Music Trade Review

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Music Trade Review.
The Only Music Trade Paper in America, and the Organ of the $tusic Trade of this Country,
Fo-anded
VOL. X. No. 10.
NEW YORK, DEC. 20, 1886 TO JAN. 5, 1887.
PUBLISHED * TWICE * EACH * MONTH.
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THE HISTORY OF THE PIANO.
T
1879.
HE following history of the birth and growth of
the piano, while it probably contains facts
well-known to some of the trade, will be found
interesting:
The piano-forte, as contra distinguished from any
other musical instrument, is clearly, if not most
felicitously, in the language of one not only conver-
sant with its history, but thoroughly understanding
its mechanical character and musical powers, as
"simply a harp in a box, strung with fine steel
strings, operated upon by the hammers of the 'ac-
tion' through the fingers on the keyboard." The
name of the instrument is compounded of two Italian
words—piano, which means soft, and forte, which
means strong (or loud)—a name which this "hori-
zontal harp" has borne probably, for but little more
than a century, it being regarded by some writers as
having been first suggested by Christopher Gottlieb
Schroter, in 1768, when defining what might be ac-
complished upon the instrument as it then existed,
when improved by his inventions; namely, that upon
such improved instrument one "might at pleasure
play piano or forte."
The manufacture of the piano-f( rte in the United
States, as an article of trade, is of vast importance,
both as regards the amount of capital invested, the
number of instruments made and the great number of
persons employed directly and indirectly in connec-
tion with it. The instrument is regarded as almost a
household necessity, and probably in no country is
the piano forte more popular than in this. An illus-
trating instance of its popularity in this country,
writes a certain person, is that some thirty (30) years
ago he saw a splendid " Weber " pianoforte taken to
the house of a Texan planter upon the prairie, a few
miles away from Ralston's Ferry, a point of embar-
kation on the Brazos River, about 120 miles inland
from the Gulf coast—the worth of the piano evi-
dently being twice that of the planter's house. And
it is probable that the pianoforte cost the planter
more than all the rest of his houshold furniture.
/
The statistics for the year 1865 show that during
that year the piano trade in the United States
amounted to fifty-nine millions, two hundred and
eighty-four thousand, six hundred and seventy-three
dollars ($59,284,673). The number of pianos m ( ,de
that year was one hundred and eighteen thousand,
. two hundred and eighty (118,280), and the manufac-
ture has steadily increased and is constantly grow-
ing in importance.
The social importance of the piano cannot well be
overrated, and its refining influences in the United
States especially, can be fully appreciated by those
whose memory extends back over a period of forty
years. In fact, the pianoforte may be properly de-
clared to have been the most important single influ-
ence which has wrought the social change for the
better, so marked among our people within that
time. Mr. Thalberg, the great pianist and composer,
in the official report of the jury on Musical Instru-
ments at the "World's Fair," at London, in 1851, ex-
presses the social value of the pianoforte in lan-
guage so appropriately descriptive of the instru-
ment's influence in this country, in these later years,
that one might almost conjecture that Mr. Thalberg
possessed a sort of prophet prevision, as well as that
he was well versed as to the customs of our people
at that time, and had the United States, in her fu-
ture, in his mind's eye as he wrote.
He writes : "The social importance of the piano
is, beyond all question, far greater than that of any
other instrument of music One of the most marked
changes in the habits of society, as civilization ad-
vances, is with the respect to the character of its
amusements. Formerly, nearly all such amuse-
ments were away from home and in public; now,
with the more educated portion of society the greater
part is at home and within the family circle, music
on the piano contributing the greater portion of it.
In .the more fashionable circles of cities, private con-
certs increase year by year, and in them the piano is
the principal feature. Many a man engaged in com-
mercial and other active pursuits finds the chief
charm of his drawing-room in the intellectual enjoy-
ment afforded by the piano.
By the use of the piano many who never visit the
opera or concerts, become thoroughly acquainted
with the choicest dramatic and orchestral composi-
tions. This influence is not confined to them, but
extends to all classes, and while very many towns
have no orchestras, families possess the best possi-
ble substitute, making them familiar with the fine
compositions. The study of such compositions, and
the application necessary for their proper execution,
may be, and ought to be, made the means of greatly
improving the general educational habits and tastes
of piano students, and thus exerting an elevating in-
fluence in addition to that refined and elegant plea-
sure which it directly dispenses." (These are Thal-
berg's words>.
