Michael Praetorius described the claviorgan in Syntagma Musicum II, De organographia, 1619 as a keyboard instrument in which strings and pipes ‘sound together to produce a pleasing sound’.
Athanasius Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis (1650) contains a description and this technical drawing of a claviorgan.
Musurgia universalis, sive Ars magna consoni et dissoni, Rome, 1650. Translation by A. Hirsch as Philosophischer Extract und Auszug aus dess Welt-berühmten teutschen Jesuiten Athanasii Kircheri von Fulda Musurgia universali, Schwäbisch Hall, 1662
In the 16th century spinets or virginals
were built ‘with pipes undernethe’ and full-size harpsichords with positive
organs incorporated were used in northern Europe. This illustration shows the
lid painting of the Wismayer spinet built for the Nuremberg patrician Lucas
Friedrich Behaim. The principal foreground group (representing Autumn) depicts
four string players surrounding a claviorgan. The instrument has two manuals, or
is a spinet placed upon an organ. Whether or not the instrument is strictly a
claviorgan, the keyboards are shown being played simultaneously and in ensemble
with the strings.
Lid painting by Frederik van Valckenborch or Falckenberg, (ca.1570-1623), The Four Seasons (1619). Paul Wismayer Virginals, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nüremberg.
Source: Terence Charlston, ‘An instrument in search of
its repertoire? The Theewes claviorgan and its use in the performance of
sixteenth- and seventeenth-century keyboard music.’ The RCO Journal,
March 2009, pp. 27–44.
This article explores the style and performance practices of 16th- and
17th-century keyboard music from the perspective of the claviorgan. As a complement to the article, a number of files
have been uploaded to the RCO website (under ‘Academic Resources’) at http://www.rco.org.uk/download.php.
A shortened version of the database is given below.
To hear the reconstructed sound of a claviorgan, click a title below.
(14a) Anon.: The trowmppettus. RH solo. Org: C R8' 4' 2' C ¼'; Hd: 8' 4'. Source: GB-Eve Evesham Abbey Bible,f.1v. Musica Britannica, vol. 66, no. 34.
(27) Farant: Felix namque. 'Mixed consort' registration (i.e. registrations in which the 8 or 4 foot pitch is absent from the organ but sounding in the harpsichord.) Org: C 4'; Hd: 8'. Source: GB-Lbl MS Add.30513 (The Mulliner Book), f.20v. Musica Britannica, vol. 1, no. 19.
(29a) Paix: Ungarescha. RH emphasis. Org: C R8' R8' 2' C ¼'; Hd: 8' 4'. Jakob Paix organ tablature (in new German tablature) (1583) W. Merian (ed.), Der Tanz in den deutschen Tabulaturbüchern (Wiesbaden, 1928/1968), p. 149.
Recorded on 20/12/08 by Terence Charlston and Erik Dippenaar with the assistance of Dominic Gwynn and Martin Goetze.
Org: = Theewes Organ reconstruction by Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn Ltd., Welbeck,UK, 2008.
Hd: = Single manual harpsichord after Ioannes Couchet, Antwerp, 1645 (Russell Collection, Edinburgh, Catalogue No HS3-IC1645.7) made by David Evans, Henley, 2005. Two registers (8' and 4') and buff stop. Plectra of strong black turkey quills. Compass: C, D-c3 (48 notes) and iron scale. The instrument is typical of the Ruckers tradition.
Malcolm Rose’s reconstruction of the Theewes harpsichord can be heard in solo repertoire on two commercially available recordings: Farnaby's Dream: Timothy Roberts. EMCCD-7756 & William Byrd: Gustav Leonhardt. Alpha 073.
