(Ger.: ‘clavicylinder’).
A friction idiophone with a keyboard in the shape of a square piano, developed in 1799 by Ernst Chladni. The keys were attached to curved metal rods, which sounded by contact with a rotating wet glass cylinder, operated by means of a foot treadle. The principle was adopted by johann christian Dietz (i) in his mélodion (1805).
See also Sostenente piano, §3.