The claviharp, also known as the harp piano, or xenorphica, is a 19th-century musical instrument that combined a

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

with a keyboard.

Johann Christian Dietz Johann, typically a male given name, is the German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin form of the Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew name ''Yochanan'' () in turn from its extended form (), meaning "Yahweh is Gracious" ...

invented the instrument in 1813 CE. His grandfather was one of the first upright piano manufacturers. Struck by what he saw as difficulties and defects of the harp, in 1810, he built an ''instrument à cordes pincées à clavier'', which connected a keyboard to the harp strings. He made the instrument to address limitations of the harp—susceptibility of catgut strings to atmospheric change, inconsistency of sound as finger motion varies, limited

diatonic scale In music theory, a diatonic scale is any heptatonic scale that includes five whole steps (whole tones) and two half steps (semitones) in each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps, ...

(without

pedals A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to: Computers and other equipment * Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse * In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...

), and lack of dampers. The claviharp's keyboard plucked the strings (as a

harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...

) rather than strike them (as a piano).

Features

The claviharp used metal strings covered with an insulating material to better stay in tune. Its keyboard was the same as that of other keyboard instruments, so permitting the playing of chromatic scales. The instrument had two pedals. One sustained or dampened the strings, and the second divided certain strings into two equal parts to provide

harmonic octave A harmonic is a wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'', the frequency of the original periodic signal, such as a sinusoidal wave. The original signal is also called the ''1st harmonic'', the ...

s. The instrument was much lighter and transportable than a piano.

References

{{Musical keyboards Keyboard instruments Composite chordophones Harps Harpsichord 1813 introductions