What emerges from this study of the various sources is an overview of the essential role this instrument played both socially and musically for more than four centuries, restoring the clavichord to the position it justly deserves in history.Awarded the Nicholas Bessaraboff Prize for 2001, honoring the best book-length organological study in the English language published in 1998/99.

Reviews "...a warm welcome for this handsome, scholarly and approachable book... as an account of the clavichord's evolution, this one is outstanding."The Musical Times

"I thought I knew a reasonable amount about the clavichord, but this book told otherwise... This is a superbly presented and very readable book which I can strongly recommend." Douglas Hollick, Choir and Organ

Contributors Christopher Hogwood

Cambridge University Press
Hardback, 406 pages 20 line diagrams
123 half-tones 6 music examples.