Clavichord

1977 clavichord by Keith Hill, Op. 44 (Op. 28 reworked)
Keyboard instrument
Hornbostel–Sachs classification	314.122-4-8 (Simple chordophone with keyboard sounded by tangents)
Developed	Early 14th century

The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was widely used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition, not being loud enough for larger performances. The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with small metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through the bridge(s) to the soundboard. The name is derived from the Latin word clavis, meaning "key" (associated with more common clavus, meaning "nail, rod, etc.") and chorda (from Greek χορδή) meaning "string, especially of a musical instrument".

History and use[link]

The clavichord was invented in the early fourteenth century.^[1][2] In 1504, the German poem "Der Minne Regeln" mentions the terms clavicimbalum (a term used mainly for the harpsichord) and clavichordium, designating them as the best instruments to accompany melodies.

The "Lépante" clavichord,^[3] Musée de la Musique, Paris

One of the earliest references to the clavichord in England occurs in the privy-purse expenses of Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII, in an entry dated August 1502:

Item. The same day, Hugh Denys for money by him delivered to a stranger that gave the queen a payre of clavycordes. In crowns form his reward iiii libres.^[4]

The clavichord was very popular from the 16th century to the 18th century, but mainly flourished in German-speaking lands, Scandinavia, and the Iberian Peninsula in the latter part of this period. It had fallen out of use by 1850. In the late 1890s, Arnold Dolmetsch revived clavichord construction and Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, among others, helped to popularize the instrument. Although most of the instruments built before the 1730s were small (four octaves, four feet long), the latest instruments were built up to seven feet long with a six octave range.^{[citation needed]}

Today clavichords are played primarily by Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical music enthusiasts. They attract many interested buyers, and are manufactured worldwide. There are now numerous clavichord societies around the world, and some 400 recordings of the instrument have been made in the past 70 years. Leading modern exponents of the instrument include Derek Adlam, Christopher Hogwood, Richard Troeger, and Miklos Spányi.

Modern music[link]

The clavichord has also gained attention in other genres of music, in the form of the clavinet, which is essentially an electric clavichord which uses a magnetic pickup to provide a signal for amplification. Stevie Wonder uses a clavinet in many of his songs, such as "Superstition" and "Higher Ground". A clavinet played through an instrument amplifier with guitar effect pedals is often associated with funky, disco-infused 1970s rock.

Guy Sigsworth has played clavichord in a modern setting with Björk, notably on the studio recording of "All Is Full of Love". Björk also made extensive use of and even played the instrument herself on the song "My Juvenile" of her 2007 album Volta.

Tori Amos uses the instrument on "Little Amsterdam" from the album Boys for Pele and on the song "Smokey Joe" from her 2007 album American Doll Posse. Amos also featured her use of the clavinet on her 2004 recording "Not David Bowie", released as part of her 2006 box set, A Piano: The Collection.

In 1976 Oscar Peterson played (with Joe Pass on acoustic guitar) songs from Porgy And Bess on the clavichord. Keith Jarrett also recorded an album entitled Book of Ways (1987) in which he plays a series of clavichord improvisations. The Beatles' "For No One" (1966) features Paul McCartney playing the clavichord. Rick Wakeman plays the clavichord in the track "The Battle" from the album Journey to the Centre of the Earth.

Structure and action[link]

Schematic diagram of clavichord mechanism: A/B. Keys. 1A/1B. Tangents. 2A/2B. Keylevers. 3. String. 4. Soundboard. 5. Bridge-pin, next to tuning peg. 6. Damping felt, next to hitch-pin. (Note that this sketch is a simplification. In the actual instrument, the strings run perpendicular to the keylevers. In other words, the strings run lengthwise in the instrument.)^[5]

In the clavichord, strings run transversely from the hitchpin rail at the left-hand end to tuning pegs on the right. Towards the right end they pass over a curved wooden bridge. The action is simple, with the keys being levers with a small brass tangent, a small piece of metal similar in shape and size to the head of a flat-bladed screwdriver, at the far end. The strings, which are usually of brass, or else a combination of brass and iron, are usually arranged in pairs, like a lute or mandolin. When the key is pressed, the tangent strikes the strings above, causing them to sound in a similar fashion to the hammering technique on a guitar. Unlike in a piano action, the tangent does not rebound from the string; rather, it stays in contact with the string as long as the key is held, acting as both the nut and as the initiator of sound. The volume of the note can be changed by striking harder or softer, and the pitch can also be affected by varying the force of the tangent against the string (known as Bebung). When the key is released, the tangent loses contact with the string and the vibration of the string is silenced by strips of damping cloth.

