The Oldest Keyboard Instrument in the World?

What is the oldest keyboard instrument in the world? The answer is usually given as the remarkable clavicytherium at the Royal College of Music Museum in London – an upright stringed keyboard instrument traditionally dated to around 1480.

But new research may mean that it is even older.

A keyboard from the fifteenth century

The instrument, catalogue number RCM0001, is a clavicytherium – essentially an early upright harpsichord. Unlike a conventional harpsichord, whose strings run horizontally, the strings in a clavicytherium are arranged vertically.

It is remarkably sophisticated for a fifteenth-century instrument. It has a keyboard mechanism, strings, soundboard and beautifully decorated case, showing that the technology of the keyboard instrument was already highly developed.

The maker is unknown. The instrument is thought to have been made in southern Germany, possibly Ulm, although its exact origins remain uncertain.

Could it be older than 1480?

The traditional date for the clavicytherium is c.1480. However, a new dendrochronological study published in 2026 has provided evidence compatible with a construction date just after the mid-1460s.

This is significant because dendrochronology uses the tree rings in the instrument's wood to help establish when the trees were felled.

It does not allow us to say that the instrument was definitely made in 1465, but it suggests that the clavicytherium may be considerably older than previously thought.

The Royal College of Music is now undertaking further research into the instrument.

A remarkable survivor

The clavicytherium is fascinating not only because of its age.

It is beautifully decorated, with carved tracery, gold and black decoration and a remarkable bridge which may represent the Tree of Life. There is also a surviving relief landscape which may once have depicted a religious scene.

Inside the instrument are tantalising clues to its history. A fragment of a legal document dating from around 1470–80 was reused in its construction, and inscriptions suggest that its maker was German-speaking.

The instrument later travelled to Venice, where it became part of the Contarini and Correr collections. It eventually came to London for the International Inventions Exhibition of 1885 and was acquired by Sir George Donaldson, who presented it to the Royal College of Music in 1894.

Why is it important?

We should be careful about calling it simply “the first keyboard instrument.” There were almost certainly earlier keyboards which have not survived.

What we can say is that the RCM clavicytherium is generally regarded as the oldest surviving stringed keyboard instrument in the world.

And that makes it a crucial object in the history of the harpsichord, clavichord and ultimately the piano.

Perhaps the most intriguing question is not “Is this the oldest keyboard?”

It is:

If this sophisticated instrument was already being made in the fifteenth century, what instruments came before it?

We may never know.

For now, this extraordinary survivor gives us one of our earliest glimpses into the fascinating history of the keyboard.

The instrument

Clavicytherium, c.1480 (possibly earlier)Anonymous, probably southern Germany or Italy. Royal College of Music Museum, London Catalogue number: RCM0001

View the Royal College of Music Museum catalogue entry