Favorite Clavichord

When Did the Clavichord Become C. P. E. Bach’s Favorite Instrument?
An Inquiry into Expression, Style, and Medium in Eighteenth-Century Keyboard Music

This is a paper that I wrote for a symposium on the clavichord that took place in Italy in 1999. I was unable to attend in person, and although the paper was read on my behalf, recordings that I had made to illustrate the talk never arrived. The paper was subsequently published in modified form (without any reference to the recordings) in De clavicordio IV: Proceedings of the IV International Clavichord Symposium, Magnano, 8–11 September 1999 (Magnano: Musica Antica a Magnano, 2000), pp. 37–53. A French translation by Jean-Claude Teboul appears in Ostinato rigore 23 (2004): 139–57. Click here to read the paper in its original form. The recordings can be heard by clicking on the following links, then right-clicking on the word “download” and saving to your local computer. I made the recordings on the Swedish clavichord of circa 1770 at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota (more information here).

1. Sonata in E minor (W. deest), second movement (Andante)

2. Sonatina in G, W. 64/2 (H. 8), second movement (Largo)

3. Sonata in B minor, W. 65/13 (H. 32.5), first movement (Poco allegro)

4. Sonata in C, W. 90/3 (H. 524), first movement (Allegro di molto)