Bowed Clavier

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The Bowed Clavier (Bogenclavier in German) is a keyboard instrument strung with gut strings, the tone of which is produced by a steadily revolving well rosined cylinder (powered by a foot pedal), a mechanism not dissimilar to that found in the hurdy-gurdy[1]

It was invented by Joh. Hohlfeld of Berlin in 1751. This instrument and another one of his inventions, a device that records keyboard improvisations in real-time, were mentioned in the "Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments" by C. P. E. Bach.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Dolmetsch Online

"Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments", Section Two, W. W. Norton & Company (November 1948), ISBN 0393097161