The clavecin électrique (or clavessin électrique) was a

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...

invented in 1759 by Jean-Baptiste Thillaie Delaborde, a

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priest. It is the earliest known electric-powered musical instrument, antedated only by the

Denis d'or The Denis d’or () was reportedly the first musical instrument in history that involved electricity. Background The Czech theologian Václav Prokop Diviš, who had his parish in the Moravian town Přímětice near Znojmo, was interested in both ...

, which is only known from written accounts. 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. 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 Friedrich Christoph Oetinger (2 May 1702 – 10 February 1782) was a German Lutheran theologian and theosopher. Biography Oetinger was born at Göppingen. He studied philosophy and Lutheran theology at Tübingen (1722-1728), and was impressed by ...

. 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 carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a musical keyboard, keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells. The bells are Bellfounding, cast in Bell metal, bronze, hung in fixed suspension, and Musical tuning, tu ...

. 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 Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

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

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References

External links

Audio demo and photographs of a contemporary reconstruction of the clavecin électrique

Clavecin électrique at '120 Years of Electronic Music'

Clavecin électique and Benjamin Franklin

Electric Harpsichord sound

Introduction to 1970 electronic music

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clavecin electrique Electronic musical instruments Electrostatics French inventions

References

Further reading

External links