Bowed keyboard instrument

Bowed keyboard instrument (Fr.: clavecin à archet, piano à archet; Ger.: Bogenklavier, Streichklavier; It.: cembalo da arco), a hurdy-gurdy wheel applied to a wing-shaped keyboard instr., where it controls the motion of a continuous, rosined band. The movement of the keys either raises the strings to the rotating band or guides the moving band to the strings; both principles were used. Such instrs. originated in an attempt to create a keyboard instr. of sustained tone capable of gradated…