Keyed harp

Keyed harp (Fr.: harpe à clavier; Ger.: Harfenklavier), *frame harp controlled by a keyboard. The earliest mention of such an instr. is that of Mersenne, who refers to It. instrs. of this nature, and a *clavi-arpa is said to have been invented in Spain by Juan Hidalgo in the 17th c. Gerber reports that an organist named Johann Kurtz built one in 1681; he calls it a newly invented instr. Jean-Antoine Berger (d. 1777) of Grenoble also constructed one. The *clavi-lyra and *clavi-harp appeared in…