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Clavichord
The clavichord isn’t all that easy to play. It requires time and tranquillity. If the master isn’t well-balanced it refuses to emit its soulful tone. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart prized this instrument so greatly that, in spite of the advanced techniques of piano construction in his day, he still composed his "Requiem"on it. Basically, all composers have loved this inspiring instrument and were deeply grateful that they knew how to use it; it was well known that it transmutes any simple piece of music into a blossoming, highly expressive poem of unexpected beauty; for the meaning of all things can be revealed only with tranquillity and sensitivity.
What is it they say? "He who doesn’t have to rumble and rush ignores the pianoforte and devotes himself to the inexpressibly sweet sound of the clavichord".
You simply have to experience the "midnight piano” at first-hand. Its enigmatic sound fills the stillness of the room with an inner beauty and greatness, a greatness that, strangely, brings some down from off their high horse while helping and encouraging others to take themselves seriously and love what it has to offer.
 
   
   
     
   
Spinet
When I first played a harpsichord or a spinet as a young man, I didn’t know whether it was the silvery clarity of the wonderful sound that momentarily so overwhelmed me, or whether it was the remarkable way in which, while respectfully pressing the keys, I was able for the first time to sense and experience myself. In contrast to the uneasy feeling I always had at a grand piano, a feeling that I had to achieve something on my own and make something of myself, here I experienced for the first time what it is like to encounter an instrument with a life of its own, an instrument that possesses something uplifting that it wants to give to you, something to be found in it, brought to life and made to blossom. It has a very special sound, a sound one doesn’t feel obligated to shape in any way; it neither should nor can be shaped, since there is already something so majestic about its form and nature.
At the keyboard, I felt an inner necessity to feel my way, carefully and cautiously, through this form and nature, and suddenly the movements of my hands, which were used to maltreating piano keys in an attempt to fulfil my own expectations and those of other people, had become just as smooth. But I wasn’t just playing, I wanted to understand, with my feelings and emotions. I sat straight as a ramrod and experienced how something flowery rose up in me, giving me the assurance that, in some unknown way, it would be worthwhile for me to learn how to build this instrument, which was actually rather unpopular. And so it was. I have never regretted it.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t like modern pianos, but it is important that one understands that the pianoforte is not a development of the harpsichord, but a new, independent invention that was discovered in the search for something other than what the harpsichord had already provided. I myself just prefer the simple wooden spinet, one which still has the wing-form. It has certainly been drowned out, that is a fact, and to some extent forgotten, but it has never been displaced. After all, how could it be displaced when it is on an entirely different path and level? Every instrument and musical work gives us access to a very special world of feeling. But some instruments have become like overgrown signposts pointing to overgrown paths. If you manage to notice them at all, you can’t walk them carelessly and half asleep; they require the attitude and bearing of a person who knows what they want. Anyone who takes the trouble to leave the well-trodden paths to enter areas where there is still much that has not been trampled down, will be well rewarded; here the healing herbs still grow, pure water still flows in unsophisticated, meandering curves, and no bizarre buildings stand up and issue their challenge to nature.
Have you ever played a spinet accompanied by a recorder, mandolin or guitar? My showroom is at your disposal.