| A CHRONOLOGICAL CHECK LIST OF CLAVIORGANS AND REFERENCES TO CLAVIORGANS |
|
| Compiled by Eleanor Smith and Terence Charlston | |
| 161 entries | |
| Date | Description |
| 1460 | Paulirinus of Prague, Liber viginti atrium, Encyclopaedia entry. First known reference. |
| 1478-97 | Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes records the construction of what he says is the first Claviorgan in Spain made by Mohama Moferriz |
| 1479 | Contract signed by Mohama Mofferriz. |
| 1480 | Sancho de Paredes, Chamberlain to Queen Isabella, owned two claviorgans |
| 1483–1545 | King of Portugal |
| 1484 | Payment to Mofferriz. |
| 1488 | Mofferiz claviorgan for John of Cologne. |
| 1493 | Garci Fernández Manrique, marquis of Aguilar de Campo, ordered a claviorgan from Mofferriz. |
| 1500 | Inventory of Isabella I's instruments. |
| 1508 | Another claviorgan from Mofferriz. |
| 1511 | Loys Rodilly, Nancy |
| 1511 | Pasi, Modena |
| ?1519 | ‘espinisata organisata’ in Arena's dance manual Ad suos compagnones … |
| 1530 | William Lewes, Greenwich. “ij payer of virginalles in one coffer with iiij stopes” |
| 1539 | Claviorgans in use in the Florentine intermedii in the 16th century. |
| 1547 | Inventory of instruments belonging to Henry VIII. |
| 1548 | Miguel de Albariel, a memberof the Mofferriz family, contructs a new claviorgan. |
| 1555 | Spinet. Annabile dei Rossi, Milan, 1577. Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The instrument has undergone many changes and may originally have been part of a claviorgan pair. |
| 1564-69 | Claviorgan. Rorif, Triol or Ausburg, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna |
| 1573 | Inventory of Cassel Hofkapelle by the Hoforgansist, Hans von Enden. Item 73 'The Positif together with a string (seitten) Instrument in the new chamber'. (A. Baines, ‘Two Cassel Inventories’, The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 4 (Jun., 1951), pp. 30-38) |
| 1575 | Meyer, Göttingen |
| 1579 | Theewes claviorgan. Victoria and Albert Museum, London |
| 1581 | In 1560 William Treasorer had a patent confirming his invention of a musical instrument which is likely to have been a claviorgan. |
| 1583/4 | Kenilworth inventory “.. an instrumente of organs, regales, and virginalles…” |
| 1584 | Instructions for the registration of the Panarmonico [claviorgan]. |
| 1585 | Claviorgan. Bertolotti (Brussels). Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels. |
| 1586 | The Russia Company sent Sir Jerome Horsey to the Russian court with a gift of instruments possibly including a claviorgan? |
| 1587 | Two claviorgans at the Farnese court. (N. Thistlethwaite & G. Webber, eds., The Cambridge Companion to the Organ, Cambridge, 1998, p.160 and 329, n.8) |
| 1587 | Combined spinet and regal. Meidting. Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. |
| 1590 | Claviorgan given to Phillip III of Spain. (Stevens 1963) |
| 1590s | Combined spinet and regal. Lorenz Hauslaib (Nuremberg), Museu de la Musica, Barcelona. |
| 1591 | Combined spinet and regal. Josua Pock, virginal and organ (Salzburg). |
| 1592 | Hans Brebos |
| 1592 | Daniel Heyer made three claviorgans and undertook another shortly before he died in 1592. |
| 1593 | Combined spinet and regal. Lorenz Hauslaib (Nuremberg), Glinka Museum, Moscow. |
| 1593 | Veronese inventory - Marco Bevilacqua’s ‘claviorgano de due registri’ |
| 1593 | Inventory of Johann Heugel, Kapellmeister, Cassel. |
| 1594 | Ercole Bottrigari Il desiderio (1594) |
| 1598 | Combined spinet and regal. Lorenz Hauslaib (Nuremberg), Met, New York. |
| 1598 | One or two claviorgans are listed in the inventory upon the death of Philip II in 1598. |
| 1598 | Hippolito Cricca’s ‘Instrumento Piano e Forte’ was coupled to an organ below it. (Grove, ‘Dulce Melos’; Boalch, 788) |