The action of the clavichord is unique among all keyboard instruments in that one part of the action simultaneously initiates the sound vibration while at the same time defining the endpoint of the vibrating string, and thus its pitch. Because of this intimate contact between the player's hand and the production of sound, the clavichord has been referred to as the most intimate of keyboard instruments. Despite its many (serious) limitations, including extremely low volume, it has considerable expressive power, the player being able to control attack, duration, volume, and even provide certain subtle effects of swelling of tone and a type of vibrato unique to the clavichord.

Fretting[link]

Large five-octave unfretted clavichord by Paul Maurici, after J.A. Hass

Since the string vibrates from the bridge only as far as the tangent, multiple keys with multiple tangents can be assigned to the same string. This is called fretting. Early clavichords frequently had many notes played on each string, even going so far as the keyed monochord — an instrument with only one string — though most clavichords were triple- or double-fretted. Since only one note can be played at a time on each string, the fretting pattern is generally chosen so that notes which are rarely heard together (such as C and C♯) share a string pair. The advantages to this system compared with unfretted instruments (see below) include relative ease of tuning (with around half as many strings to keep in tune), greater volume (though still not really enough for use in chamber music), and a clearer, more direct sound. Among the disadvantages: temperament could not be re-set without bending the tangents; and playing required a further refinement of touch, since notes sharing a single string played in quick succession needed to be slightly separated to avoid a disagreeable deadening of the sound, potentially disturbing a legato line.

Fretted clavichord, copy of an unsigned instrument conserved in Namur, Belgium. The way the same string pair is used for several notes is clearly visible in the full size image.

Some clavichords have been built with a single pair of strings for each note. The first known reference to one was by Johann Speth in 1693 and the earliest such extant signed and dated clavichord was built in 1716 by Johann Michael Heinitz. Such instruments are referred to as unfretted whereas instruments using the same strings for several notes are called fretted. Among the advantages to unfretted instruments are flexibility in tuning (the temperament can be easily altered) and the ability to play any music exactly as written without concern for "bad" notes. Disadvantages include a smaller volume, even though many or most unfretted instruments tend to be significantly larger than fretted instruments; and many more strings to keep in tune. Unfretted instruments tend to have a sweeter, less incisive tone due to the greater load on the bridge resulting from the greater number of strings, though the large, late (early 19th century) Swedish clavichords tend to be the loudest of any of the historic clavichords.

Pedal clavichord[link]

While clavichords were typically single manual instruments, they could be stacked to provide multiple keyboards. With the addition of a pedal clavichord, which included a pedal keyboard for the lower notes, a clavichord could be used to practice organist repertoire. In the era of pipe organs which used hand-pumped blowers, and of churches which were only heated during church services, organists used pedal harpsichords and pedal clavichords as practice instruments (see also: pedal piano).^[6] There is speculation that some works written for organ may have been intended for pedal clavichord. An interesting case is made by Speerstra (2004) that Bach's "Eight Little Preludes and Fugues", now thought to be spurious, may actually be authentic. The keyboard writing seems unsuited to organ, but Speerstra argues that they are idiomatic on the pedal clavichord. As Speerstra and Williams (2003) also note, the compass of the keyboard parts of Bach's six organ trio sonatas BWV 525–530 rarely go below the tenor C, so could have been played on a single manual pedal clavichord, by moving the left hand down an octave, a customary practice in the 18th century.

