Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-16
TIE INVENTION OF PIANOS.

TIE INVENTION OF PIANOS.
Some Interesting Facts for the Musica
World.
Philadelphia News.
In letter dated June 81, 1898, and sd.
dressed to Alphonso II, Duke Of Modens
Italy, by 8 musical | strument maker
named Pallarino, appears the first men.
ton OF the term "plsnoforte." In this
letter he writes of "the instrument pisuo
forte with the organ underneath. u
The instrument which now bears the
name was not invented until q much
later period, and Pslisrino's reference
Is consequently obscure. Unuuestion-
ably the modern pisncforte was the
result OF msny attempts to put 8
keyboard to dulcimers or hammers to
a harpsichord. The earliest existing rep.
resentation Of q stringed instrument with
keys Is the wood carving of vical choral
or orgsnist, preserved in ST.. MSry's
church, Shrewsbury, England, and OF
date previous to 1850. In this machine
shoppers or tsngents had been adopted
from the orgsbistrum. The problem re-
NAMED unsOlved until worked out by
Crestofori, 8 Florentine, about ITO. Al
that time he was making these inttru-
ments under the patronage OF Prince Fer
dinand and one of them, dated 1925, is
now in the Kr.us museum, Florence
The invention found little favor
because of the uncertain action
OF keys and hammer, and
the long continued vibration Of the wires.
Not until many Improvements had been
made, did the piaDoforte become popu-
lar, when Gottfried Sherman (I745)
produced an instrument Which'met with
much success. Frederick the Great or
dered one and 1t is supposed to be the
same which now stands in the old place
in the music room in the palace at Pots
dam, which was played upon by the great
]. S. Bach. Previous to 1858 all piano
fortes were giving or tail" shaped, Ike
bsrpsichoTds and, in eed, the "grand" OF
to-day very closely resembles in exterior
appearance the barpsichord of the last
century. But in 1868 e. E. Frederick Of
Gera presents an Instrument
Of oblong shape. Now commences
the era OF great popularity and
many events, the conflict with the hsrpsi-
chord for general use, conflict which
continued until about 1900, when the old
standby succumbed to the inevitable.
L. 1867, May Is, appeared the first public
notice of the pianoforte, 81 which time q
playbill of Covent Garden, London, gave
the following notice: "Act 1. Miss
Brickler will sing favorite song from
Judith, accompanied by Mr.. Dibdin on a
new instrument called piGnOforte." In
1873 the first pisnofCrte music was pub
lished in London, the famous Op. 2 of
MuZlo Clement, composed when he wss
only Is years Of sge. John Christian Bach
was the first person to execute in public
8 solo upon this instrument. Stoddart
brought out the name "grsud" in I777.
Philadelphians should feel proud that
the mex great step-the great event in
plano Improvement since ChristOfori'
Inventions to he credited to one Of her
citizens. In 1900 John Isaac Hawkins
patented en- upright piano forte with 8
metal frame independent Of the case.
Uprights had been previously made, but
they were only the old style turned on
end. Hawkins brought the strings to the
floor. The importance Of some other
frame than wood is manifest, when it is
known that the tension Of all the strings
in fulI.sized grand is equivalent to q
force OF $4,000 pounds. By
this enormous tension an i'm
mense. pressure is brought to bear
upon the bridge and sounding board, and
thus its vibrations and tone giving power
are in time materially injured. The Valu-
able invention Of the suspension agraffe
bridge relieves this pressure and the tone
is preserved in all It's freshness and VOL
ume for the natural lifetime of the instru-
ment. The curious may be pleased TO
Iesrn that in one of these instruments
there are fifteen kinds Of wood, six kinds
of metal, 1877 feet and fourteen different
thicknesses of steel wire, 500fset of white
wire and the weight is 1000 pounds. Ithas
taken years of study and experiment to
bring the upright to its present perfection,
but it is now uuequaled in popularity,
ten times IS many being sold as both
grand and square. In fact the perfect up.
right Of 1887 is almost an exsct copy Of
the small psrlor grand, and Is Just as
satisfactory to the performer in playing
instrumental music. It's durability is
equally as good as any other style, which
means fifteen years Of reasonable usage
The upright is superior to the square in
POSSESSING tuEee btIluSc lustSSu Vi wv w
the note, thereby adding volume and
singing quality to the tone. Il hiss also
one-third more sounding board, and in
this respect about equals the grand
In interior construction it is alto
gether different and preferable. The up
right is particularly valuable for its reso.
nance of tone, and is peculiarly adapted
to the human voice. To many, who have
net large rooms and plenty Of vacant
space for grand, it commends Itself fol
its compactness, occupying smaller
place than even the square. All styles Of
pisnofortes are, howeVer, undergoing
changes and steadily improving, not only
in mechanism, but in the superior finish
ing and ornsmentation Of the cases ane
metal work. Pearl keys are thing o.
the past, as are also rosewood cssss, OF
account Of their liability to check. The
finest pisnofortes have mahogany veneer
With = rosewood f7tsh,
z "CauaOn-Bus only DESIsaac Thsnp
sons I'VE Wafer, None other geaaine.