Noah Kayser-Hirsh

Music 247: Music and Ideas II

Essay 1

2/12/17

George Frideric Handel, one of the most influential composers of the 18th century,

famous for his operas, oratorios, keyboard music, and many other works, was forbidden by his

father at a young age to pursue his musical interests. His father and namesake, a barber-surgeon

of modest means, had different intentions. He had always intended for his son to study Civil

Law, and thus would not allow any George Frideric to have any musical instruments in the house

nor go somewhere else for the purpose of studying music. Almost inevitably, as so many parental

restrictions do, this only sparked Handels musical interest further. Through his own means he

acquired a clavichord and stored it privately at the top of the house. At night, Handel would steal

away to practice, and the soft tone of the clavichord allowed him to go unnoticed. When Handel

went to school at Weissenfels, his time at the clavichord had given him a strong musical

foundation that allowed him to flourish in his studies at the harpsichord.12 It is this soft tone that

makes the clavichord unique because though it is soft, the structure of the clavichord allows for a

range of volume and even vibrato. From its height of popularity in the 16th through 18th centuries,

all the way through its use in the present day, the clavichord remains a distinctive keyboard

instrument with a unique structure that allows for both personal use by amateurs and professional

use by composers and performers alike.

1 John Mainwaring, Memoirs of the Life of the Late George Frideric Handel (London: 1760), 1-5
2 I must mention that though Charles Burney confirmed this story, both Victor Schoechler and Paul Lang,
who wrote memoirs about Handel, dismissed it as a poetic imagination and a romantic story.
 The structure of the clavichord is strikingly simple compared to that of the piano, organ,

and harpsichord. This simplicity requires the performer to use extreme care in order to produce

the desired dynamic contrast and tone quality. At the end of each key of the clavichord there is a

small piece of brass called a tangent. When the key is struck the tangent hits the string, vibrating

it and producing a sound that travels through the bridge and out the soundboard. Clavichords are

generally small because they were often produced for personal use. This often requires that there

be more keys than strings. Multiple tangents can strike the same string in different places,

producing different pitches. On other keyboard instruments each key strikes one string, the

clavichord is similar to the guitar and other string instruments in that one string can be caused to

vibrate at different lengths. Because the tangent rests just millimeters below the string, to vary

dynamics the player must carefully apply pressure and strike each key with purpose. While the

string of a piano is struck in the middle, the strings of the clavichord are struck nearer to the end.

This produces a softer dynamic range than the piano and requires a different playing style. The

wrists must be kept close to the keys in order to apply the correct amount of pressure with each

strike, so most of the players movement is in the wrists rather than the shoulders. The structure

of the key and the string also allows the player to produce a slight vibrato unique to the

clavichord by applying pressure after the note is initially struck. All of these factors contribute to

a very close connection between the key and the string and thus a close connection with the

player and the string much like the intimacy a player has when plucking the strings of a guitar.3

The personal nature of the clavichords structure closely reflects its personal uses for players.

Because of its soft range of dynamics (roughly ppp-mp), the clavichord does not always lend

well to live performance, especially in large spaces. Thus the clavichord was used more

3 J. Peter Burkholder, Donald Jay Grout and Claude V. Palisca, A History of Western Music (New York:
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2010), 268
intimately. Amateurs played the clavichord for their own enjoyment, and composers often wrote

pieces to be played by amateurs. Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722) wrote six biblical sonatas at the

turn of the 18th century, bible stories set to clavichord intended for the enjoyment of amateurs.

The sonatas portray six different bible stories: the fight between David and Goliath, Saul's

melancholy cured by the music played by David on his harp, Jacob's wedding, Hezekiah's

sickness and restoration, Gideon, Saviour of Israel, and Jacob's death and burial. Kuhnau wrote

at an important time in the musical history of Germany. France and Italy had been the dominant

musical forces throughout the 17th century, making great strides in opera, instrumental music,

dance music, and many other genres. German musicians often learned from Italian and French

musicians while still developing a unique style. The organ and French harpsichord were

introduced and would later be utilized by those such as Buxtehude, Bach, and Handel. German

composers developed the orchestral suite and advanced the solo sonata. It was in this time of

novelty in German music that Kuhnau began to transfer sonatas to the keyboard, also a

somewhat novel thing.4 Along with new instruments and musical styles, the rise of professional

music and music for personal enjoyment in Italy and France was brought to Germany as well.

The clavichord was a perfect instrument for this development because its soft pitch and intimate

playing style lend well to playing for personal enjoyment or the enjoyment of a few listeners.

The clavichord also saw use in the professional music circle, as both a practice

instrument and an aid in composition. Though its soft dynamic range allowed it to be used as a

practice instrument, the action of the keys and strings while playing the clavichord is so different

from other keyboards that techniques are often not transferrable from one keyboard instrument to

another. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the clavichord was very popular as a compositional tool.

4 Burkholder, Grout and Palisca, Western Music, 409-410

Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788) especially enjoyed the clavichord. In his account of

CPE Bach, Dr. Charles Burney wrote,

M. Bach was so obliging as to sit down to his Silbermann clavichord, and

favourite instrument, upon which he played three or four of his choicest and most
difficult compositions, with the delicacy, precision, and spirit, for which he is so
justly celebrated among his countrymen. In the pathetic and slow movements,
whenever he had a long note to express, he absolutely contrived to produce, from
his instrument, a cry of sorrow and complaint, such as can only be effected upon
the clavichord, and perhaps by himself.5
Bachs love for his Silbermann clavichord is apparent in his composition Abschied von meinem

silbermannischen Claviere in einem Rondo, which translates to A farewell to my Silbermann

clavichord in a rondo. This is a beautiful rondo that emulates many of the key elements of

clavichord playing style. CPE Bachs practical approach to keyboard writing often meant his

keyboard music could be translated across different keyboards. Elements of clavichord style

showed up in many of these compositions, because he used the clavichord to write much of his

keyboard music.6

The clavichord persists to this day in an interesting fashion. In 1976, along with Joe Pass on

guitar, Oscar Peterson recorded an amazing version of the songs from the 1935 George Gershwin

musical Porgy and Bess. The electronic cousin of the clavichord, the clavinet, was popular in the

1970s and is the instrument behind funky riffs like the ones heard in the openings of the Law

and Order TV theme song and Stevie Wonders Superstition. Its varied use even in the present

day represents the clavichords singularity. The intimate structure and extreme control required

of a clavichord player make it a unique keyboard with a unique place in the history of music in

the Baroque period.

5 Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United provinces
(London: T. Becket and Co., 1773), vol. 2, 268-69
6 Darrel M. Berg, Preface: Keyboard Music, in CPE Bach: The Complete Works, found on
http://cpebach.org/prefaces/series1_preface.html