Repertoire[link]

Gerard Dou, Woman at the Clavichord

Much of the musical repertoire written for harpsichord and organ from the period circa 1400–1800 can be played on the clavichord; however, it does not have enough (unamplified) volume to participate in chamber music, with the possible exception of providing accompaniment to a soft baroque flute, recorder, or single singer. J. S. Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was a great proponent of the instrument, and most of his German contemporaries regarded it as a central keyboard instrument, for performing, teaching, composing and practicing. The fretting of a clavichord provides new problems for some repertoire, but scholarship suggests that these problems are not insurmountable in Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier (Loucks (1992)). Among recent clavichord recordings, those by Christopher Hogwood (The Secret Bach, The Secret Handel, and, most recently, The Secret Mozart), break new ground. In his liner notes, Hogwood points out that these composers would typically have played the clavichord in the privacy of their homes. The English composer Herbert Howells (1892–1983) wrote two significant collections of pieces for clavichord (Lambert's Clavichord & Howells' Clavichord).

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Brauchli, Bernard (1998), The Clavichord, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-63067-3 
• Jeans, Susi (1951), The Pedal Clavichord and Other Practice Instruments of Organists, Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association, 77th Sess., 1950–1951, Oxford University Press, JSTOR 766144 
• Kottick, Edward L. (1997), Early Keyboard Instruments in European Museums, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-33239-7 
• Riemenschneider, Albert (1950), Preface and translations of forewords by Friedrich Griepenkerl to Organ works of J.S. Bach, 2067, C.F. Peters 
• Speerstra, Joel (2004), Bach and the Pedal Clavichord: an Organist's Guide, University of Rochester Press, ISBN 1-58046-135-2 
• Williams, Peter (2003), The Organ Music of J.S. Bach (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 4–6, ISBN 0-521-89115-9 
• Loucks, Richard (1992), Was the 'Well-Tempered Clavier' performable on a fretted clavichord?, Performance Practice Review, 5/1, pp. 44–89 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Clavichords

• Introduction of "The Clavichord" by Bernard Brauchli
• A brief history of the clavichord^{[dead link]}
• Tuning for playing J. S. Bach
• Clavichord International
• British Clavichord Society
• Boston Clavichord Society
• The pedal clavichord (in French)
• Clavichords at the house of Heinrich Schütz (in German)

• Extant historical clavichords at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Clavichord by Christian Kintzing, Neuwied, Germany, 1763
  • Clavichord by John Christopher Jesse, Halberstadt, Germany, 1765
  • Clavichord, Germany, 18th century

The Palencia Cathedral, where Cabezón probably received his music education from one García de Baeza.

Antonio de Cabezón (30 March 1510 – 26 March 1566) was a Spanish Renaissance composer and organist. Blind from childhood, he quickly rose to prominence as performer and was eventually employed by the royal family. He was among the most important composers of his time and the first major Iberian keyboard composer.

Life[link]

Isabella of Portugal, queen consort of Charles V, Cabezón's first patron. Portrait by Titian.

Cabezón was born in Castrillo Matajudíos, a municipality near Burgos, in the north of Spain. Nothing is known about his formative years. He became blind in early childhood, and he may have been educated at the Palencia Cathedral by the organist there, García de Baeza. At the time, the country was slowly entering its Golden Age. On 14 March 1516 Charles V was proclaimed King of Castile and of Aragon jointly with his mother, the first time the crowns of Castile and Aragon were united under the same king. After the death of his paternal grandfather, Maximilian, in 1519, Charles also inherited the Habsburg lands in Austria, and later went on to become Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and one of the most powerful monarchs in the world.

In 1525 Charles married Isabella of Portugal, further strengthening his position in Spain. It was Isabella who employed Cabezón into her service in 1526. His duties included playing the clavichord and the organ, and he also assumed the position of organist at the chapel Isabella organized soon after her wedding. The composer remained with the royal family for the rest of his life. Through the court, he met such important composers as vihuelist Luis de Narváez, known today for his advanced polyphonic fantasias, and Tomás de Santa María, theorist and composer whose important treatise on instrumental music, Arte de tañer fantasía, was examined and approved by Cabezón.

