gravicembalo

[grav-i-chem-buh-loh, grah-vi-]

noun

plural

gravicembali, gravicembalos 

1. a harpsichord.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gravicembalo¹

1855–60; < Italian, alteration of clavicembalo harpsichord (by association with grave heavy); clavicembalo

Example Sentences

Cristofori called the instrument “a gravicembalo col piano e forte,” meaning a “keyboard instrument that can be played soft and loud.”

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The junking of the modern descendant of the “gravicembalo col piano e forte,” the Italian precursor, can evoke strong reactions.

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The accounts which have come down to us note that the song of Aurora was accompanied by a gravicembalo, an organ, a flute, a harp and a large viol.

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The "Sonate per Gravicembalo, novamente composte," published by Giovanni Battista Pescetti in 1739, deserve notice, since they appeared three years before the six sonatas dedicated by Emanuel Bach to Frederick the Great.

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They were published in London by John Johnson, and bear the title, "Sonate di gravicembalo dedicate a sua altezza reale la principessa da Pier Domenico Paradies Napolitano."

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