piano-violin

A numerous group of instrs. endeavouring to combine the fulne and range of the piano with the violin’s expre ion and power of increasing the volume of a sustained In 1610 Hans Heydn of Niirntone. berg inv. the Gambenwerk, in which catgut strings were pre ed by resined. parchment rollers actuated by a wheel (other authorities say that Heydn’s instr. was called Geigenwerk, and had wire strings; and that the Gambenwerk, or Klavier gamba, was inv. by Reich or Gleichmann of Ilmenau, about 1750, and had gut strings). In 1754 Hohlfeld inv. the Bogenfliigel or Bogenklavier, with a horse-hair bow; von Meyer in 1794 provided each string with a bow. In 1800 Hiibner devised the clavecin harm on i que, which Pouleau developed into the or chest rin. Other instrs. of the same general idea were the gambe-clavier, inv. by Le Voirs, Paris, 1741; the Bogenklavier of Garbrecht, Kénigsberg, 1710; the Xdnorphika of Rdollig, Vienna, 1797; the Bogenhammerklavier of Karl Greiner, 1779; the harmonichord of Kaufman, 1785; the piano-violino, 1837. The most succe ful is the piano-quatuor or piano-violin, inv. 1865 by H. C. Baudin, of Paris, consisting of thick single strings to each of which is attached at a nodal point a projecting piece of stiff catgut, which on the pre ure of the key is brought in contact with a linen roller turned by pedals, the communicated vibration causing the string to sound; the general principle of these instrs. resembles that of the hurdygurdy.