An Early Clavicytherium Reconstructed by Peter Bavington

St. Wolfgang's Church in Kefermarkt, Documentary evidence of the exist- near Freistadt, Upper Austria con- ence of the upright harpsichord in tains an elaborate three-part altar- the fourteenth and fifteenth centur- piece in carved lime-wood, which was ies is scarce and problematical. There completed and installed in 1497.1 is no mention of such an instrument The central panel is dominated by in Arnault de Zwolle's celebrated the life-size figures of St. Peter, treatise of c. 1440.4 Paulus St. Christopher and the patron St. Paulirinus, writing in c.1460, des- Wolfgang. On the sloping underside cribes an intriguing instrument which of the bracket which supports St. is a combination of vertical harpsi- Wolfgang is a consort of angelic mu- chord and organ.5 This is actually sicians including one who is holding the only fifteenth-century reference a tiny clavicytherium - the earliest I have been able to trace; however, known representation of an upright much earlier, in 1388, there is a harpsichord (Fig. l).2 letter of King John of Aragon which The instrument is being played refers to 'an instrument similar to with one hand in the style of a por- an organ which sounds by means of tative organ; moreover bass and tre- strings', possibly referring to an ble are reversed, the lowest notes early portative-like clavicytherium? being at the right-hand end, away These traces are so few and slight from the player, a feature also seen that, given the uncertainty over the in some representations of portativ- Kefermarkt carving, the early clavi- es. No detail of the action is shown cytherium would probably be thought but the presence of a large rose, of as a rare and fabulous oddity, of with indications of strings (arran - no real musical interest, were it not ged in pairs as on a spinet) leaves for the fact that one has survived. no doubt that the original object is This is the clavicytherium in the a stringed instrument and not an Royal College of Music Donaldson organ. collection, which has been reliably The Kefermarkt altarpiece, having dated to c. 1490 and which is there- been ravaged by woodworm and other fore the oldest known stringed inst- disasters, was on the point of col- rument in existence.7 It is of South lapse and had to be extensively res- German origin and incorporates (in the tored in 1852-55. I have been unable lining of the back) a fragment of a to discover any precise record of lease contracted around 1450 in Ulm — what was done at that time: however some 200 miles from Kefermarkt. As it is certain that many details were Elizabeth Wells has pointed out,^ the recarved. A question-mark therefore workmanship is confident and suggests hangs over the authenticity of the an established tradition rather than clavicytherium: could it have been an experimental instrument. originally a portative or perhaps a When I first studied the R.C.M. psaltery?3 instrument it occurred to me that its Fig.4: (above) Rear view with back cover removed, showing action.

