or natural keys were usually black, and the upper or chromatic, white. In Italy and the Netherlands the practice was the reverse. The strings, of finely-drawn brass wire, were stretched nearly in the direction of the length of the case, but with a bias towards the back. On the right of the player were inserted in the sound-board, strengthened on the under side by a slip of oak to receive them, the wrest or tuning-pins round which the strings were fastened, while at the back and partly along the left-hand side of the case, they were attached by small eyes to hitch-pins of thicker wire. On the right hand the strings rested upon a curved bridge, pinned to fix their direction, and conducting their sound-waves to the sound-board, a flat surface of wood beneath, extending partly over the instrument, but we miss the harpsichord sound-hole cut as a rose or some

FIG. 1.

| other ornamental device-often the initials of the maker's name. Nearly at the back of each key, in an upright position, was placed a small brass wedge or 'tangent' (t) about an inch high and an eighth of an inch broad at the top (Fig. 3). The tangent, when the key was put down, rose to the string and pressing it upwards set it in vibration. With a good touch the player could feel the elasticity of the string, and the more this was felt the better the instrument was considered to be. By the pressure of the tangent the string was divided into two unequal lengths, each of which would have vibrated, but the shorter was instantly damped by a narrow band of cloth interlaced with the strings, which also damped the longer section directly the player allowed the key to rise and the tangent to fall. The tangents thus not only produced the tones

but served as a second bridge to measure off the vibrating lengths required for the pitch of the notes. Thus a delicate tone was obtained that had something in it charmingly hesitating or tremulous; a tone although very weak, yet capable, unlike the harpsichord or spinet, of increase and decrease, reflecting the finest and most tender gradations of the touch of the player, and in this power of expression without a rival until the pianoforte was invented. To ears accustomed to the pianoforte, the 'blocking" sound inseparable from the clavichord tone would seem a disadvantage. A pianoforte, out of order through the hammers failing to rebound from the strings, would however give a very exaggerated and disagreeable notion of this inherent peculiarity of the clavichord. Koch,

in his Musical Lexicon, describes the clavichord as 'Labsal des Dulders, und des Frohsinns theilnehmenden Freund' (the comfort of the sufferer and the sympathising friend of cheerfulness).

Up to the beginning of the present century the use of the clavichord in Germany was general, and we are told by Mr. Carl Engel (Musical Instruments,' etc., 1874) that it is frequently to be met with there to this day in country places. It was a favourite instrument with J. S. Bach, who preferred it to the pianoforte; and with his son Emmanuel, who wrote the Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen,' an essay on the true method of playing the clavichord, and the basis of all succeeding text-books of keyed stringed instruments. Mattheson lauded the clavichord above the clavicymbel or harpsichord.

Mozart used the clavichord now in the Mozarteum at Salzburg in composing his 'Zauberflöte' and other masterpieces, although in playing he leant to the harpsichord style. Beethoven is reported to have said among all keyed instruments the clavichord was that on which one could best control tone and expressive interpretation' (Vortrag).

Clavichords made prior to the last century had strings for the lower or natural keys only; the semitones on the upper keys being produced by tangents directed towards the strings of the lower. Thus C was obtained by striking the C string at a shorter length; D in like manner from the D string. We are told that in old instruments three and four keys were often sharers in one string. At last, about the year 1725, Daniel Faber of Crailsheim, gave each semitone its own string, and instruments so made were distinguished as bundfrei' from the older 'gebunden.' In the clavichords last made there were two strings to each tangent and note, tuned in unison. An admired effect of the clavichord was a change of intonation, caused by a stronger pressure on the key, which displacing a little the point of contact of the tangent, tightened the vibrating part of the string and made the note very slightly sharper in pitch. Another special grace was that of repeating a note several times in succession without quitting the key, a dynamic effect (German Bebung) which could not be done on the harpsichord, although Beethoven sought to imitate it on the pianoforte with the touch, aided by the double shifting of the soft pedal, which in his day was usual (Sonatas, Op. 106 and 110, Bülow's edition, 1871; PP. 53-108). [BEBUNG.]

The early history of the clavichord previous to the 15th century, together with that of the chromatic keyboard-a formal division at the very foundation of modern music-rest in profound obscurity. We are still free to regard our keyboard as an invention sprung complete from the brain of some one medieval musician, or as the result of gradual contrivances due to the increasing requirements of many. The small evidence that can be adduced favours the latter notion.

