A keyboard instrument of the harpsichord type designed and built by the Munich instrument-making firm of Maendler-Schramm in the 1920s. Its mechanism was designed to allow dynamic gradation: a pad was fitted diagonally between the back key lever and the adjustable screw of a specially sprung jack, so that the length of the plectrum could be regulated by touch (patented 25 May 1923). These instruments were advertised as ‘harpsichords with a sound capable of modulation in the modern way’. Similar instruments were built by other firms in the first half of the 20th century, but they did not prove popular. The Bachklavier should not be confused with the Bach-harpsichord.
MARTIN ELSTE