Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1903-01-22
History Of the Piano and Organ.

1 piano Is an lnVenllOn aDOul zoo years
old. Like most other inventions, it
is an evolution; it comes from the
psaltry or harp by way Of the harpsi-
chord, the clavichord and the piano
forte or s'piano e torte, which is
"soft and loud. !" II was on the
|harpsichord, that Beethoven, Mo-
zart, Handel and the eminent com
posers Of that day expressed their
compositions. This instlumont was
like harp inclosed in a box, with a
me chanical device by which the
manipulation OF a keyboard plucked
the wires The resulting tone has
been described as q scratch with a
sound at the end Of it.
a. The inventor Of the piano was a
Florentine, one Cristofor, who lived
|about 1909. He conceived the idea
tof having the wires struck with a re-
bounding hammer instead Of being
scraped or plucked A soft blow
made the soft tone and the hard one
a louder tone; hence the name. The,
lsott pedal and the damper was the
4 invention of an Englishman named
Broadwood, an Irishman conceived
the idea of building it upright" !"
land Jonas Chickering of Boston
worked out lot Of details and made
4 the piano more like what it is today.
| John Jacob Astor brough hit the first
piano to the United States. This
was in 1884. He had a lot of diff
/ Guilty in keeping the wires from rust
ling during the ocean voyage, and
when they got here the drier atnos-s
phere of New York made the wood
work shrink and crack. This led to
1.-The making of pianos in the United
States.
Philadelphia'is the cradle of the
American piano. The year before
1.-THE Declaration of independence
q John Behrent built piano in tha,
city. Ten years later New YORK
started the industry, and that city
now leads the world as piano man
ufacturing center. A great business
depression in Europe in 1925 drove
la lot of piano makers to this country,
and resulted in a wonderful stimulus
to the business here.
The iron frame on which the wires
OF a piano are strung sustains a ten
sion of thirty tons. The invention
lof this frame was what made Stein
way and his instruments. He work
ed and studied for six years in all
1.-THE principal foundries OF Europe.
Previous to his invention twelve tons
!, had been about the liu it Of the frame
tension.
i A complete revolution in the style
!. of pianos has taken places in this
|country since 1866 Up to that
time nearly all were square pianos,
now 81 per cent are uprights. Unit
) 1876 there were two schools q
piano building. One was the Bos
ton and the other the New York
school. Each had its own theories
as to frame and action, and clung to
them with obstinacy.
In Chicago the piano, industry is
the growth Of twenty years. Dur
ling the last decade that city has
2 forged to the front, and it now ranks
slsecond to New York, with an output
valued at $5,8o2,7I8. New York
is little more than double that
But in California, Massachusetts,,
Maryland and New York there has
been falling off of the amount o
! product during the last ten years.
The returns Of the last census show
that the total value Of the pianos
j. made in this country in 1900 was
). IS35428,225, their number being
I7LI38.
To a barber is credited the inven
n ltion of the organ. Two hundred
|
years before Christ one Ctesibius, the
1. proprietor of hair cutters shop II
Alexandra, while waiting for Gus
Z tom, thought Of a scheme by which
arrow Of levers could be used to oper
and shut the valves Of 4 series .
:. pipes. Befone this someone hat
made pan pipe, which was n,
more than series Of tubes Of un
equal length fastened side by sid