| c.1600 | Southern German, Rectangular virginal (ex-claviorgan), Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Berlin no. 2217. |
| 1601 | Hassler patent |
| 1602 | Spanish inventory mentioning the clavichord claviorgan given to Philip III (Ford 1997) [see above] (‘The Pedal Claviorchord and the Pedal Harpsichord’, GSJ, 50 (Mar 1997)) |
| 1611 | Randle Cotgrave’s French/English dictionary: “Espinette organisée. A virginall and wind instrument joyned together; a set of Pipes added to a Virginall” . |
| 1613 | Cassell Inventory. |
| 1617 | East India Company ‘cabinett’ … claviorgan? |
| 1619 | Lid painting from claviorgan in ensemble performance with strings. Nuremberg. |
| 1619 | Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum II, De organographia. |
| 1620 | Seminiati Salmi in concerto |
| 1620 | 4th Earl of Cumberland Mashrother claviorgan 1620 |
| c.1625 | Bidermann & Langenbucher, automated organ and spinet (New York) |
| c.1625 | Rungell or Bidermann, automated organ and spinet (Dresden) |
| 1627 | Deacons, Utrecht |
| 1627 | Heather, Oxford |
| 1628 | Monteverdi, Parma |
| 1629 | Salisbury House |
| c.1630? | French harpsichord, ex-claviorgan, now with an 18th century organ underneath, (Beurmann Collection, Hamburg) |
| 1636 | Duke of Newcastle, Welbeck 1636 |
| 1636 | Charles Butler The Principles of Musick p93 “And these latter curious times have conjoined two or more in one: making the Organ and the Virginal to go both together with the same |
| 1637 | Valeran de Hèrman, Paris |
| 1639 | Frescobaldi |
| 1639 | Frescobaldi playing the “clavessin, the organ continuing all the while". |
| 1639 | Valentin Zeiss, Salzburg |
| 1640 | Trichet, Traite |
| c.1640 | Barcotto |
| 1646 | Valentin Zeiss, Schloss Aistersheim. Austria |
| c.1650 | H. H. Bader(s) organ for
the Abdinghofkirche, Paderborn, with a two-manual Instrument
of low, 12 ft., pitch. |
| 1650 | Athanasius Kircher’s Musurgia Universalis contains a description and technical drawing of a claviorgan. |
| 1656 | Eugen Casperini |
| 1657 | Schott Geigenwerk-cum-Organ. See 1664. |
| 1664 | Schott Geigenwerk with built in organ. See 1657. |
| 1664 | Archiviole “comprehending both an organ and a concert of 5 or 6 viols in one” |
| 1667 | Todini Galleria armonica |
| 1667 | Pepys “bauble” |
| 1675 | Todini 'Golden' harpsichord |
| 1680-1700 | Anonymous Viennese harpsichord dated 1680–1700 (National Museum, Prague) built with a harpsichord-shaped cabinet underneath. |
| 1681 | Vaudry (V&A) |
| 1693 | Cristofori accounts |
| c.1700-1725 | Early 18th entury Dutch or French fan. Painting of pipes springing out of a soundboard. A claviorgan? |
| 1712 | Herman Willen Brook (Kendrick Pyne collection) in the possession of Henry Boddington of Downall [Pownall] Hall Wilmslow, sold by Puttick and Simpson in July 1901 for £3 (BIOS Reporter 4/2 Apr 1980 p11, BBE). |
| 1716 | Medici inventory . |
| 1723 | Thomas Swarbrick built a claviorgan in Wells which had the harpsichord rather than the organ as the upright half. |
| 1723-24 | Nassare Escuela musica |
| 1731/37? | Shudi/Snetzler – rumoured instrument. |
| 1733 | Swarbrick, St. Michael's Coventry |
| 1733 | in Oxford ‘curious Instrument lately invented’ by an Oxford organist which could play, on one keyboard, ‘two organs’ and a harpsichord together or separately (Applebee’s Original Weekly Journal 7.7.1733, in Peter Williams) |
| c.1735 | Probably from Carlton House for Frederick Prince of Wales, now in Kensington Palace, alteration of case for upright harpsichord/organ in 1763. |
| 1739 | Mattheson Der vollkommene Capellmeister |
| 1739 | One of Handel’s organ concertos, 1739, composed for the organ-harpsichord used in Saul, 1738 – probably Handel's famous ‘maggot’ (Charles Jennens, 1738) |
| 1740 | Shudi/Snetzler (?) Ex-claviorgan, Kew Gardens (Chris Nobbs). |
| 1742 | Granada Cathedral |