In 1538 Cabezón was made músico de la cámara (chamber musician) to Charles (who was educated in music as a child, by noted organist Henry Bredemers). After Isabella's death in 1539 Cabezón was appointed music teacher to her children: Prince Felipe and his sisters Maria and Joan (Maria would later become the most important patron of composer Tomás Luis de Victoria). In 1543 Felipe became Regent of Spain, and he made Cabezón his court organist. Cabezón's duties included playing a portative organ for Felipe on his journeys. On 19 July 1546 Cabezón's brother Juan, also an organist and composer, was appointed musician in the royal chapel of Prince Felipe. Since the late 1540s Antonio and Juan both accompanied Felipe on his various trips, and visited Italy, the Netherlands, Germany (in 1548–49), and England (in 1554–56), where Antonio's variations may have influenced Byrd and Tallis, who latter took up the form.^[1]

Practically nothing is known about Cabezón's personal life. He married one Luisa Nuñez de Mocos from Ávila, and the couple had five children. One of Antonio's sons, Hernando de Cabezón (1541–1602) became a composer and it was through his efforts that the bulk of Antonio's oeuvre was preserved. Another son, Agustín de Cabezón (died before 1564), became a chorister of the royal chapel.^[1] Cabezón died in Madrid on 26 March 1566.

Works[link]

Title page of Obras de música

A few of Cabezón's works appeared in print during his lifetime in Venegas de Henestrosa's compilation Libro de cifra nueva (Alcalá de Henares, 1557). However, the majority of his compositions were published posthumously by his son Hernando in a volume titled Obras de música para tecla, arpa y vihuela (Madrid, 1578). Together these collections contain some 275 pieces, most for organ or other keyboard instruments. Cabezón also composed instrumental music for plucked string instruments and ensembles, and vocal music, but only a single vocal piece survives: Invocación a la letanía, in the Cancionero de la Casa de Medinaceli. A mention of a mass by Cabezón is contained in a 1611 inventory of music from Cuenca Cathedral, but the actual music is lost, as are, presumably, many other works by the composer.^[1]

Liturgical organ music[link]

While French and Italian organists of the time frequently composed organ masses, in Spain this practice was limited to versos on the Kyrie. Consequently, most of Cabezón's liturgical music was intended for the Daily Offices—prescribed prayers of the daily round.^[2] The mass is represented by the nine sets of Kyrie verses for organ. These fall into the following groups:

• Kyrie de Nuestra Señora, a three-voice setting, three parts (Kyrie, Christe, Kyrie) with the cunctipotens ("Mass IV") chant in the tenor.
• Tema Rex virginum, a four-voice setting, four parts (on the same chant: Kyrie, Kyrie, Christe, Kyrie rather than the expected even verses K-Chr-Chr-K)
• Kyries de primer, segundo, [...] septimo tono, seven four-voice settings, all in four parts (Kyrie, Christe, Christe, Kyrie); the original source places quinto tono last, possibly by mistake.

Cabezón's music for the Daily Offices comprises 32 hymns and three collections of versets for the psalms and for the Magnificats:

• Salmodia para principiantes (sets of four versillos on each of the 8 psalm tones "for beginners")
• Fabordon y glosas [del primer, segundo, [...] tono] (faburdens with 3 glosas or divisions in upper, bass and inner voices for each tone)
• Salmodia para el Magnificat (7 Magnificat verses for each tone)

Tientos[link]

The tiento was a polyphonic form of instrumental music that originated in the Iberian peninsula, and has been linked to both tastar de corde (an improvisatory prelude) and the ricercar (an improvisatory prelude or, at a later stage of development, a strict imitative composition). Twenty-nine tientos by Cabezón survive. Fourteen appeared in Libro de cifra nueva: these works are all written out in long note values, alternating between imitative counterpoint and non-imitative sections. Usually there are three or four themes, and the first to be presented is also the most developed. The non-imitative parts frequently employ techniques unusual for the genre at the time: extended duets, motifs transforming into ostinato patterns.^[3] Twelve more tientos appear in Obras de música: six from an earlier period in Cabezón's career, and six late works. While the earlier pieces are similar in many respects to the Libro de cifra pieces, Cabezón's late tientos use smaller note values, have a tendency towards longer and more characteristic subjects, and many of their features anticipate the music of the Baroque period.^[4]

Variations[link]

Nine sets of variations (in Spanish tradition called discantes, diferencias, or glosas) are included in Obras de musica:

