Quote from Silberger's "Keyboard Music Before 1700"

From the Introduction:

"With the introduction of a keyboard, musicians lost direct contact with the source of their music. a mechanism . . . was interposed between vibrating strings . . . and thier own bodies. Yet this device proved to be a tool of unpredecented power, allowing a single individual to harness music's full harmony, whether for private solace of for the spiritual uplift of a multitude. Few of the instruments's qualities were as consequential as the ability of each ot the player's hands to produce music by itself. The two hands could be like two players, both emerging from one, and easily merged back into one. . . . Simultaneous negotiation of both hands was, and continues to be, a chief challenge to those seeking to master the keyboard; whereas players of a single line can channel their musicality into realizing the line's expressive content, players of multiple lines must also manage the interplay and balance among several voices. It is no wonder that keyboard playing would become a nearly indispesible auxilliary skill for all musicians attempting the grasp and manipulate the complex tectures of later centuries, and that so many composers would come from the ranks of masters of that skill."

Very tru, thanks for sharing that .