Evening star., 1902-08-16
MAKING OF PIANOS
An Interesting Census Bureau
Review.
PROGRESSED BY STEPS
COMBINATION OF CLAVICHoRD
AND HARPSICHoRD.
Was Invented Nearly Two Hundred
Years Ago-Modern Improvements
Nearly All American.

Years Ago-Modern Improvements
Nearly All American.
| Government publications rarely contain
| matter of such general interest as a history
| of the nations piano playing. Now and
! then the census bulletins however, present
| In a compact and interesting form informa-
| ton which could hardly be found elsewhere
and which is of the utmost interest to the
| general reader. In this category lies the
| following review of American piano max
| ing. taken from a recent bulletin on the
| manufacture of musical instruments:
The word ''piapoforte," ordinarily abbre-
Waited to piano. Is traced back to 1898, and
| is said to have originated with an Italian
musical instrument maker who speaks of
an instrument called piano e forte" the
| Italian for soft and loud" Nothing is
| known, however, of the instrument referred
| to, and the expression, contracted to piano.
| forte. first became established when the
| italian Cristofori. the father of the modern
piano, applied 1t to his invention in 1909.
The Clavichord
The significance of the name arose from
the character of the two instruments which
the piano superseded, the clavichord and
| the harpsichord. Each of these instru-
| ments had a different origin. The mono
chord Of the ancient Greeks. a long box of
| thin wood with wire stretched across 1t,
| led, In the middle ages, to the invention Of
| the clavichord, In this instrument the
wires were made to vibrate by means of
| keyboard similar to that already in use in
| organs Hammers were raised, pressed
| and held against the wires, the player be-
ing able to feel their elasticity. A very
u-a oh inc hfnh bad
something in ii ''charmingly hesitating and
| tremulous, capable of rejecting the most
| tender gradations of the touch of the play
| er." For this reason 1t was a favorite in
| strument with John Sebastian Bach. who
/ preferred 1t to the pianoforte. Mozart also
| used the clavichord in composing several of
! his masterpieces. and Beethoven is reported
| to have said at one time: Among all keyed
| instruments the clavichord is that on
/ which one can best control tone and ex-
pressive Interpretation Its great fault,
| however, was the weakness of its tone.
The Harpsichord.
The rival instrument, the harpsichord,
| was an evolution of the psaltery or modi-
fed. a small instrument, played with a
| plectrum small piece of iron. bone or
metal, fastened by rings to the hand of
| the performer. In the harpsichord the
| harp-shaped frame was inclosed in a box.
| and the wires were plucked mechanically
! by quillS attached to the end of each key.
! Its very unmelodious tone was aptly de-
| scribed as "a scratch with sound at the
| end of it." In spite, however, of this tone
| quality, and the impossibtlity of obtaining
| soft effects, or, in fact, any dynamic modi-
fcation Of the tone, the harpsichord was
| extensively used by Beethoven. Mozart,
Handel and other eminent composers espe-
cially for concert work, because of its bril-
liancy of tone compared with the sub
dued tone of the clavichord.
The Piano Forte.
1t remained for Cristoforo Of Florence, in
17O9 to produce an instrument capable of
both soft and loud" effects. the piano
forte" In this instrument the wire, in
stead of being pressed or rubbed by means
oe wedge, as in the clavichord. or plucked
by means of a quill, as in the harpsichord,
was struck with a hammer which imme-
dately rebounded lighter or heavier
stroke of the key. therefore, produced the
piano or forte" effects desired.
Piano factories were established in 17G0
by Zumpf in England and by SHERMAN In
Germany. In 1867, however, fifty-eight
years after its invention, the piano was
introduced on the stage of Covent Garden
Theater as "a new instrument" This long
delay in the Introduction of pianos was due
party to conservatism and partly to an al
most sentimental attachment to the clayi-
chord. A musical critic in Leipzig wrote in
1852. In the grand piano, the heart cannot
express itself" while Forkel declared in his
Musical Almanac, in the same year, that he
preferred the clavichord to all other keyed
Instruments. Joseph Haydn was one of the
first of the great masters to accept the
piano Mozart wrote concertos and other
compositions for II, and finally, through
Beethoven, it received full acknowledg
ment.
Cristoforis pianoforte contained the es-
sential principle of the modern plano, but
the Improvements since that time have been
extensive. The damper and soft pedals
were introduced about the year 1880 by
1Slo Prna a nod Eng Shr riIlor
pianos were first successfully made in 1907,
when William Southwell of Dublin brought
out his cabinet pianoforte."
Almost all the pianos used in the United
States at the close Of the eighteenth CEN
tury were imported, John Jacob Astor Of
New York importing one of the first in 1874.
II soon appeared, however, that instruments,
constructed for the comparatively uniform
and moist climate of England, shrank and
opened at the seams when brought into the
dryer atmosphere of the United States, with
its severe winters. and the general custom
of heating houses by means of stoves This,
added to the oxidation of the wires during
the ocean voyage, and the loosening of the
keys, greatly impaired or destroyed the
tone and durab bility of the instruments. and
led naturally to the establishment of the
industry in the United States.
The American Industry.
The first piano known to have been built
in this country was made in Philadelphia
in 1775 by John Behrent. Ten years later
one George Ulschoefer began manufacturing
in New York. In Boston Benjamin Gre
hore and William and Adam Bent began
work in 1897 and 1900, respectively and
lastly, the manufacture was probably car
ried on in Baltimore by John Harper as
early as 1902. Between the years 1915 and
1925 a great business depression prevailed
in Great Britain, and number of young
and skilled English piano makers and arti-
sans emigrated to the United States and be-
gan making pianos. Their arrival gave a
great stimulus to the industry.
Between 1925 and 1910 several manufae-
turers, conspicuously Jonas Chickering of
Boston, introduced an Improvement In their
pianos which has been called the creative
feature of the piano of today, The frames
nf al ri mig had haa do Of