The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-04-15

Its Ancestor, q Rude Bone Whistle,
Made by Savage.
SLON STAGES TO PERFECTION
Mouoehord Of tho Middle Ages Followed
By spiaei. vlrGlnsi and iIarpsichord.
Uuttl Finally the Perfection Of
Instruments Is Achieved.
From the Philadelphia Times.

From the Philadelphia Times.
In the stone age. its very name
suggesting aught but thoughts of
musical harmony, there was q desire
for some expression not perhaps melo-
dious, but something beside the every
day infections of the voice. and bone
whistles made from the digital phalanx
OF a ruminant animal We're the first
steps on the ladder that has reached
its apex In the piano. No older or SIM
pier instrument Is known than this of
prehistoric man. Later In the stone
age was invented pipe made of a
stag's horn, with three equi-distant
finger holes. Still progressing. we see
the savage sitting at the door of his
tent, suddenly aroused by the fact that
his bOwstring sounded louder when at
tached 20 block of wood that when
simply stretched by his bow. Instantly
his senses are alert. The innate love Of
discovery, the musical longing in every
soul, carried him In that instant from
the environment Of nature into the
world of art. The culture Of each peo-
pie has grappled with the problems pre-
sented by the three factors-string. re-
senator. and exciting means. and illus
treted them In hundred different COM
binations. The historian Of the piano
can trace Its forerunners In harp, viol
and Tyre, before the altar OF every great
religion that the world has known.
Persistent, like the boat-harp of Bur-
NAH, in by-places Of the world. still
linger specimens of every stage Of its
development. The violin. harp and
guitar are the perfected productions OF
individual countries, the plano the pro-
duct and expression Of the instinct Of
Christendom. No race can claim its
primary thought. no one country has
given birth to its artists, while the
whole world has contributed to Its ma
terials. and mobiles, artisans. poets.
musicians, literati have worked to-
gether to bring It to Its present perfec-
tiOn.
Cristofori In Italy. Marlns in France,
Schroeder In Germany. conceived the
thought Of It at the same time. Erard.
German; Backers, Dutchman;
Broadwood, Scot; Southwell, an Irish
man. were among its earliest inventors.
Pape, in France; Babcock. Chickering
and Steinway in America. are names
that must come up as one considers Its
history. England through Gray. Italy
through CavallO, Germany through
Helmholtz, have lent their science.
while it's patrons count from the castle
of the monarch to the owner Of nine-
teenth century apartment, into which
this monarch of Instruments must be
introduced through the window.
THE MONoCHoRD.
1t seems probable that the immediate
ancestor OF the piano and violin is the
monochord, used in the middle ages to
train the voice In converts. 1t was
tuned with bridges pushed back and
forth under the strings with the fingers.
Originally the strings were stretched
with weights hung at one end. Later
tuning pins were invented. and finally,
In the eleventh century, Europe came
into possession of keys. Many quaint
pictures show us our sweet-faced great
great-grandmothers playing at Vir-
ginal or spinet. the tiny square or five
cornered pianos Of the early eighteenth
century. There Is an old bon mot Of
Lord Oxford made while watching
Queen Elizabeth play on the Virginal
and alluding to Raleigh's favor and Es-
sex's execution? when Jacks start up,
heads go down."
Probably the difficulty that the play
er had in getting any sound at all out
Of these rude apologies for the modern
piano, and the lack of harmony In the
sound after 1t was produced, led to the
invention of the more finished instru-
| ment. The description of the tone of
spinet. ivirglnal and harpsichord, "a
| scratch with a sound at the end of It,"
does not give the later-day musician q
very high opinion of the possibilities Of
| the trio which were all that our ac-
| complished ancestors had by which to
| express their souls in glib harmonies
The harpsichord. in the hands of Tschu-
| di, Of London, however, made great
| strides, and was improved to such an
| extent that 1t long contested the field
| with the piano; but virginia., spinet, and
| even improved harpsichord are now
only Of antiquarian interest before the
marvellous richness Of the plano.
THE FIRST PIANO.
1t was harpsichord maker, Bartolo-
meo Cristofori, In the employment Of
the Duke of Tuscany, who In III made
the first successful plano, Marins, of
Paris, and Schroeder, Of Germany,
neither knowing Of the other, producing
less happy models soon after. The first
piano known to have been built in
America was made In 1775 In Philadel-
phia by John Behrent. From this on
labor. thought. love. have combined to
bring the plano to where 1t stands to-
day. The unfolding Of each petal of
the tiny bud of promise, discerned by
the savage, means so much to the piano
lover. Self-denying. patient investiga-
ton, toll, heart sorrow, and oft times
tragis disappointment. Columbus strug-
Cling against the jeers and jibes of a
populace who thought him crazy had
no more to contend with than the in
ventor, who knowing the possibilities
| Of the instrument he wished to create