| 1745 | John Crang for Beeston Long (Russell Collection, Hipkins) |
| 1745-1751 | John Snetzler/Kirkmann Wemyss (Peter Williams) |
| 1747 | “a particularly new and curious Machine, containing a Movement which plays either an organ or Harpsichord (or both if desired) in a masterly manner” George Adams author of Adams Micrographia Illustrated (1747) appended catalogue no334 quoted in Langwill and Boston Barrel Organ ch5 |
| 1747 | Harpsichord by Johann Christoph Pantzner 1747 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) with a harpsichord-shaped cabinet underneath |
| 1750-75 | Organised square, anon. |
| 1758 | Adlung Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelahrtheit |
| 1760s | Zumpe and Buntebart piano/organ in the Musée des Arts et Metiers in Paris |
| 1760 | Crang Hancock Patent 1743 (April 1760) “A new grand pianoforte with a spring touch, German flute and harp” shows an organised piano (Chris Nobbs). Ignore the Clinkscale reference from previously - Chris sent me scanned copies of the patents![TC to add?] |
| 1762 | John Kemyss of Bristol (Gentleman’s Magazine letter 32 p211 in Peter Williams) |
| 1764 | Michael and Johann Wagner |
| 1765-90 | Joseph II of Austria |
| c.1765 | Blaha’s machine’, Prague |
| 1765 | Delitz, Danzig |
| 1765 | Charles Green of Salisbury “neat mahogany SPINNET with an ORGAN” Salisbury Journal, 2.4.1765 (Betty Matthews) |
| 1766-8 | Dom Bedos L'art du facteur d'orgues shows both organised harpsichord and piano |
| 1768 | Adlung Musica mechanica organoedi |
| 1770 | Samuel Green, Hanbury Hall. |
| c.1770 | Anonymous late 18th century two manual harpsichord, Palais Lascaris, Nice |
| 1770s | Stein clavecin organisé |
| 1771 | Burney |
| 1771 | Johannes Klein, Viennese instruments maker, Organised square, Stockholm: Stilftelsen Musikkulterens Främjande, Clinkscale (1993: 168). |
| 1772-77 | L’Épine, Paris, maker of ‘fortes-pianos organisés’ in 1772 in the rue Neuve-Saint-Lambert and in 1777 in the rue Nueve Neuve-Laurent [perhaps a correction?]. Clinkscale (1993: 180). His |
| 1772 | Peter Lundborg, organised clavichord, Musikmuseet Stockholm. |
| 1772 | Entry in William Tans’ur The Elements of Musick Display’d (London 1772) |
| 1774 | Rother clavicytherium (Dublin) with dummy pipes in case front – to look like a claviorgan or to look like an organ? |
| 1774 | Zumpe organised square, Paris, Musee Instrumental du Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique. Clinkscale (1993: 333). |
| 1775 | Lejeune, Paris, made organised pianos in the rue Quincampoix. Clinkscale (1993: 179). |
| 1777 | Tadeus Tornel, Musei Arqueologico, Murcia (Lit. ref. The Five-Octave Compass in 18th-Century Spanish Harpsichords, Beryl Kenyon de Pascual and John Henry van der Meer, Early Music, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Feb., 1987), pp. 74-76. Now a piano but probably originally a harpsichord. Clinkscale (1993: 301). |
| 1778 | Dom Bedos |
| 1778 | Zumpe organised square, Paris, Musee National des Techniques: Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, Clinkscale (1993: 333). |
| 1780 | Woffington, Dublin. |
| 1781 | Stein, Gothenburg City Museum (Michael Latcham/Robin Blanton). [Clinkscale (1993: 274) gives the date as 1770]. |
| [1782] | Christopher Ganer, Leipzig later London, organised square (organ added later), Boston, MA, New England Conservatory, Clinkscale (1993: 114). |
| 1783 | Organized square piano by Johann Gabrahn, St Petersburg 1783, State Museum of Pavlovsk |
| 1784 | Michael Arne |
| 1784 | Merlin/R&W Gray organised piano, (also reference below from 1786), Colt Collection number 6, ref. C.F. Colt and Antony Miall, (1981). |
| 1785 | Handel commemoration service (Burney) |
| 1785 | Johann Gottlob Horn, Dresden, Organised square, Leipzig University 229, Destroyed WWII. Clinkscale (1993: 152). |
