Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An early keyboard instrument with a soft sound produced by small brass wedges striking horizontal strings.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A musical instrument invented in the middle ages, and in general use, especially in Germany, until displaced by the square pianoforte at the end of the eighteenth century.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Mus.) A keyed stringed instrument, now superseded by the pianoforte. See
clarichord .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music An early
keyboard instrument producing a soft sound by means of metalblades attached to the inner ends of thekeys gentlystriking thestrings
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an early stringed instrument like a piano but with more delicate sound
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They had organs, lutes, viols, lyres, harps, citherns, horns, and a kind of primitive piano known as the clavichord or the clavicembalo.
The Age of the Reformation Preserved Smith 1910
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But through the assistance of a servant, the boy obtained an instrument, which he kept in the garret; and there, when opportunity offered, with the strings of his "clavichord" so covered with pieces of cloth as to deaden the sound, he practised music until he became a proficient in harmony.
The Printer Boy. Or How Benjamin Franklin Made His Mark. An Example for Youth. 1859
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The fortepiano timbre didn't reveal any new secrets in the solo portions — Bach's writing is still very much modeled on harpsichord/clavichord virtuosity — but when providing a rippling accompaniment to the whole ensemble, the softer, subtler touch made for an invitingly plush sound.
Authentication keys Matthew Guerrieri 2009
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The book reaches its poignant finale through lovingly conjured attention to detail, when one of the couple's grandchildren attempts to connect with a fragmented inheritance: "All there is from that world is a locket / showing the infant Mozart playing silence / on a tiny clavichord, behind cracked glass."
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The book reaches its poignant finale through lovingly conjured attention to detail, when one of the couple's grandchildren attempts to connect with a fragmented inheritance: "All there is from that world is a locket / showing the infant Mozart playing silence / on a tiny clavichord, behind cracked glass."
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The fortepiano timbre didn't reveal any new secrets in the solo portions — Bach's writing is still very much modeled on harpsichord/clavichord virtuosity — but when providing a rippling accompaniment to the whole ensemble, the softer, subtler touch made for an invitingly plush sound.
Archive 2009-06-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2009
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So, for all the haunting loveliness Kibbey found in an uncredited transcription of Rameau's "L'Egyptienne," the crispness and clarity of the clavichord original was lost.
Harpist Bridget Kibbey creates an air of enchantment at Phillips 2011
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Tureck performed and recorded extensively, playing piano as well as harpsichord, clavichord, and organ.
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Tureck performed and recorded extensively, playing piano as well as harpsichord, clavichord, and organ.
Personal Information for Rosalyn Tureck Jewish Women's Archive 2010
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Elsewhere we find a dislocated box-drawer with the letters "CO" (containing two recorders), a jingle ring, a lute, three recorders, two pears, a container of candied fruits (with two spoons), a clavichord, a shin-guard and the golden spur of the Gonfaloniere
Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro 2008
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