The piano-forte of to-day is not an instrument of
special invention. It has grown and progressed
during the past three centuries, through three differ-
ent forms and under different names. Dr. Rimbault,
in his work published in London, in 18G0, regards
the initial principle of the piano-forte as found in the
stretched string of the ancient lyre. But it is ob-
vious that the principle must have been discovered
before the time when the lyre obtained its distinct
form as such; for It must have been the fact of
sounds being evoked by the string, or some other
stretched substance being caused to vibrate against
the atmosphere, which first suggested the lyre itself.
The writer referred to traces the instrument from
the ancient lyre, through various mechanical phases,
the harp, psaltery, dulcimer, etc , to the claricithe-
rium—a name compounded from the Latin, clavis, a
key, and cithera, the name of an ancient instrument
of music, which consisted of strings drawn over a
sounding wooden surface or bottom, and not unlike
the modern guitar. The claricitherium was an ob-
long box, containing a number of strings arranged
in a triangular form, and which were struck by a
plectrum—a little mallet, commonly made of ivory,
$8.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES. 15 CENTS.
with which the ancients beat the strings of the lyre.
It is said that the union of the keyboard and
stringed instrument was accomplished in the twelfth
century. Soon after the clarioitherium came the
clarichord, a keyed instrument, oblong in form, and
of the character of the spinet. Its strings were cov-
ered, to some extent, with cloth, and when struck,
vibrated with a sweet, soft tone. It was sometimes
called the "dumb spinet." The clarichord held
chief sway in popular favor among musical instru-
ments for six hundred years. In the days of Queen
Elizabeth, an instrument called the virginal divided
favor in England with the clarichord.
The spinet, which came into use in the sixteenth
century, was a triangularly-shaped box, having
sometimes as many as forty-nine str ngs, some of
them being in steel. The form in which the strings
of the present square piano are arranged is obvi-
ously a copy of that made by the strings of the
spinet.
Just who invented the piano-forte is not precisely
known. To no one person is Its invention or trans-
formation attributed, though there are three who
claim to have been the first to conceive the idea of
the present form of the piano. These were makers
of harpsichords In different parts of the world—an
Italian, a Frenchman and a German. It was within
a few years of each other that, by a remarkable coin-
cidence, they conceived the idea of the piano-forte.
Marius, the French manufacturer, claims the inven-
tion in 1716. Christopher Schroter, the German,
1717. Bartolommeo Cristofori, a Paduan, whose in-
vention is spoken of in an essay published by Mave-
hese Scipione Maffei, bearing date of 1711. This
date was erroneously given by others as 1718, which
somewhat detracts from Cristofori's claim. Yet we
have records giving an invention by the latter in
1709 of an instrument resembling the harpsichord in
an improved form, though it had more the appear-
ance of a dulcimer. According to tome writers
others efforts were made previous to Cristofori's
time to construct a key-board for the dulcimer, or
something similar to the hammers of a piano for the
harpsichord, but none seemed to be successful, for,
according t^> Maffei, in the Giornah de Literati d'
Italia, Venice, 1711, Cristofori's invention was yet
incomplete, though it embodied a principle control-
ing the hammer, its action, etc., which is seen even in
the pianos of the present day.
To Cristofori then may be justly attributed the
first conception of the piano-forte, though the others
already mentioned conceived the idea independent
of each other, hence their claims. In 1725, a Ger-
man, named Silbermann, having heard the descrip-
tion of Cristofori s invention, which was translated
into German by his friend, Konig, and having seen
one of his pianofortes at Dresden, undertook to con.
struct a similar instrument, but failed in his at-
tempts. It is alleged his ideas were not original,
having endeavored to copy from models previously
constructed, and In his grand pianos the inventions,
improvements, etc., erf Cristofori are found without
alteration.
As early as the tenth century we have the instru-
ment known as the " organum," of which, in a rude
state, the organ was the first representation, the ear-
liest keyed instrument known; another called theor-
ganistrum, similar to the hurdy gurdy, bag-pipes and
other stringed instruments. Some of these required a
blower in order to produce the proper sounds; others
required a handle, by means of which a wheel was
made to operate on the strings. It will be seen from
this that the key-board was then unknown, and
though different methods were devised and contriv-