are immortalized it, and William Byrd (1546-1623) became the
first clavier master. He and Dr. John Bull (1563-1628), says Oscar Bie,
in his great work on "The Clavier and Its Masters," "represent the two
types which run through the entire history of the clavier. Byrd was the
more intimate, delicate, spiritual intellect; Bull the untamed genius,
the brilliant executant, the less exquisitely refined artist. It is
significant that these two types stand together on the threshold of
clavier art." Bull had gained his degree at Oxford, the founding of
whose chair of music is popularly attributed to Alfred the Great.

As early as the year 1400 claviers had appeared whose strings were
plucked by quills attached to jacks at the end of the key levers. To
this group belonged the virginal, or virginals, the clavicembalo, the
harpsichord, or clavecin, and the spinet. Stops were added, as in the
organ, that varied effects might be produced, and a second keyboard was
often placed above the first. The case was either rectangular, or
followed the outlines of the harp, a progenitor of this clavier type. It
was often highly ornamented, and handsomely mounted. Each string from
the first had its due length and was tuned to its proper note.

The secular music principle of the sixteenth century that called into
active being the orchestra led also to a desire for richer musical
expression in home and social life than the fashionable lute afforded,
and the clavier advanced in favor. In France, by 1530, the dance, that
promoter of pure instrumental music, was freely transcribed for the
clavier. Little more than a century later, Jean Baptiste Lully
(1633-1687) extensively employed the instrument in the orchestration of
his operas, and wrote solo dances for it.

Francois Couperin (1668-1733), now well-nigh forgotten, although once
mentioned in the same breath with Moliere, wrote the pioneer clavier
instruction book. In it he directs scholars how to avoid a harsh tone,
and how to form a legato style. He advises parents to select teachers on
whom implicit reliance may be placed, and teachers to keep the claviers
of beginners under lock and key that there may be no practicing without
supervision. His suggestions deserve consideration to-day.

He was the first to encourage professional clavier-playing among women.
His daughter Marguerite was the first woman appointed official court
clavier player. He composed for the clavier little picture tunes,
de