Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1884-04-11
PiANO-FORTG MUSIC.
Its History and DeVeIOpment---Th The
PianO-fOrtc's PrederessOrs.

C.ondon Times
Mr.. Ernst Pauer, principal professor
of the piano-forte at the ROYAL College
of Music, on Thursday afternoon do
llvere before large audience at the
Royal institution, Albemarle street, the
first OF a course Of six lectures on e
History an | Development OF the Mus
for the Piano-forte and its prede-
C ssors, the Clavecin. Har rpsichod,'
etc, with musical illustrations
on these instruments. He re-
marked on the great numl er of
excellent composers who have contided
some of their finest ideas to the key
board, so that at first sight it seemed
almost a hopeless task to evolve any
thing like order from the extraordinary
mass of names. But on studying the
matter more closely clus.i ication
evolves itself readily enough. especially
as the lecturers desire was to bring the
masters in music before the audience
not so much theoretically as practically,
l. e. by playin the pieces chosen for
illustration, rather than by oral de.
scription.
He then gave, AZ was Indispensable,
the shortest possible sketch of tie
keyed Instruments i'll use before the
pianO-forte. The clavictherium was in
troduced about the year 1900 by the
Italians; it was n kind OF oblong lvre.
with catgut strings arranged in tile
form of an upright triangle Keys
were used to raise the hard leather
plectra which twanged the strings.
This was the only keyed instrument in
which catgut or violin strings were en-
ployed. All the later ones, beginning
with the clavichord, had wire strings.
The clavichord, whose wires We're set
IN motion by pressure on the
keyboard. had but feeble tone;
still. under an artistic hand it
yielded excellent mu,ic. being favor
able to staccato passages, and giving
great prominence to the melody 1t
was the favOrite instrument of Sebastian
Bach. The virginia. had bras, wires,
and the sound was produced by p ece
OF ravens or crows quill. The vir-
ginal had compass of only four
octaves, but its touch was extremely
sensitive. This instrument was Queen
Elizabeths favorite, bit it was not
named, as was thought by some, in
honor of the virgin queen. for it was in
use under her royal father and sister.
1t was most likely styled the virginia.
from its common use bv the nuns in
their hymns to the Virgin.
The spinet, or instrumental iii penna,
resembled in shape harp laid horizon
tally. Clavecin and clavier were the
respective French and German names
of the harpsichord. The Italians used
the clavicytherium and sp:net, the
English the virginals and harp>ichord,
the French the spinett. and the Ger
mans the clavichord and harpsichord.
The great characteristic of the piano
forte was that by introducing the ham,
mer to strike the wire q heavier touch
produces louder, gentler touch
softer tone, thereby giving the per-
former, as implied in the ins ruments
name. the power Of playing at W II
piano or forte.
The character of the music Of the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
was especially religious. With hardly
an exception all composers were organ
lists, the organ having already reached
high degree of mechanical perfection.
But the want Of musical Instruments
for the chamber. especially for tn. fair
sex, was more and more felt, and the
demand created the supply. There
was, however, a great lack of variety
and pleasant expression in the earliest
| clavecin music