Fig.2: (left) Reconstructed Clavicytherium

existence might be taken to support bass and treble in their usual pos- the genuineness of the Kefermarkt itions to avoid discouraging those clavicytherium.Here we had two early modern musicians who might wish to stringed keyboard instruments, clos- try the instrument. Details missing ely contemporary and from the same from the carving, such as the action region, both uprights and markedly and tuning arrangements, were freely similar in general appearance, both adapted from the R.C.M. instrument. having a comparatively shallow case A decision had to be made about without mouldings and an elegant the compass of the reconstruction , point at the bass end instead of the and the: inter-related questions of more usual tailpiece. Even if the octave span, size and pitch. The car carving had been replaced in 1852, ving shows 22 strings arranged in it was a; fact that by that date the pairs. Only a few keys can be seen, harpsichord (with its soundboard all naturals. At the size shown there rose) would have been a mere memory would be room for perhaps 18 of them and its upright form, never wide- in all, but they are actually far too spread, probably quite unknown. I had small in proportion to the angel's no reason to doubt the good faith of hand. . . those who undertook the restoration; The main consideration in determi- presumably they would have done ning compass and pitch for the inst- their best to copy what was left of rument ought to have been the music the original carving. If they had, that it would have played. Unfortun- indeed, been obliged to resort to ately, although we know from numerous pure invention, was it not surprising representations that very small har- that they had come up with something psichords and clavichords were in so similar to the RCM instrument. use in the fifteenth century,we lack Unable at that time to visit Aus- firm evidence as to their musical tria to investigate further, I dec - role and repertoire. The earliest ided to make a small clavicytherium surviving collections of identifi- based on the Kefermarkt carving, in able keyboard music (the Roberts- order to discover whether such an bridge and Faenza codices and the instrument could have existed and Buxheim Organ Book)generally require what it would have sounded like if a greater compass than can possibly it did. The result is shown in Figs. have been provided by tiny, portable 2 and 3. instruments such as the Kefermarkt The instrument was made at the Lon- clavicytherium. don College of Furniture, where I had Taking a hint from the one-hand me- the benefit of Lewis Jones's en- thod of playing, I surmised that the couragement and advice.General shape instrument might mainly have been and layout were derived from measur- used for single lines, either solo ement of a photograph of the Kefer- in mediaeval fashion or as part of an markt altarpiece. However not every ensemble. A compass of 22 notes g- detail of the carving could be rep- f" without g sharp was eventually roduced exactly; for example, a chosen, on the grounds that it would strict scaling-up would have produced accommodate the top part in Burgund- sides of over an inch thick,which ian music and in the English fiftee- seemed excessive for such a small nth-century carol repertoire. A fair instrument. Yielding (somewhat re- number of complete keyboard solos luctantly) to sensible advice, I put from the period can also be played , particularly if transposition by a fourth or a fifth is accepted: for reliable even in florid passages.9 these one places the instrument on a The slope of the keyboard is a table plays with both hands in the feature of the carving and is also usual way. Both these ways of play- found in some representations of ing - one-handed and two-handed - are portatives; possibly it was thought illustrated in contemporary repres- to facilitate playing in the one- entations of portatives. hand position. In order to enable This 22-note compass fitted in the keys to be removed easily for well with an octave span of 7 inches voicing etc. I found it necessary to (similar to the R.C.M. instrument) reduce the amount of slope somewhat producing an instrument some 25% lar- compared with the model. ger in relation' to the human body The sides of the instrument are of than the one held by the Kefermarkt spruce, as are the soundboard and angel (assuming him to have been a backboard. These are glued to a sin- being of natural human sizel). There gle wide liner, also of spruce (see is room for a reasonable scale for fig. 5). The rose is of sycamore and iron strings in the treble, but the vellum, the design being derived proportions derived from the carving from the carving (with some elabor- ation) . The lower part of the inst- result in quite severe foreshorten- rument is of sycamore, including the ing on the lower notes, so to main- two shaped brackets (the ancestors , tain sonority these were strung in perhaps, of those found on Italian brass. harpsichords). The keys are covered The action, which is similar in with holly and cherry. principle to that of the R.C.M. ins- The instrument proved remarkably trument, is shown in f .gure 4. It loud for its size, with a bright consists of a pillar mounted on the sound akin to that of a small wire- rear of each key which carries at its strung harp. Within its small com- top a very short version of the usual pass there are three distinct regis- harpsichord jack, with its pivoted ters : a wiry 'lute-stop' effect in tongue bearing the plectrum in the the extreme treble where the pluck- usual way. All three parts, key pil- ing point is of necessity close to lar and jack, are rigidly fixed to- the nut, giving way to a rounder, gether. When a key is pressed, it more ringing mid-range and in the rocks about its pivot point, and the lowest four or five notes a boxy jack moves forward in a gentle arc "twang" assisted by the air resonances and effects the pluck. Brass guide of the soundbox. pins are set between the keys at the The etherial harp-like effect is rear to prevent them from slewing enhanced by the absence of any damp- sideways. A second set of pins is set ers. There is no convincing evidence into the top of the wrestplank,comb- oftheir use on stringed keyboard in- fashion, one on either side of each struments before the sixteenth cent- jack, to control the lateral • posi- ury (the traces of dampers on the tion of the jacks. Since the length R.C.M. instrument are probably not of key projecting in front of the contemporary). I was surprised to pivot point is so much greater than find, however, that some degree of the rear part, it proved necessary to articulation is possible when play- attach lead weights to the pillars to ing the instrument due to the fact make the keys fall back. Once this that the plectrum on its return past was done, the action proved re- the string damps it to some extent. markably easy to adjust and very 'A Contribution to the History of the Clavicytherium1 in Early Music, April 1982. 4. For a brief account of this MSsee John Lester: 'The Musical Mechan- isms of Arnault de Zwolle1 in EHM October 1982. 5. See S. Howell: 'Paulus Paulirinus of Prague on Musical Instruments' in Journal of the American Inst- rument Society, Vol V/VI, 1979/80 6. For the original text see the Ap- pendix to E.M. Ripin:'Towards an Identification of the Chekker1 in GSJ XXVIII, April 1975. 7. For an account of this instrument see Elizabeth Wells: 'The London Clavicytherium1 in Early Music , October 1978. Fig.3: Instrument and maker, 8. Ibid. showing one possible 9. For a further discussion of clavi playing position. cytherium actions see Michael Authenticity cannot be claimed for Thomas: 'The Upright Harpsichord1 this reconstruction which, as will be seen, is largely the result of guesswork and invention 1 However, I think I have shown that an instru- ment like the Kefermarkt clavicyth - erium is not intrinsically implaus- ible. I hope also to have provided a further resource for the musician of today aiming to recreate the music of the fifteenth century and before. NOTES 1. For an account of the altarpiece and its nineteenth-century res- toration see F. Oberchristl: Der Gtitischer Flugetaltar zu Kefer- markt, Linz, 1923. 2. Photograph reproduced by kind permission of the copyright owner in EHM, April'1979. from Dr A. Buchner: Musical Inst- Fig.5: Section through soundbox, ruments - as Illustrated History, showing wide liner supporting both published by Octopus Books, Lon- soundboard and back. don, 1973 3. One authority states positively © The English Harpsichord that the clavicytherium is a re- Magazine placement added in the course of restoration, see J.H. van derMeer Vol. 3 No5 1984 Reproduced with permission. The British Harpsichord Society www.harpsichord.org.uk