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THE HISTORY OF THE PIANO
FORTE.
In the general principles which regulate the
construction of the pianoforte there is nothing
so complicated or recondite as to have prevented
the instrument from springing at once into being.
having, like Minerva, arrived at maturity in the
brain of its first author. But though there were
in the nature of things but one or two steps
from Jubal to Messrs. Broadwood, Collard, or
Erard, mankind took some thousands of years
to make those advances.
The musical principle which renders possible
the construction of the whole class of instru
ments to which the pianoforte belongs is that
strings or wires of nimilsr thickness and ten- !
sion, when caused to vibrate emit sounds differ- j
ing in pitch according to the length of the j
wires or strings. The vibration may be caused
by the fingers, as in the case of the harp and
guitar, or by a plectrum—an instrument for
twitching the strings, as in the ancient dulci
mer and modern harpsichord; or by friction,
as in the violin and kindred instrument; or
lastly by blows of a hammer, as in the clavichord
and piano. This principle was very early brought
into requisition. In an Egyptian mummy case at
Thebes was found a harp strong with catgut. For
3,000 years it had lain silent by the aide of its
silent master, but when brought to light it j
was still fit to be played upon, though perhaps
last tuned by "the piper that played before
Moses." On the Assyrian monuments, too, we |
find representations of dulcimers with many
strings, ingeniously constructed, and played with
plectra. To lay this frame of strings upon its
side, and fit it for machinery which should enable
the performer to strike at once as many strings
as he had fingers, icstead of two, or, at
the most, three at a time, was a great step in
advance. But this application of the mechanism
of a row of keys to the stringed instrument
came in a roundabout way, for the finger key
system was first applied, not to stringed instru
ments at all, but to the organ. In 757 A.D.
Constantine V. of Byzantium sent an organ
with these finger keys to KingPepin. These
primitive keys were not very available for use
by the fingers alone. There was nothing in
them answering to what we call the black
keys, and those which did exist were four or
five inches broad, and had to be struck
with the fist or a small club, so that
" exercises for the organ" must have indicated
no small amount of physical toil. The semi
tone notes were added in 950 at Venice, and it
was not till the latter end of the fifteenth cen
tury that pedals or foot-keys were added to the
organ. But about the year 1300, the Italians,
soon followed by Belgians and Germans, intro
duced a kind of harp orjljre with finger keys,
called the clavicytherium. This was an oblong
instrument, with catgut strings, in which organ
keys were used to raise the hard leather
plectra for twitching the strings.
About the same time the clavichord was in
troduced, which was the great-grandfather of
the piano. In this the strings were of wire,
and the vibrations weie caused by a blow from
a hammer. A wedge of brass called a tangent
was placed at the end of the key farthest from
the player, and when the key was pressed doWD
this was driven upwards against the wire, and
held on the wire as long as the key was held
down. The'first effect of this would be to
divide the wire into two lengths, one on
either side of the wedge, both of which
would vibrate together, and so produce
confusion. But this was provided against by
leaving the wire free to vibrate on one side
only, the other side of the wedge carrying a bit
of cloth, which served as a damper. This in
strument, though exceedingly simple, was one
of great capabilities, and was a great favorite
with Sebastian Bach, who, in spite of its
weakness of tone, preferred it, probably with
reason, to the harpsichords and pianos of his
time.
But promising as the clavichord was, its de
velopment made no progress for some centuries.
The system by which the strings were twitched
rather than struck got the upper hand, and
during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
the harpsichord, spinet, and virginals held sway, j
Of these the harpsichord, whose tone was de- '
scribed by Dr. Bumey as "scratch with a sound
at the end of It," was the typical instrument. The
note was produced by a quill pushed past the
string in such a manner as to give it a twitch.
The instrument had no capabilities of varied
power or expression, and to remedy this defect
two rows of keys, with double sets of wires, and !
various other complicated and expensive im
provements were produced—not, indeed, with
out effect, but without achieving any thorough
success. For all that could bo done, the harp
sichord still gave a scratch with a sound at the
end of it. So when in the eighteenth century,
makers, one after another, returned to the prin
ciple of the clavichord, and by mechanical !
improvements developed an instrument perfect
in its tone, and capable of the most varied ex
pression, called, first the forte-piano, and after
wards the piano-forte, because it could be played
either softly or loudly, the harpsichord was soon
beaten out of the field, and the piano took
its present supreme place as the English home
instrument. Various particulars as to the me
chanical difficulties necessary to be overcome in
constructing a perfect piano, together with some
account of the origin of the principal manufac
turing firms, will be found in Mr. Brinsmead's
interesting pages, but for these we have no space
heie.
The book before us is not all historical. There
are wise hints as to the purchase of a piano, and
indications given how many minor accidents
may be remedied without the expensive and
often delayed assistance of a professed tuner.—
" The History of the Pianoforte." By Edgar
Brinsmead.
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