Vitruvius

Biography

Vitruvius, in his work on architecture written in the first century A.D., describes an organ with balanced keys, according to Dolge's account of the early history of the keyboard. This reference is presented as a step beyond Ctesibius's earlier hydraulic organ, since it is the first cited instance of an actual keyboard mechanism being described in connection with an organ. Dolge uses this reference to trace the uncertain early lineage of the keyboard before it was applied to stringed instruments, a development he associates with Guido of Arezzo in the eleventh century. No further biographical information about Vitruvius is given in this passage.

Highlights

• Described, in his work on architecture (1st century A.D.), an organ with balanced keys

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 77.

Public domain.