| c. 1785 | Franz Xaver Christoph, Organised Piano, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Clinkscale (1993: 67). |
| 1786 | Lytchett House sale “An organ piana forte (of Merlin's)” Salisbury & Winchester Journal 4.9.1786 (there is a Merlin organ/piano in the Colt Collection, organ by Robert and William Gray although the description in Clinkscale p. 198 doesn’t appear to match the discussion in Wessel) |
| 1786 | Longman & Broderip organised square, Met. New York 89.4.5803, Clinkscale (1993: 184). Also mentioned in Jeans (1950-51). Organ by ‘Eaton Pet …’? |
| 1787 | Organized square piano by Johann Michael Bogner |
| 1787 | Buntebart & Sievers, London, Organised Square, Spain/Seville: Seville Cathedral Chapter. Clinkscale (1993: 62). |
| 1790 | B. Ilsaas, Folkmuseet, Oslo. Combination of a clavichord and a four stop barrel-organ. |
| 1790 | Robert and William Gray, 1790. Chamber organ in the shape of a grand piano. |
| c. 1790? | Longman and Broderip organised piano c. 1790? (n.d.), Berlin?, Clinkscale (1993: 189) |
| c. 1790 | Samuel Bury & Co., Organ square, Germanisched Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, MIR 1184. Clinkscale (1993: 63). |
| c. 1790 | Francisco Flórez, advertises that he is prepared to make organised-pianos in the Gazeta de Madrid. Clinkscale (1993: 105). |
| 1791 | Encyclopédie méthodique |
| 1791 | Erard, Paris, Indian Wells USA (private collection … enquiries to ANONYMOUS, c/o AMIS Membership Registrar, c/o Kenneth G. Fiske Museum of The Claremont Colleges, 450 N. College Way, Claremont, CA 91711, (909-621-8307) FAX (909-621-8398) |
| 1791 | Kühlewind [Kühlewein/Kühlwein?], Samuel, Organ Square, Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin no. 14. |
| [1792-98] | Longman and Broderip organised square (organ added after 1839 in Vienna), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Clinkscale (1993: 187). |
| c. 1795 | Warrell & Co. Maker of square, grand, and organised pianos ‘near Astley’s Theatre, Westminster Bridge’, London. Clinkscale (1993: 316) |
| 1795 | Diego Fernandez |
| 1796? | Longman and Broderip organised piano, Stockholm, Musikkulterens Främjade, Clinkscale (1993: 189). |
| 1797 | Pfeffel, Le Havre, Fr., organised square, Leipzig University, no. 230, Clinkscale (1993: 216) |
| 1798 | Kühlewein [Kühlwein?], Johann Samuel, Organ square, organ pipes made out of bottles [!!??!!] Liverpool museum. |
| 1798 | Rackwitz, organised square, Musikmuseet, Stockholm, Clinkscale (1993: 224) |
| c. 1800 | Johannes Pohlman(n), organised square, Leipzig 3904 (1964), Clinkscale (1993: 220) |
| c. 1800 | John Sellers, Germantown U.S.A., organised piano, location unknown, Clinkscale (1993: 262). |
| 1800 | Kühlewein [Kühlwein?], Johann Samuel, Organ Square, Württembergisches Langewerbemuseum, Stuttgart. |
| 1800-1803 | Schmahl, Cristoph Friedrich Schmahl I (rebuilt by?), Organised square, Eisenach Bachhaus, Clinkscale (1993: 248). Mentioned in Jeans (1950-51). |
| c.1800-1805 | Attributed to Christian Gottlob Friederici, organ piano, Leipzig Musikinstrumenten-Museum. Clinkscale (1993: 109) |
| 1804 | Benjamin Crehore (U.S.A.) contracted to build piano organs with the Boston organ maker William Goodrich. Clinkscale (1993: 78) |
| 1807-14 (fl) | Blatter , Ferenc. Piano maker in Ofen or Buda, Hungary … thought/known to have built organised pianos. Clinkscale (1993: 25) ref. |
| c. 1810 | Wind, John (USA) Piano-organ owned by Raymond Brunner? Clinkscale (1993: 324). |
| 1819 | Rees's Cyclopaedia |
| 1821 | Joseph Böhm granted patent for an organised piano. Clinkscale (1993: 27). No surviving Ops although one piano has a janissary stop. |
| 1830 | Pyramidenflügel mit Aeoline by Johann Caspar Schlimbach, Königshofen i. Grabfeld, um 1830 |
Fuller details can be found on the RCO website (under ‘Academic Resources’) at http://www.rco.org.uk/download.php