1. Diferencias sobre las Vacas (3 variations)
2. Pavana italiana (6 variations)
3. Diferencias sobre la Gallarda milanese (2 variations)
4. Diferencias sobre el canto del Caballero (5 variations)
5. Diferencias sobre la Pavana italiana (5 variations)
6. Diferencias sobre el canto de La Dama le demanda (6 variations on Arbeau's La Belle qui tiens ma vie)
7. Diferencias sobre el villancico De quién teme enojo Isabel (7 variations)
8. Diferencias sobre las Vacas (6 variations)
9. Otras diferencias de Vacas (4 variations)

Cabezón's variations are one of the earliest high points of the genre, and presumably influenced English composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd.^[1] All of the variation sets begin with the first variation, assuming the theme is already known to the listener, and connects individual variations using free transitions, thus frequently making analysis of the structure complicated.^[5] Cabezón uses numerous techniques, such as a migrating and/or heavily ornamented cantus firmus. The models are taken from popular Spanish songs, dance forms, and established melodic-harmonic frameworks.^[1]

Intabulations[link]

The intabulations in Obras de música are ordered according to polyphonic complexity, starting with the simpler four-part pieces and culminating with six-part ones. They are based on works by composers such as Josquin des Prez and Orlande de Lassus and are more or less similar to most such compositions of the period.^[1]

Media[link]

	Canto del Caballero performed on a harpsichord by Robert Schröter Duuiensela performed on a clavichord by Joan Benson
Problems listening to these files? See media help.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Apel, Willi. 1972. The History of Keyboard Music to 1700. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21141-7. Originally published as Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700 by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.
• Jambou, Louis. "Cabezón. 1. Antonio de Cabezón", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 29 December 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antonio de Cabezón

Sheet music[link]

• Obras de musica para tecla, arpa y vihuela (click "View options" JPG icon) - Biblioteca Nacional de España info
• Free scores by Antonio de Cabezón in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Antonio de Cabezón at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Antonio de Cabezón in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• A generous number of editions from Obras and Henestrosa (in Japanese)

Recordings[link]

• http://www.paolaerdas.it/e_discografia.html

Gottfried Silbermann (January 14, 1683 – August 4, 1753) was an influential German constructor of keyboard instruments. He built harpsichords, clavichords, organs, and fortepianos; his modern reputation rests mainly on the latter two.

Life[link]

Very little is known about Silbermann's youth. He was born in Kleinbobritzsch (now a part of Frauenstein, Saxony) as the youngest son of the carpenter Michael Silbermann. They moved to the nearby town of Frauenstein in 1685, and it is possible that Gottfried also learnt carpentry there. He moved to Straßburg in 1702, where he learnt organ construction from his brother and came in touch with the French-Alsatian school of organ construction. He returned to Saxony as a master craftsman in 1710, and opened his own organ workshop in Freiberg one year later. His second project in Germany was the "Grand Organ" in the Freiberg Cathedral of St. Mary, finished in 1714. In 1723 he was bestowed the title Königlich Pohlischen und Churfürstlich Sächsischen Hof- und Landorgelmachers ("Honorary Court and State Organ Builder to the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony") by Frederick I.^[1] Silbermann died in Dresden in 1753, probably as the result of a tin-lead poisoning, while still working on the organ at the Hofkirche.

Silbermann organ in Freiberg Cathedral

Silbermann's organs[link]

The organs that Silbermann and his brother Andreas Silbermann built show a clear and distinctive style, both in architecture and in their music qualities. Silbermann never deviated from this style. Silbermann's ability to earn money with organ construction was remarkable, leading him to uncommon wealth. His economic operation and slow consolidation of his position eventually created a near monopoly. His apprentices had to pledge never to work in Central Germany.

Silbermann's non-negotiable style was not welcome everywhere , an important example of an opponent being Johann Sebastian Bach, who, unlike Silbermann who tuned in meantone temperament, preferred a more flexible tuning.

Silbermann designed and built approximately 50 organs, 29 of which are still in existence in Saxony, including the organ in the Hofkirche in Dresden. The Hofkirche organ and that of Freiberg Cathedral are considered his greatest works. The organ in Freiberg Cathedral has three manuals and 41 stops divided between Oberwerk, Hauptwerk, Brustwerk and Pedal. Silbermann's organs are characterised by the use of strong reeds, a broad range of stops, and pipes with a high tin content, which adds a distinctive brightness to the tone.^[2]

Silbermann and the piano[link]

Silbermann was also a central figure in the history of the piano. He transmitted to later builders the crucial ideas of Bartolomeo Cristofori (the inventor of the piano), ensuring their survival, and also invented the forerunner of the damper pedal.

