On Saturday, September 19, the Tacoma Chapter of the American Guild of Organists kicked off its program year with a fascinating presentation at Christ Episcopal Church in Tacoma. Titled “Clavichord and Organ, Companions for the Ages,” the session was led by noted organist and clavichord enthusiast Kevin Birch, Director of Music at St. John’s Catholic Church in Bangor, Maine.
For an appreciative audience of chapter members and local music lovers, Birch offered an illuminating deep dive into the intimate world of the clavichord—an instrument historically tied to the daily study and artistic development of generations of organists and composers.
The Instrument: Mechanics and Expressive Nuance
Birch opened the morning by examining the unique properties that set the clavichord apart from its keyboard cousins. Unlike the harpsichord or piano, the clavichord possesses a wondrous design feature: direct physical connection. When a key is depressed, a small brass blade called a tangent strikes and remains in contact with the string for the duration of the note.
This direct contact gives the player rare control over the sound even after the initial attack. Performers can subtly vary finger pressure to alter the volume (“fortatto”), create a delicate vibrato (“bebung”), or execute expressive micro-variations that make the instrument feel almost sentient. Composers sometimes indicated their specific preferences with specialized markings in the score. CPE Bach, for example, used 3 to 7 dots under a slur to indicate the number of times the note should waver.
Birch contrasted two fine instruments provided for the day by Tacoma AGO member and owner Dana Robinson:
- A larger instrument built by Lyndon Taylor (modeled after a historical instrument in the Leipzig Museum, known as “Leipzig 21”).
- A smaller, highly portable instrument built by Edward Kottick.
Demonstrating both, Birch noted that the smaller Kottick instrument possesses a bright, lute-like clarity, while the larger Taylor model offers broader dynamic range—even allowing a player to simulate a four-foot organ stop by playing an octave higher.
Historical Context and Repertoire
The presentation explored the rich historical footprint of the clavichord, noting its resurgence through modern builder craftsmanship and active scholarly groups like the German Clavichord Society.
Birch highlighted the deep bond between composers and their clavichords, sharing the poignant example of C.P.E. Bach. Near the end of his life, Bach penned a formal, emotional farewell to his instrument, explicitly writing performance indicators like repercussions (wavering a note multiple times after a key strike) directly into the score. Birch brought this repertoire to life with moving performances of C.P.E. Bach’s music and a expansive Haydn Sonata in F Major, demonstrating the instrument’s capacity from its lowest registers to its highest singing lines.
Companions for the Ages
After a lively question-and-answer session covering mechanical action, string physics, and historical temperaments (noting that the large instrument was tuned in Kirnberger and the smaller in meantone), Birch turned to comparative repertoire. He connected the morning’s acoustic discoveries to his broader exploration of keyboard literature—linking works by Antonio Valenti (La Romanesca con cinque mutanze) and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (Toccata) to the expressive worlds shared by both the organ and the clavichord.
The morning concluded with an engaging open-house period, giving attendees time for discussion and a rare hands-on opportunity to play the clavichords themselves. It was an inspiring, highly educational start to the Tacoma AGO’s seasonal programming, reminding all present of the profound, quiet intimacy at the root of keyboard art.
Birch provided two handouts.