Early History
Some of the earliest references to claviorgans are to be found in an inventory of the possessions of Henry VIII taken in 1547 which includes four instruments being combinations of ‘virgynalles’ and ‘regals’. In this early terminology ‘virgynall’ does not refer to a specific instrument but to any plucked string keyboard.
In 1590 Phillip III of Spain was given a claviorgan by a German monarch, which also appears in an 1602 inventory of the court instruments. Other Royal instruments include a Willenbrock claviorgan made for Prince Georg of Hanover, and a number of instruments which appear to have been made for Frederick Prince of Wales and now in the Royal Collection.
It was primarily used by the aristocracy since the claviorgan was considerably more expensive than any other keyboard instrument barring a full-sized church organ. One English instrument which has been in the possession of the Earl of Wemyss since its purchase in the middle of the eighteenth century still retains the receipts for the organ part alone recording two payments to ‘John Snetzler, Organ Builder’ totalling £86.
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