Embedded Files
Publications
Publications
“Bröderna Moberg: Swedish organ restoration in the twentieth century, seen through the lens of the SONORA project”, The Organ Yearbook, Vol. 50, 2023 (pp 139-159).
Musica Gloria ‘Corelli & Händel: Encounters in Rome’ (2023) - Claviorgan programme note and English editing. ET´CETERA Records (KTC 1787)
“Le Piano-Organisé en France: A Late-Eighteenth-Century Love Affair with the Claviorgan”, BIOS Journal, Vol. 43, 2019, (pp. 35-46.)
Boalch, Donald Howard, Peter Williams, and Eleanor Smith. “Claviorgan.” Grove Music Online. 21 Dec. 2018; (revision of article).
“The Early Claviorgan and its role in Accompaniment Practice”, The Organ Yearbook, Vol. 47, 2018 (pp 7-25).
“The Claviorgan: Not for Amateurs![?]”, Keyboard Perspectives: Yearbook of the Westfield Center for Keyboard Studies, Vol. VIII, 2016, pp. 133-154
“The English Claviorgan in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries”, Galpin Society Journal, Vol. LXVIII (Spring 2015), pp. 21-34.
“John Crang: His Workshop and his Surviving Claviorgan”, in ed. Thomas Donahue, Essays in Honor of Christopher Hogwood, (USA: Scarecrow Press, 2011), pp. 91-120.
Pipes and Strings Map
Pipes and Strings Map
Mapping information from Pipes and Strings Database, with information divided by categories.
This also shows the current location of surviving instruments in museums/public collections. Private collections have been recorded in general location terms.
Corrections and additions welcome:
eleanorsmithguido[at]claviorgan.com
The History and Use of the Claviorgan
The History and Use of the Claviorgan
(PhD Thesis, Edinburgh, 2013)
(PhD Thesis, Edinburgh, 2013)
ABSTRACT (2013)
The claviorgan is an instrument that has long been neglected by Organologists, and considered a mere oddity in the history of stringed-keyboard instruments. However, the combination of strings and pipes in a single entity permeates musical history from the late-1400s through to present day in a variety of guises.
The thesis will present a new nomenclature using the term claviorgan as an ‘umbrella term’ under which a variety of different combinations of stringed-keyboard and pipes will be considered and defined: this recognises that there are distinct trends in instrument building, and different probable uses for the various claviorgans.
Through a series of case-studies of building-schools and epochs, the thesis will consider both the written evidence for combination instruments from published musical theory books and from other documentary evidence, as well as the evidence from the surviving instruments. It is not the intention to provide detailed organological studies of surviving instruments, as there are not enough examples from many of the building schools to make a reasonable comparison. However, these instruments will be considered in terms of their status, their owners, and in particular the balance between the elements.
Little or no music has survived that was written specifically to exploit claviorgans, and the thesis examines the possible reasons for this lack of music in light of keyboard repertoire in general, and the lack of distinction between music for harpsichord and organ in the greater part of music history. The thesis also discusses the concept of solo music versus accompaniment and continuo, with a particular focus on the claviorgan as an instrument for ensemble performance as evidenced by contemporary descriptions of their use and by the status the instruments held.
This discussion will be followed and complemented by an appendix of surviving instruments and references to combination instruments compiled by the author.
Please note that for image copyright reasons, my thesis is not available through the University of Edinburgh depository.
A link to a repository with a PdF version will be provided on request - please email eleanorsmithguido[at]claviorgan.com
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