Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-11
TIE INVENTION OF PIANOS.
Some Interesting Facts for the MUSICAL
World
Philadeluhia Seus

World.
Philadelphia News.
In letter dated June 81, 1898, and ad-
| dressed to Alphopso II Duke of Modena,
Italy, by g musical strument maker
named Paliarino, appears the nrst men
ton of the term "plsnoforte." In this
letter he writes Of "the instrument pisno
forte with the organ underns a,h."
Tne instrument which now bears the
n1me was not invented until much
later period, and Psliarino's reference
Is consequently obscure. Unquestiou-
ably the modern piancforte was the
result OF many attempts to put 8
keyboard to dulcimeTs or hammers to
s harpsichord. The earliest existing rep
rssentstion of Q stringed Instrument WITH
keys is the wood carving OF q vical choral
or oTgsDist, preserved in S.. MEry's
church, Shrewsbury, z England, and OF
aate previous 10 1860. In this machine
choppers or .sngents mad been adopted
| from the orgapistTum. The problem re-
manned unsolved Hntil worried out BY
Crestofori, a Florentine, about 1910. At
| tnat time he was making these instru-
tasRtss under The patronage of Prince FIR
kdinand and one of them, dated 1875, is
fDOH in the Kraus museum. FloreICo
The invention found little fsvor
because Of the uncertain action
of keys aud hammer, and
thetopg C 0ntinued vibration Of the wirss.
Not until msny impr Jvements had been
made, did the pianoforte become pnpu.
lar, when q 1tltried Silb ermsuu (l745)
| produced on Instrument which met Wit
much success. Frederick the Crest or
dered one and it is supposed TO b. the
! same which now stands in the Old place
in the music room in the palsce at PTS
dam, which WAS plsyed upon by the great
]. S. Bach. Previous to 1868 sill piano.
tories were GIVING or tail" shaped, like
hsrpstchords and, in eed, the 'grand" of
to-day very closely resembles in exterior
appearance the herpsicnord of the last
century. But in 1858 G. E. Frederick Of
Gera presents al instrument
Of oblong shape. Now commences
the era OF great popularity ana
many events, the conflict with the harpsi-
chord for general use, = conflict which
continued until about 1900, when the old
standby succnmbed to the Inevitable.
L. 1867, May l6, appeared the fist public
notice OF the pianoforte, at which time q
playbilr Of C1yent Garden, London, gave
the following notice: "Act l. Miss
Brickler will sing faVorite song from
Judith, accompanied by Mr.. DIbdin on q
new instrument called pisnoforte. In
1873 the first plaDoforte music was puo-
| itsned in London, the famous Op. OF
Muzo Clement, composed when he wss
only IS years CT age. John ClristiSn Bach
IVES the first person to execute in pubic
q solo upon this instrument S-nddsri
brought out the name "graud" in l777.
Pnilsdelphians should feel proud tina;
the next great step-the great event in
piano improvement since Christut3rl'a
invention-is to be credited to one of heI
cit ms. IL 1900 John Isaac HaWsias
patented an upright piano forte with q
metal frame independent Of the case.
Uprights had been previously made, but
tne, were only The old style turned on
cad. Hawkins brought the strings to the
floor. The importance OF some other
frame tnan wood Is manifest, when it /,
Known that the tension of all tao strings
in full-s;zsd grand is equivalent to =
free Of 26,c00 pounds b.
this enormous tension an i'm.
mense pressure is brought to bear
upon the oddGe and sounding board, au0
thus ita vibrations and tone giving power
are In time materially irj lred. TIE v.lu
able invention Of the suspension agrsffe
bridge relieves this pressure and the toue
| preserved in sill It's freshness and VOL
ume-for the natural lifetime Of the iIstru-
ment. The curious may bs pleased TO
learn that In one Of these instruments
there are fifteen kinds Of wood, six binds
Of metal, 1871 feet and fourteen dIff=Ten.
thicknesses of steel wire, 500f7et of white
wire and the weight Is 1000 pounds. Ithss
taken years CT study ana experiment IL
bring the upright to its present perfection,
| but 1t Is now uneQualed in popularity,
ten times as mapv being sold as both
grand and square. In fact the perfect up
KfigAE # 1887 is almost an tX1cs coy vi
tas small p'rlor grand, and ia just as
gAtisfaCtoTy TO the performer in playing
Instrumental music. lis duraolli y Ic
equally as good as shy other style, wh'ef
means fifteen years of reasonable usage.
The upright is superior to the square in
possessing three strings instead Of two to
the note, thereby adding volume and
singing quslity to the tone. IL mas also
third more sounding board, and in
| this respect about equals the gTsnd
In Interior construction it is alto
sether different and prefrrsble. The no
right is particularly valuable for It's reso-
/ nance of tone, and is peculiarly auapte0
to the human voice. To many, who bsVe
not large rooms and plenty Of vacant
space for grand, it commends itself for
! its Conpsctness, occupying smsllrI
place than even the square. All STYLES -
| piADCf3rtes are, h wever, undergoing
charges aud steadily improving, not only
in mechanism, bur in the superior fiul~ .
ing and ornamentation of the cases and
metal work. Pearl keys are thing Of
the psst, as are also rosewood cases, OF
sccount OF their liability to check. rbe
fGest pianofortes have mahogany veneer