Such was the construction of the _clavichord_ until about the year 1700, when it was improved in so far as that each key was supplied with a separate string. The clavichord is pre-eminently a German instrument. Although now almost entirely supplanted by the pianoforte, it is still occasionally to be met with in the house of the German village schoolmaster and of the country parson. Though but weak in sound, it admits of much expression; and most of the German classical composers who lived before the invention of the pianoforte preferred the clavichord to the harpsichord. In England it has never become popular. Considering the simplicity of its construction, it might be surmised that the price of a clavichord was generally very moderate. In the latter half of the eighteenth century the prices charged for such instruments by some of the best manufacturers were as follows:――Carl Lemme, in Brunswick, made clavichords of various qualities, which fetched from three to twelve Louis d’ors a-piece; he also made, for exportation to Batavia, clavichords with a compressed sounding-board, invented by his father in the year 1771; Krämer, in Göttingen, charged from four to fourteen Louis d’ors, according to size and finish; and Wilhelmi, in Cassel, charged from twenty to fifty thalers,――from about £3 to £7 10s. [Illustration: FIG. 66.――CLAVICEMBALO. Signed “Joanes Antonius Baffo, Venetus.” Italian. Dated 1574. H. 9½ in., L. 83 in., W. 36 in. No. 6007-’59. Victoria and Albert Museum.] The _clavicembalo_ (often designated merely _cembalo_) is called in German “Flügel,” on account of its shape somewhat resembling the wing of a bird. _Clavicembali_ formerly in use generally had a compass of five octaves. The instrument was usually supplied with some stops by means of which the quality of sound could in some measure be modified. Furthermore, it was frequently made with two keyboards, one for the loud and another for the soft tones. The harpsichord made in England was precisely of the same construction. In fact, the best harpsichord makers in England were emigrants from the continent, and the founders of some of the great pianoforte manufactories still flourishing in London. Burkhardt Tschudi, for instance, a harpsichord maker from Switzerland, was the founder of Broadwood’s celebrated manufactory, which dates from the year 1732. Kirkman, a German (who, before he established himself in England, wrote his name Kirchmann) sold his harpsichords in London, according to the German Musical Almanac for the year 1782, at the price of from 60_l._ to 90_l._ apiece. In the beginning of the eighteenth century many of the harpsichords made in England had, according to Grassineau (Musical Dictionary, London, 1740), a compass of only four octaves.