Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-08-19
EVOLUTION OF THE PIANO.
How This is Shown in Exhibits at
The Fair.
First the ClavichOrd, Then the spinet,
Then the HarpsichOrd and From
That the Instrument Of Today.
correspondence Of The Evening Star.

|
1t Is probable that not many of the read
ers of The Star. as they hear the notes Of
the piano played on these summer nights,
| stop to reflect from what primitive be-
ginntngs the instrument started Some of
| us have seen old harpsich ords and look ed
| at them in wonder to think that they have
| anything in common with the modern
piano. but whoever wishes to see the old
est pianos must come to the worlds fair
| and see the wonderful collection in the
musical section of the liberal arts building.
1t embraces almost all the notable types
| and illustrates quite completely the evolu-
ton of the most popular musical instru-
ment Of the present day. Near this col
lection are the pianos Of the best modern
| makers. There are big concert grand
| pianos, baby grands" and ''uprights," but
| the square piano which used to be so pop
ular seems to have been given a position
in the background and is not now exhibit
| ed among the most modern instruments.
In the historical exhibit the visitor may
first consider the earliest instruments re-
sembling the piano and these are known as
ciaV1chords. They were made as early as
| the middle of the fifteenth century and
as general thing had no legs. but were
simple cases intended to be played upon a
| table. The first one has four and one-half
octaves and the sound comes from a piece
OF brass fastened to the back of the key.
the string and makes the sound. There
are more keys than there are strings and
| each set of strings produces three differ
fury later is set upon four legs and the sets
OF strings produce but two different tones
A third one is in quite an elaborate case.
and belongs to the seventeenth century.
and one made in 1889 has black "naturals"
and white "sharps.'
The spinet.
n~l
was from the clavichord to the spinet. In
old books that are still read the accounts
| Of an accomplished lady Of fashion usually
include the assertion that she played the
| spinet but II any young lady of the pres
ent day were given one Of these queer in
struments to perform upon she would be
rather helpless. Some OF them are really
more peculiar-looking than the clavichords
themselves. There is, for instance, a double
spinet Of four octaVes, made by the famous
Hans Fuckers. the elder, of Antwerp. He
belonged to a family of spinet makers, who
manufactured the instruments as early as
1873. but this one is supposed to be of later
date To the left Of the keyboard is the
than the larger. 1t can be taken out, and
the two can be played separately. The lid
Of this remarkable instrument. when raised,
SHOWS an elaborate old painting Of the con-
test before the gods of Apollo and Mar
syus. The former is playing a viol and the
latter a pipe, and children are dancing.
lake with a boat on It. Where the little
spinet fits in there are paintings of men
and women and women dancing in pairs
The spinet Is supported by a carved stand.
or paintings upon the old instruments there
are number. and some of them are fine
works Of art On one of the old harpsi.
chords, for instance. of date 1873, the lid
IS embellished by an elaborate landscape
by the great Dutch artist. Van Kessell
Most OF the spinets are Italian, with
three to four octaves There is one string
to each note. and a crow quill strikes the
string and causes the vibration. The in
strument, it will be remembered, was a
favorite one OF Queen Eliza beth, and IL may
easily be imagined without much imp-ob-
ability that she listened to one of these now
on exhibition at the fair. There are not
many musical instruments that were pop
ular for longer period, for II was invented
In the fourteenth century. and continued in
1870 has on the nd the Latin motto sic
who supplied Handel with h his f faWo Vote
harpsichord, which is now IN the outh * en-
sington Museum in London. An English
don in i75o has i've octaves. and looks Oh n not
unlike slightly built grand piano Of the
present day.
The Harpsichord.
The next step from the spinet is to the
harpsichord, an instrument so modern that
many OF US have grandmothers who played
upon II. At Mount Vernon there is the one
ENeiy SuslS uSeQ, ana In OLD furniture
shops the collector is still able to pick one
up as curious article Of furniture. Among
the finest in the collection uuier sonsidera-
ton is the one with five octaves built by J.
SOar aas' With Ct has sMs k
ivory .'sharps." and is unique among harp
sichords in that it has eight stops such as
strings. producing what is known as a
"sixteen-foot tone" two shorter sets pro-
ducing an 'eight-foot tone" two st.n
.hD
shortest producing ''two-foot tone" One
Of the stops initiates the lutte. another the
harp. 1t stands on eight legs and the sound
the inside Of the lid. Very little is known
about this notable old instrument, but the
day. and Hamburg was the home of Rein
ken. Handel, Bach and Hasse.. 1t is not
probable that there We're many harpsichords
that it was touched by the famous musi-
clans Of the day. Another interesting harp
sichord is the one made by Jocobus Kirk
man Of London in 176s. 1t mas i've octaves
and three registers. two Of ''eight-foot
tone" and one initiating the lutte. The his
tory of the instrument is interesting. II
after his Punishment to St. Helena was
given to a French sergeant. The latter left
harpsichord with him. He settled at Scitu-
ate, Mass, one of the old fishing stations
near the dreaded Minot's ledge. In 1888 he
kept the Scituate harbor light. and his son
inherited it, and 1t thus passed into the COL
lection now shown at the fair.
The Piano.
The visitor may now pass into the region
of the present generation and see the Ger
man hammerclairer or pianoforte. The tones
are produced by blows Of hammers against
tightly stretched strings and the hammers
are worked by a keyboard-that. in a sem
tence, is a description Of the working OF a
piano. One old one shown is made by
Johann Christof Jeckel of Worms in 1883.
1t has IL octaves. the Keyboard being TO
the left, and is in appearance ike the cid
square piano except that ii Is half as large.
An older one of similar pattern Was made
by Frederick Schneider of Mernbc-g :n ITO,
and there is an old upright Of $780, 1t looks
horizontal direction. Another strange one
is a square piano in the form of q lady 8
sewing table 1t has four ,ctaves and one
pedal. The earliest American piano is a
large square one Of IL o,taves. made in
New York about 1875 There are three
pedals. 1t is inlaid with GRASS and beauti-
fully carved.
The collection includes a lumber OF con-
cert grand pianos. most notable among
which is one that belonged to Madame
Streicher, and on the sounding board
is the following inscripti IN: ''Nanette
Strecher. nee Stein, Wien. 1916" She Was
| the intimate friend of Beetho ZEN and he
| used to visit her summer retreat at kaden.
| 1t is safe to say, therefore, that Beethoven
| played this particular piano.