The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-26
THE PIANOS STORY
The First One Was Brought Over
by John Jacob Astor in
1884.
Now We Make Them to the Tune
of $35,OOO,OOO in Each
Year.
. From The Jo"rna1 Bureau hoo" 40 fos'

Washington, Aug 26.-The piano is an in
vention which is about 200 years old. Like
most other inventions it is an evolution;
it comes from the psaltry or harp by way
of the harpschord, the clavichord. and the
pianoforte-or piano e forte which is
soft and loud" 1t was on the harpsi-
chord that Beethoven, Mozart Handel
and the eminent composers OF that day
expressed their compositions. This instru-
ment was like a harp enclosed in a box,
with mechanical, device by which the
manipulation of a keyboard plucked the
wires. The resulting tone has been de-
scribed "a scratch with a sound at the
end Of it,
The inventor of the piano was a Flor
| entine, one Christoford, who lived about
1909. He conceived the idea of having the
| wires struck with a rebounding hammer,
instead of being scraped or plucked
soft blow made the soft tone and hard
one a louder; hence the name. The soft
pedal and damper was the invention OF an
Englishman named BrOadWOaad; an Irish
| man conceived the idea of building it
/ upright and Jonas Chickering of Bos-
ton worked out lot of details and made
the piano more like what it is to-day
John Jacob Astor brought the first piano
to the United States. This was in 1884.
He had a lot of difficulty in keeping the
wires from rusting during the ocean voy-
age and when they got here the drier at
mosphere of New York made the wood
| work shrink and crack. This led to the
making of pianos in the United States.
Philadelphia is the cradle of the Ameri-
can piano. The year before the Declara-
| tiOn of Independence was adopted, john
| Behrent built a piano in that city. Ten
years later New York started the industry.
|
piano manufacturing center. A great
business depression in 1925 drove a lot of
| piano makers to this country and re-
suited in a wonderful stimulus to the bust
| ness here.
The iron frame on which the wires of a
| piano are strung sustains a tension of
thirty tons. The invention of this frame
was what made Steinway and his instru-
ments. He worked and studied for six
years in all the principal foundries of Eu
rope; previously twelve tons had been
about tho limit of the frame tension
A complete revolution in the style of
pianos has taken place in this country
since 1866. Up to that time nearly all
were square pianos: now 81 per cent are
| uprights. Until 1876 there were two
''schoos of piano building.' One was the
Boston. and the other the New York
school, Each had it's own theories as to
frame and action and clung to them with
| the ODStlnacy OF scotch presbyterian
urging religion.
In Chicago the piano industry is the
growth of the last twenty years. During
the last decade that city was forged to the
front and it now ranks second to New
York with an output valued at s5,S02.71S
New York's is a little moro than double
that. But in California, Massachusetts
Maryland and New York there has been
falling off of the amount during the last
ten years. The returns of the last census
show that the total value Of all the pianos
n1;,le in this country in 1900 was $35,42S,
225- There were III. 1873 pianos made that
year. ''''
Story of the Organ.
To a barber is credited the invention of
the organ. Two hundred years before
Christ one Ctesibius, the proprietor of a
tonsorial parlor in Alexandria, while wait
ing for custom, thought Of a scheme by
| which Of levers could be used to
open and shut the valves of a series of
pipes. Before this some one had made
a ''pan-pipe" which was no more than a
series Of tubes of unequal length fastened
side by side. and attached to wind chest
into which the opera tors blew. The pipes
were closed with the fingers, one being
left open at time to emit the sound.
Mr.. Ctesibius' lever scheme did away with
the lingering and made it possible to in
crease the size Of the pipes.
The Alexandria barber fixed the levers
board, and in his instrument were
all the essential features of the
modern organ namely tho pipes,
the wind chest, and the keys. 1t was $40
years after this that organs began to be
used in churches Then the development
began. At first it was chiefly in size. 1t
is recalled that one instrument used in
Winchester Cathedral England, in 951 had
tWenty-six pairs Of bellows and required
all this time the keyboard remained prac-
tically the same-a row of not more than
sixteen great levers, sometimes five or
six inches wide, played by being struck
with the clenched fist. The organist was
known as an organ striker or 'organorum
pulsator.' And it would be said that he
, played with delicate fist" It was not
until the fourteenth century that the idea
occurred to somebody to reduce the size
of the keys SO they might be played with
the fingers. Then they increased the mum
Der of octaves to three and then to four
with corresponding increases in the size
[ and number of the pipes.
The first organ built in the United
: States was erected by John Clark in 174s
for the Episcopal church at Salem, Mass
But William M. Goodrich Of Boston begar
IN 1905 the building Of organs that were a
r credit to the country Boston still leads
the industry, with Chicago a close sec.
ond.
The reed organ is different from other
organs in that the sound is made by the
vibration Of tongue of thin metal OF
wool inserted in the mouth Of the pipe
This variation is distinctly American in
vention and Chicago is the home of the
industry. The reed organ began as the
accordion and developed into the melo
deon; then into its present shape.
y There are 129 organ factories in thu
United States with a capital of SIS. 600 0OO