However, the keyboard with its familiar division into seven long and five short notes, was not designed to bring within the limits of the octave the theoretical circle of fifths; the short notes or semitones were long used per fictam musicam,' and not, like the seven naturals, as practical starting-points for scales. It was not until the epoch of J. S. Bach that the semitones gained equal privileges with the naturals. Again, our chromatic keyboard was not suggested by the 'chromatic' genus of the Greeks, a totally different idea. The problem really solved by it was that of the transposition of the church tones, a series of scales on the natural keys employing each in succession as a starting-point. The first and seventh were consequently nearly an octave apart. Bearing in mind that some of the Latin hymns embraced a compass of twelve or thirteen

notes, it is evident that ordinary voices could not sing them or even those of less extent, without concession in pitch. Arnold Schlick ('Spiegel der Orgelmacher und Organisten,' Mainz, 1511) gives several instances of necessary transposition, which were only possible by the insertion of the semitones between the naturals, as even then it was a law that the interval of an octave should be grasped by the hand, the broader keys of the older organs having been abolished. By this insertion of the semitones they became the willing guides to the cadences; the G alone being doubtful on account of the 'wolf' in tuning. Schlick in his chapter on tuning,-in which he includes the clavichord and clavizymmel (clavicembalo), the symphonia, a smaller keyed instrument, lute, and harp-says that the semitones could not be rightly tuned or brought into concord. But he names all the semitones we now use, and speaks of double semitones having been tried in the organ twelve years before (1499), which failed through the difficulty of playing.

Virdung, a priest at Basel, who published his Musica getuscht und ausgezogen' also in 1511, (afterwards translated into Latin as 'Musurgia, seu Praxis-Musicae,' Strasburg, 1536) is the oldest authority we can specially refer to about the clavichord. The next in order of time, but a hundred years later, is Praetorius (Syntagma Musicum,' 1614-18). We are told by him that the earliest clavichords had only twenty keys, in genere diatonico, with two black keys (Bb), so there were not more than three semitones in an octave; like the scale attributed to Guido d'Arezzo, the full extent of which would have embraced 21 keys in all

but Praetorius gives no nearer indication of the compass, and of course none of the pitch. [HEXACHORD.]

But in Virdung's time there were thirty-five keys or more, starting from the F below the bass stave and embracing the complete system of half-tones; and in that of Praetorius at least four octaves, still the usual

compass when J. S. Bach wrote the Wohltemperirte Clavier.' By the middle of the century five octaves were attained. Welcker von Gontershausen ('Der Clavierbau,' Frankfort, 1870) endeavours to find a solution to the keyboard problem by starting from the Bb added to the Bt of the earliest clavichords, and assumed the gradual introduction to the keyboard of other semitones, until the twelve in the octave were complete, an achievement he attributed to Zarlino (1548). Welcker describes the oldest clavichord he had met with as bearing, in the sound-hole, the date 1520; and through the four octaves of this instrument the notes D and G were wanting! But, after the evidence of Virdung, either Herr Welcker had misread the date or the instrument had been made after an obsolete pattern; yet this solitary instance recorded

of an incomplete chromatic compass may be as the last word preserved of a forgotten language, or the last peak above the water-line of a submerged island. The statement of the completion of the chromatic scale by Zarlino falls to the ground, and moreover, according to Praetorius, the organ at Halberstadt, built about 1360, had in twenty-two notes a complete chromatic scale. Dr. Rimbault (History of the Organ, 1870) regards this as the earliest authentic account of a keyboard with half tones.