Evidence from the Universal-Lexicon of Johann Heinrich Zedler indicates that Silbermann first built a piano in 1732, only a year after Cristofori's death. Silbermann may have found out about Cristofori's invention as follows. In 1709, Scipione Maffei did research on the newly invented piano, including an interview with Cristofori, and published his findings (with a ringing endorsement of the instrument) in a 1711 Italian journal article. In 1725, this article was translated into German by the Dresden court poet Johann Ulrich König, who was almost certainly a personal acquaintance of Silbermann.

In his mature pianos, Silbermann scrupulously copied the complex action found in Cristofori's last instruments, failing only to produce a correct copy of the back check. Silbermann also copied another ingenious Cristofori invention, the inverted wrest plank (see Bartolomeo Cristofori for the function of this device). In other respects (case construction, choice of wood species, string diameters and spacing, keyboard design), Silbermann relied on his own experience as a harpsichord builder.

During the 1740s, King Frederick the Great of Prussia became acquainted with Silbermann's pianos and bought a number of them (the early 19th century musicologist Johann Nikolaus Forkel claims this number was 15, though Stewart Pollens (reference below) believes this to be "certainly exaggerated"). Two of Silbermann's pianos are still located in Frederick's palaces in Potsdam today; they stand out for their elegant but plain and sober design amid the elaborate splendor of their surroundings.

The forerunner of the damper pedal[link]

Silbermann invented a device by which the player could lift all of the dampers off the strings, permitting them to vibrate freely, either when struck or sympathetically when other notes were played. This is the function in later pianos of the damper pedal. Silbermann's device was different from the modern damper pedal in two respects. First, it was not actually controlled by a pedal, but rather was a hand stop, which required the player to cease playing on the keys for a moment in order to change the damper configuration. Thus, it was a device for imparting an unusual tonal color to whole passages, rather than a means of nuanced expression as the pedal is today. Second, Silbermann's device was bifurcated, permitting the dampers of the treble and bass sections to be lifted separately. This latter feature has recently been reintroduced to the piano, in the form of the fourth and fifth pedals of pianos made by the Borgato firm; see Innovations in the piano.

There are at least two possible reasons for why Silbermann invented his damper-lifting mechanism. First, as an organ builder, he may have favored the idea of providing the player with a variety of tonal colors. The same impulse led German harpsichord builders of the time occasionally to include two-foot (two octaves higher than normal pitch) and sixteen-foot (one octave lower) choirs of strings in their instruments.

In addition, Silbermann had until 1727 built very large hammer dulcimers, called pantaleons, on behalf of Pantaleon Hebenstreit, who achieved a sensational career with virtuosic playing on this demanding instrument. The pantaleon, like any other hammered dulcimer, had no dampers and thus created a wash of sound. Silbermann later had a falling out with Hebenstreit and was blocked by a royal writ from building any further pantaleons. Stewart Pollens conjectures that in adding the damper-raising stop to the piano, Silberman may have been attempting to partially circumvent this restriction.

Silbermann and Bach[link]

The 18th century musician Johann Friedrich Agricola tells a story about the relationship of Silbermann, Johann Sebastian Bach, and pianos. After Silbermann had completed two instruments, Agricola says, he showed them to Bach, who replied critically, saying that the tone was weak in the treble and the keys were hard to play. Silbermann was stung and angered by the criticism, but ultimately took it to heart and was able to improve his pianos (exactly how is not known, but it may have been the result of Silbermann's encountering Cristofori's most mature instruments). The improved Silbermann pianos met with Bach's "complete approval" ("völlige Gutheißung"), and indeed a preserved sales voucher dated May 8, 1749 shows that Bach acted as an intermediary for Silbermann in the sale of one of his pianos.

