Clavichord: Haydn's Thinking-Fantasy-Machine

Abstract

In 1752, a so-called fantasy machine was invented to record keyboard improvisation mechanically on a paper roll. Composers, however, condemned its stiffness of action and failure to capture expressions. As Davis Yearsley writes, a “thinking machine” that could match the “elasticity of the human faculties” was desired but deemed impossible. Following this paradigm, this research argues that Haydn turned the clavichord into a combination of both the fantasy and the thinking machines. While Haydn improvised everyday on the clavichord, he also stated that “his musical imagination played on him” as if he was “a living clavier”. In this sense, he and the clavichord became one. The clavichord’s body became his body; his mind became the clavichord’s mind. Furthermore, Haydn called the clavichord his “refuge”, a haven that helped combat his loneliness while fostering his cultivation of sensibility. In light of this, this research examines the mechanics of the clavichord and the expressive content of his Keyboard Sonata Hob:XVI 46 — a sonata that Haydn wrote for himself on the clavichord — in order to study how Haydn entered into a shared experience with the clavichord and thus transformed the clavichord into a thinking-fantasy- machine that responded to his sensibility.