There is great probability that the Greek monochord, a string stretched over a soundboard, and measured off into vibrating lengths by bridges, was a stepping stone to the invention of the clavichord. Used for centuries in the Church to initiate the singers into the mysteries of the eight tones, it must at last have seemed more convenient to dispense with shifting bridges, and at the points of division to adjust fixed bridges raised by an apparatus imitated from the keys of the organ, to press the strings and produce the notes required. This would be an elementary clavichord action, and may account for clavichords, and harpsichords too, being styled monochords in the 15th and 16th centuries, and even as late as the 18th (D. Scorpione, 'Riflessione armoniche'; Naples, 1701). The earliest notice of a monochord among musical instruments is to be found in Wace's' Brut d'Angleterre' (circa A.D.II15), 'Symphonies, psaltérions, monachordes.' Herr Ambros ('Geschichte,' 1864, vol. ii., p. 199), from the silence of Jean de Muris as to the clavichord, though repeatedly enumerating the stringed instruments in use (Musica Speculativa', 1323), infers that it did not then exist, and from this and other negative evidence would place the epoch of invention between 13501400. De Muris refers to the monochord with a single string, but recommends the use of one with four strings, to prove intervals not previously known. These four strings were the indices to the eight church tones. Dr. Rimbault (The Pianoforte,' p. 36) has been deceived in quoting from Bohn's edition of Sismondi the well-known advice to a jongleur by Guiraut de Calanson (died A.D. 1211). It is there stated that the jongleur should play on the citole and mandore, and handle the clarichord and guitar. Reference to the original (Paris MS. La Vallière, No 14, formerly 2701), confirms the citole and mandore, but instead of Clarichord' we find ⚫ Manicorda una corda,' doubtless a simple mono. chord, for in the Roman de Flamenca' we find l'autr' accorda lo sauteri ab manicorda' (the other tune the psaltery to the monochord). In the Dictionnaire étymologique,' Paris, 1750, 'mamicordion' is rendered by monochord. Citole and mandore are also there, but not clavichord.

As to the etymology of clavichord: the word clavis, key, in the solmisation system of Guido d'Arezzo, was used for note or tone, and thus the clavis was the 'key' to the musical sound to be produced. The Cures were described by alphabetical letters, and those occupying coloured lines, as F on the red and C on the yellow, were (c.)

claves signatae, the origin of our modern clefs. When the simple monochord gave place to an instrument with several strings and keys, how easy the transference of this figurative notion of claves from the notes to the levers producing them! Thus the name Clavichord, from clavis, key, and chorda, string, would come very naturally into use. (Herr Ambros, 'Geschichte der Musik,' vol. ii., Breslau, 1864).

According to Fischhof (Versuch einer Geschichte, etc., 1853), Lemme of Brunswick, Wilhelmi of Cassel, Vensky, Horn and Mack of Dresden, and Krämer of Göttingen, were reputed in the last century good clavichord makers. Mr. Engel quotes the prices of Lemme's as having been from three to twelve louis d'or each; Krämer's from four to fourteen, according to size and finish. Wilhelmi charged from twenty to fifty thalers (£3 to £7 10s.). [A.J.H.]

CLAVICYTHERIUM. An upright instrument allied to the horizontal harpsichord and spinet, but concerning which of all that tribe we have the least evidence. Mr. Carl Engel (Descriptive Catalogue, 1874), surmises that a pair of new long virginalls made harp fashion of cipres with keys of ivory,' mentioned in the inventory of King Henry VIII's musical instruments, was a clavicytherium. He goes on to say that this instrument had a stop or register to cause the strings to be twanged by small brass hooks, whereby a quality of tone like that of the harp was produced, and hence the name 'Arpichord,' by which Prætorius (Syntagma Musicum; Wolfenbüttel, 1619) describes a clavicytherium. [See HARPSICHORD.] [A.J.H.]

CLAVIER. In French, a keyboard or set of keys of an organ or pianoforte; Italian Tastatura; in German expressed by Claviatur or Tastatur. Clavier in German is a pianoforte, specially a square pianoforte, the prototype of which is the clavichord, having borne the same name. [CLAVICHORD, KEYBOARD, PIANOFORTE.] [A.J.H.]

CLAY, FREDERIC, son of James Clay, M.P. for Hull. Born Aug. 3, 1840, in the Rue Chaillot, Paris; educated in music entirely by Molique, with the exception of a short period of instruction at Leipzig under Hauptmann. Mr. Clay's compositions have been almost wholly for the stage. After two small pieces for amateurs, The Pirate's Isle' (1859) and 'Out of sight' (1860), he made his public début in 1862 at Covent Garden with Court and Cottage,' libretto by Tom Taylor. This was followed by 'Constance' (1865), by Ages ago' (1869), The Gentleman in Black' (1870), Happy Arcadia' (1872), 'Cattarina' (1874), Princess Toto,' and 'Don Quixote' (both 1875). In addition to these Mr. Clay wrote part of the music for 'Babil and Bijou' and the 'Black Crook' (both 1872), and incidental music to Twelfth Night' and to Albery's 'Oriana.' He has also composed two cantatas, 'The Knights of the Cross' (1866) and 'Lalla Rookh,' produced with great success at the Brighton Festival in February 1877; and not a few separate songs.

