CHAPTER I KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE Keyboard instruments and their derivation; the clavichord and its mechanism; the harpsichord and its relatives, virginal, _cembalo_, etc.; technique and use of the harpsichord--The beginnings of harpsichord music; the Gabrielis and Merulo; early forms; the influence of harmony and the crystallization of form--Frescobaldi and other organist-composers for harpsichord; early English virginal collections; John Bull, etc.--Genesis of the suite; influence of lute-music; Froberger, Denis Gaultier, etc.; Kuhnau--Development of the harpsichord ‘style’; great players: Chambonnières, etc. I The foundations of pianoforte music were laid during the second half of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth, with the foundations of instrumental music in general. Though there were at this time no pianofortes, there were three keyboard instruments, all of which not only took their part in the development of instrumental music, but more especially prepared the way for the great instrument of their kind which was yet unborn. These were the organ, the harpsichord, and the clavichord. The organ was then, as now, primarily an instrument of the church, though there were small, portable organs called _regals_, which were often used for chamber music and even as a part of accompaniment, together with other instruments, in the early operas. With the history of its construction we shall not concern ourselves here (see Vol. VI, Chap. XIV). From the middle of the fourteenth century Venice had been famous for her organists, because the organs in St. Mark’s cathedral were probably the best in Europe. Up to the end of the seventeenth century they were very imperfect. Improvements were slow. Great as was the rôle taken by the organ all over Europe, from the basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome to the northern town of Lübeck in Germany, the action was hard and uneven, the tuning beset with difficulties. But the organ was the prototype of all keyboard instruments. Upon the imperfect organs of those days composers built up the keyboard style of music.