Silbermann's pupils[link]

Silbermann's most important contribution to the piano may have been as the teacher of other builders. His nephew and pupil Johann Andreas Silbermann was the teacher of Johann Andreas Stein, who perfected the so-called "Viennese action", found in the pianos used by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Another group of Silbermann pupils were the so-called the "twelve apostles". These builders fled Germany during and after the time of chaos created by the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), migrating to England, where economic prosperity was creating new opportunities for instrument builders. The "twelve apostles" included Johannes Zumpe, whose invention of an affordable small square piano greatly popularized the instrument. They also included Americus Backers, one of the inventors of the "English action", which was a modified version of the Cristofori action.

Silbermann's role was crucial because, unlike other builders of his day, he refused to compromise on the quality of the action. Cristofori's action was complex and hard to build, leading many builders (e.g. Zumpe) to use instead a simplified, but clumsier action. Through Backers and others, the original conception of a complex but effective action survived. The English action was later modified and improved further by Sébastien Érard and Henri Herz to yield the action used in all grand pianos today. With the advent of industrial methods of manufacture, it ultimately became economical to include the complex modern action even in inexpensive pianos, thus vindicating Silbermann's original decision.

Silbermann's fame as a builder and teacher was such that for many decades he was regarded as the inventor of the piano; it was only with nineteenth century scholarship that this honor was restored to Cristofori.

References[link]

• The organ portion of this article is based on a translation from the German Wikipedia. The original is located here.
• For the piano portion, the following two reference works were relied on:
  • Good, Edwin M. (1982). Giraffes, black dragons, and other pianos : a technological history from Cristofori to the modern concert grand. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. 
  • Pollens, Stewart (1995). The Early Pianoforte. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• www.silbermann.org Gottfried-Silbermann-Society
• (German) Life of Silbermann
• (German) www.silbermannorgel-crostau.de Silbermann organ at Crostau

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (February 2008)

Jos Van Immerseel (9 November 1945, Antwerp) is a Flemish harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.

Van Immerseel studied organ, piano and harpsichord at the Antwerp Conservatory under Flor Peeters, Eugène Traey and harpsichordist and musicologist Kenneth Gilbert. He created the Collegium Musicum there, developing his interest in Renaissance and Baroque music, later expanding his activities to include the Classical and early Romantic eras. He is now in demand as a fortepianist in concert halls across Europe, where he is known for his refined sensitivity to the rhetorical aspects of music and for his skills in improvisation. (His cadenzas were singled out in reviews of his Beethoven concerto recordings.) He performs on his own instruments, travelling with his fortepiano when necessary.

In 1987 Van Immerseel established the period instrument ensemble Anima Eterna, which he continues to lead.^[1] During 1999 they toured Europe with performances of Beethoven symphonies.

In addition to his concertising, Van Immerseel is professor at the Antwerp Conservatory, where he uses historical instruments from the nearby Vleeshuis Museum to give masterclasses. He has also taught at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam and the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris, as well as given masterclasses at festivals in La Roque d’Anthéron, Utrecht, Sopron and Ancona.

Van Immerseel appears on the VIVARTE label as a solo performer, as a soloist with Tafelmusik and as a participant in chamber music.

Since winning first prize at the inaugural Paris International Harpsichord Competition in 1973, Jos Van Immerseel has gone on to establish a rare international career as a fortepianist and conductor specializing in music of the Baroque and Classical eras. A versatile musician who is accomplished on the organ and piano as well as harpsichord and fortepiano, Van Immerseel has in particular gained a reputation for his performances of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert on Sony Classical. Most recently he has appeared on the VIVARTE label with Anner Bylsma in performances of Beethoven's complete cello sonatas (S2K 60761) and with L'Archibudelli in performances of Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet and “Arpeggione” Sonata (SK 63361). Also issued under the VIVARTE label, his recent cycle of Beethoven Piano concertos with Tafelmusik and Bruno Weil (Nos. 1 and 2: SK 68250; Nos. 3 and 4: SK 62824; No. 5: SK 63365) elicited praise for his stylistic sensitivity and his musical sensibility. His recording of Mozart’s late piano works, Mozart: The Vienna Years (S2K 62879), prompted Classic CD to write that Van Immerseel is “among the most winning and authoritative champions of the fortepiano.”

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sony Classical biography