Bb

In all his works Mr. Clay shows a natural gift of graceful melody and a feeling for rich harmonic colouring. Although highly successful in the treatment of dramatic music, it is probable that his songs will give him the most lasting fame. She wandered down the mountain side,' 'Long ago,' and 'The sands of Dee,' among others, are poems of great tenderness and beauty, and not likely to be soon forgotten. [S.] CLAYTON, THOMAS, was one of the king's band in the reign of William and Mary. He went to Italy for improvement. On his return he associated himself with Nicola Francesco Haym and Charles Dieupart, both excellent musicians, in a speculation for the performance of musical pieces at Drury Lane Theatre. Clayton had brought with him from Italy a number of Italian songs, which he altered and adapted to the words of an English piece written by Peter Motteux, called 'Arsinoe, Queen of Cyprus,' and brought it out in 1705 as an opera of his own composition. Elated by his success he proceeded to set to music Addison's opera, Rosamond,' which was performed in 1707 and completely exposed his incapacity. The speculation however continued to be carried on until 1711, when the Italian opera being firmly established in the Haymarket, the managers of Drury Lane Theatre determined to discontinue the production of musical pieces. Clayton and his colleagues then gave concerts at the Music Room in York Buildings, and John Hughes, the poet, having at the request of Sir Richard Steele, altered Dryden's 'Alexander's Feast,' it was set to music by Clayton and performed there on May 24, 1711, in conjunction with 'The Passion of Sappho,' a poem by Harrison, also set by Clayton. Both failed from the worthlessness of the music, and have long since sunk into oblivion; but copies of some of his operas which were printed testify to Clayton's utter want of merit as a com poser. [W.H.H.]

H

CLEF (Ital. Chiave, from the Lat. Claris; Ger. Schlüssel), i. e. key, the only musical character by which the pitch of a sound can be absolutely represented. The clefs now in use are three These severally repreand onlysent the sounds known as middle C (of the pianoforte), the G a fifth above it, and the F a fifth below it. Two other clefs, severally representand the G, a ing the D, a fifth above seventh below

&

have been long obsolete. From the last of these, T, the Greek gamma, which represents the lowest sound of the musical system, is derived the word gamut, still in use.

The following tables (from Koch's Musikalisches Lexicon) will show that the three clefs now in use are but corruptions of old forms of the letters C, G, and F::

¤ K == H;

G

=

&

One

or other of these characters, placed on one or other of the lines of a stave, indicated, and still indicates, the name and pitch of the notes standing on that line, and by inference those of other notes on lines and spaces above and below it.

The stave which, at various times and for various purposes, has consisted of various numbers of lines, consists now commonly of five. [STAVE.] On any one of these each of the three In the following examples they occupy the posi clefs might be (almost every one has been) placed. tions in which they are now most commonly found:

From the above it will be seen that when notes are written in the tenor clef' (more properly on the tenor stave) they are written on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th lines of the 'great stave' of eleven; that when written in the alto clef' they are written on the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th lines of this great stave; and when 'in the soprano clef' on the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.

The more familiar bass and treble staves' consist severally of the lowest and the highest five lines of the great stave:

