or harp shape - due to the long bass strings on the left and the short treble strings on the right - but a symmetrical shape with concave side walls on the right and left. The long bass strings are all in the middle, the short strings on the left and right. A sophisticated mechanism is necessary so that this unusual string arrangement can be played from the keys. Another pyramid clavicytherium made by an Italian harpsichord maker (17th century) is preserved in Rome in the Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti musicali .
  • Three clavicytherias have been preserved by the south-Dutch harpsichord maker Albert Delin , one from 1751 in the Musée Instrumental Brussels , the other two in the State Institute for Music Research Berlin (1752), and in the Gemeentemuseum The Hague (around 1760). Delin's instruments have a disposition of two 8 'registers with a lute slide .
  • From the second half of the 18th century three clavicytherias from Ireland have been preserved, one of them also a claviorganum from Woffington (private collection Japan), the other two in pyramid shape (Ferdinand Weber 1764 and Henry Rother 1774).
  • The first clavicytherium with pianoforte mechanism was made by the Sicilian Domenico del Mela in 1739; it is in the Museo degli Strumenti musicali in Florence .
  • Three pyramid pianos by Christian Ernst Friederici have been preserved, one of them (1745) in the Musée Instrumental Brussels .
  • In the 19th century, pianos in the shape of a clavicytherium were occasionally built, but these instruments were usually named differently: A pyramid piano by Conrad Graf from around 1829 (Gemeentemuseum Den Haag) is a pompous piece of furniture in the Egyptian-inspired Empire style with a double eagle and lyre and with sculptures holding candlesticks. It was supposedly built for a wealthy Hungarian businessman who wanted "something unusual". Similarly pompous is a so-called giraffe piano by Corneille Charles Emanuel van der Does (approx. 1820), in reality an empire clavicytherium in the normal inclined shape - with lion caryathids as legs and a purely decorative column on the left side.
Andrea Sacchi : Marc'Antonio Pasqualini crowned by Apollo (1641). The famous singer plays on a harp-like clavicytherium without a soundboard, which is also mentioned by Mersenne in 1636

The clavizytherium can be regarded as the forerunner of the upright pianos (pianinos).

The historical clavicytherium experienced a renaissance in the 1950s, when JC Neupert ( Bamberg ) produced a so-called harpsichord in a small piano shape with a foldable keyboard and vertical cover .

literature

  • Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003 (English).
  • Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997 (English).
  • Langenscheidt's large school dictionary Latin-German , edited by Dr. Erich Pertsch. Extended new edition 1983, Langenscheidt, Berlin et al. 1971/1977/1983.
  • John Henry van der Meer :  harpsichord, clavizitherium, spinet, virginal. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, factual part, volume 2 (Bolero - Encyclopedie). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1995, ISBN 3-7618-1103-9 , Sp. 487-528 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  • Konrad Nagel: Klavizitherium - self-made. Merseburger, Kassel 1987, ISBN 3-87537-229-8 .

Web links

Commons : Klaviziterium  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Langenscheidt's Large School Dictionary Latin-German , edited by Dr. Erich Pertsch. Extended new edition 1983, Langenscheidt, Berlin et al. 1971/1977/1983, p. 303.
  2. ↑ Strictly speaking, it was a sanctuary of the Greek goddess Aphrodite, but she corresponds to the Roman goddess Venus.
  3. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, p. 10.
  4. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, p. 476 (footnote 6).
  5. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, pp. 22-23.
  6. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, p. 24.
  7. ↑ Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European museum. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, pp. 233f.
  8. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, pp. 187-188.
  9. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, p. 134.
  10. ↑ Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European museum. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, p. 13 (Vienna), and pp. 156-157 (Rome).
  11. ↑ Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European museum. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, p. 33 (Brussels), p. 76 (Berlin), p. 162f (The Hague).
  12. ↑ Edward L. Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord. Indiana University Press, Bloomington (Indiana) 2003, pp. 290 and 294-295.
  13. ↑ Weber's instrument in private ownership in Dublin, the Rothersche in the National Museum in Dublin. See: Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, pp. 381f.
  14. ↑ Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European museum. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, p. 146.
  15. ↑ Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European museum. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, pp. 34-35.
  16. ↑ Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European museum. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, p. 167.
  17. ^ In London, Victoria and Albert Museum. See: Edward L. Kottick, George Lucktenberg: Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums. Indiana University Press, Bloomington / Indianapolis 1997, pp. 248, 250.