clavecin électrique
The clavecin électrique (or clavessin électrique) was a musical instrument invented in 1759 by Jean-Baptiste Thillaie Delaborde, a French Jesuit priest. It is the earliest known electric-powered musical instrument, antedated only by the Denis d'or, which is only known from written accounts. • Illustration — Diagram of the clavecin électrique The world's first electronic instrument was created in 1753 by the Czech musician and clergyman Prokop Divish (1698 - 1765). His distinctive feature was to show experiments in physics lessons.
Also recorded as clavecin electrique · clavessin électrique · electric harpsichord
clavecin électrique
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- electromechanical instrument.
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Among other things, Divish became famous for his original musical instrument, called "denidor". The very first writing about this instrument dates back to February 27, 1753 and is contained in a letter from the evangelical theologian Friedrich Christoph Oetinger. It is a response to an unknown letter from Divish to the priest from the Württemberg city of Weinsberg. Therefore, work on the instrument was completed in early 1753. Later, Delaborde described the instrument in his 1761 publication, Le clavessin électrique. The mechanism was based on a contemporary warning-bell device, and the instrument was essentially an electric carillon. A number of bells, two for each pitch, hang from iron bars along with their clappers (one for each pair). A globe generator charged the prime conductor and the iron bars. The musician pressed a key and one of the bells of the corresponding pair was grounded, cut off from the charge source. The clapper then oscillated between the grounded and the charged bells, producing the desired tone. The somewhat inappropriate choice of the instrument's name was defended by Delaborde, who claimed that it was far superior to a carillon. He also mentioned that during a performance in a dark room, the listener's "eyes are agreeably surprised by the brilliant sparks" that were produced by the instrument. The press and the public admired the innovative machine, but it was not developed further. The model Delaborde himself built survives, and is kept at the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. • Illustration — Modern replica of the clavecin électrique. • Illustration — Modern replica of the clavecin électrique (detail).
Clavecin électrique is an electromechanical instrument.
Synthesizers at the Schaulager (collection) of the Swiss Museum Center for Electronic Music Instruments (SMEM)
1904.CC
Synthesizers at the Schaulager (collection) of the Swiss Museum Center for Electronic Music Instruments (SMEM)
1904.CC
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The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Clavecin électrique, revision 1360431409 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.François-Joseph Fétis, Arthur Pougin. Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique par F.J. Fétis : supplément et complément. Henri Fournier. 1837.
- 2.Timeline: History of the Synthesizer (before 1900). Synthmuseum.com. http://www.synthmuseum.com/index.html. 16 novembre 2006.
- 3.Un possibile strumento musicale che facesse uso di fenomeni elettrici, antecedente il clavecin électrique, è il Denis d'or, nel quale però l'elettricità non era parte integrante del meccanismo di generazione del suono ma era usata per ottenere effetti particolari, a discrezione del musicista. Le caratteristiche esatte di questo strumento non sono certe, in quanto di esso non restano che scarse testimonianze scritte.
- 4.Le journal des sçavans, combiné avec les mémoires de Trévoux, Marc Michel Rey, Amsterdam 1759.
- 5.The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, voce La Borde, Jean-Baptiste de
- 6.Joseph Aignan Sigaud de la Fond. Dictionnaire De Physique. 1. 1781.
- 7.Giuseppe Bertini, Dizionario storico-critico degli scrittori di musica e de' più celebri artisti di tutte le nazioni sì antiche che moderne, 1814
- 8.Edith Lecourt. Le sonore et la figurabilité. Éditions L'Harmattan. 2006. ISBN 9782296151055.
- 9.Pierre Guillot. Les Jésuites et la musique: le Collège de la Trinité à Lyon, 1565-1762. Editions Mardaga. 1991. ISBN 9782870094013.
- 10.AA. VV., Dizionario delle origini, invenzioni e scoperte nelle arti, nelle scienze, nella geografia, nel commercio, nell'agricoltura, Bonfanti, Milano 1831
- 11.Aimé-Henri Paulian, Dizionario portatile di fisica, Venezia, presso Silvestro Gatti, 1794 pp. 326-328.
- 12.Roland Mortier - Hervé Hasquin, Autour du père Castel et du clavecin oculaire, in Études sur le XVIIIe siècle, vol. XXIII, Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1995.
- 13.Benedetta Saglietti, Dal clavecin oculaire di Castel al clavier à lumières di Skrjabin in S. Messina - P. Trivero (a cura di), Metamorfosi dei Lumi 6. Le belle lettere e le scienze, Accademia, Torino 2012, pp. 187–205 online.
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