writers, every other player in England in tone and execution. In 1742 however, owing probably to excessive practice, he became insane, and was confined in Bedlam Hospital, where, as Burney relates, 'it was long a fashionable, though inhuman amusement, to visit him there, among other lunatics, in hopes of being entertained by his fiddle or his folly.' Clegg appears also to have been a composer for his instrument, but no work of his has come down to us. [P. D.] CLEMENS NON PAPA, the sobriquet of Jacques Clement, one of the most renowned musicians of the 16th century. He was born in Flanders, and succeeded Gombert as chief Chapel-master to Charles V. Of the time and place of his birth or death, or of any event of his life, nothing is known. It is probable that he spent several years in Italy; and it is certain that he died before 1558, since a motet on his death, by Jacob Vaët, is contained in a work published in that year ('Novum et insigne opus ..' tom. I. Noribergae, 1558). Clement was one of the most prolific composers of his day. This man, whose very name is now known only to a few curious students, was the universal favourite of cultivated Europe, and his works, both sacred and secular, were printed and reprinted in every shape, from costly folios to cheap pocket editions. They formed the gems of the various collections published in Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France. The sobriquet itself is a proof of the reputation of the man, since it was intended to distinguish him from Pope Clement VI, and in one of the chief collections of the time he is styled Nobilis Clemens non Papa. Some of his works appeared in 1543 (Fétis), others in 1556-1560. Fétis enumerates II masses and 92 motets. Also four books of Flemish psalms (Souter Liedekens) and one of French chansons. Separate pieces will be found in the Liber primus Cantionum sacrarum' (Louvain, 1555); the 'Motetti del Labirinto' (Venice, 1554); and the Recueil des fleurs,' etc. (Louvain, 1569). Commer has published 43 of his motets and chansons, as well as the Flemish psalms (Collectio op. mus. batavorum). Proske has included three motets in his 'Musica Divina,' and winds up a notice of his life by the following remarks:-'He seems to have attempted all the styles then known. He was no slave to counterpoint, but for his time possessed an extraordinary amount of melodies and clear harmony. No one in his day surpassed him for tunefulness and elegance, his melodies are far more fresh and pleasing than those of his contemporaries, and his style is easy, simple, and clear. That he often pushed imitation too far and neglected the due accentuation of the text is only to say that he belonged to the 16th century.' [G.]

CLÉMENT, FELIX, born at Paris Jan. 13, 1822, composer, and writer on musical history and archæology. His most important published compositions are choruses for Racine's Athalie' and Esther.' For several years he contributed

largely to Didron's 'Annales archéologiques,' thus preparing himself for his 'Histoire générale de la Musique religieuse' (Paris, 1861), in which are included translations from Cardinal Bona's treatise 'De divinâ Psalmodiâ' and Formby's 'Gregorian chant compared to modern music.' He has edited several books of religious music for the Roman church, such as Eucologe en musique selon le rit parisien' (Paris, 1843 and 1851); 'Le Paroissien romain' (Paris, 1854); and 'Chants de Plain-Chant' does not contain anything new, de la Sainte Chapelle.' His 'Méthode complète but is clear and orderly. His Méthode d'orgue' exhibits a moderate knowledge of thorough bass and fugue. M. Clément's most useful compilation is his Dictionnaire lyrique,' a convenient list of operas on the plan of Allacci's 'Drammaturgia,' compiled from Babault's Dictionnaire général des Théâtres' and similar works, not without occasional errors and omissions. Two supplementary parts have been issued, bringing the work down to 1873. He has also published 'Les Musiciens célèbres depuis le 16ème siècle' (Paris, 1868, 42 portraits). [G.C.]

CLEMENT, FRANZ, an eminent violin-player, was born in 1780 at Vienna, where his father was butler in a nobleman's establishment, and at the same time, after the fashion of the period, father and Kurzweil, the leader of another a member of his master's private band. His nobleman's band, were his teachers. Clement began to play the violin when he was only four, and at the age of seven made his first successful appearance in public at a concert in the Imperial Opera-house. He soon began to travel with his father, and in 1790 came to London, were he gave very successful concerts, some of which were conducted by Haydn and Salomon. He also played at Oxford at the second concert given in celebration of Haydn's installation as Doctor of Music. Having returned to Vienna he was appointed Solo-player to the Emperor, and in 1802 conductor of the newly established theatre 'an der Wien,' which post he retained till 1811. From 1812 to 1818 he travelled in Russia and Germany, and then again for three years conducted the Opera in Vienna. In 1821 he began to travel with the celebrated singer Catalani, conducting her concerts, and also was for a short time conductor of the Opera at Prague. He died in poor circumstances at Vienna in 1842.

Clement was not only a remarkable violinplayer, but an unusually gifted musician. Some curious facts are reported, bearing testimony to his general musical ability and especially to his prodigious memory. Spohr, in his Autobiography, relates that Clement after having heard two rehearsals and one performance of the oratorio 'The Last Judgment,' remembered it so well, that he was able on the day after the performance to play several long pieces from it on the piano without leaving out a note, and with all the harmonies (no small item in a composition of Spohr's) and accompanying passages; and all this without ever having seen the score.