New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-07-03

these articles is co-extensive with the period
within which stringed instruments with key
boards developing into significant factors
IN the economy of music. If we were to conne
ourselves strictly to the period which has
elapsed since the invention of the pianoforte we
should not be able to extend our inquiries
further back than the earliest known publica-
ton. embracing the description of
the instrument in it's title. This publication,
according to Mr. Hipkins, is a set OF sonatas
Uhe word sonata used in sense less deter
inmate than it possesses now, as will presently
appear in this study composed by D. LodoVico
Gustini di PiStoia, and printed in Florence in
1892. The pieces are described on the title page
being "Da Cimbalo di piano forte detto
volgarmente d Martellatti-that is 'for the
harpsichord, with soft and loud commonly
called with little, hammers The repertory Of
the modern pianist extends back of the date OF
this publication more than a century, however,
and in its earlier portion shows SO interesting
phase Of musical evolution that it would be
grievous to omit it from consideration.
/ cannot include in this part Of my study,
however, such genesis Of principles as l al
lowed myself in the promenade toward the ave-
in the first part Speculation the study Of
poets utterances and the legends of ancient
peoples, the inspection Of ancient sculptures
and mural paintings, may help to concep-
tons of the appearance and even capacity Of
early instruments but they teach moth
ing of the music practised during the eras in
which they arose. For the history of instru-
mental music does not begin until the four
teenth century, and it is fact of profoundest
significance that find the instrumental art
still in its dawn when the vocal art reaches its
meridian. The reasons are not far to seek.
Though more instruments were used in the
ular practice than now, most of them were
scarcely more developed than their precursors
which are to be found in state of arrested de-
velopment in the Far East to-day. The in
huence Of the taboo which the Church had
placed On the instrumental art while the musi-
cal law-givers were exclusively churchmen had
not yet worn off. AS late as the fourteenth
and fifteenth centuries secular musicians were
Vagabonds in the eye of the law. Like strolng
players,
Begsars they with one consent,
And roSues by act of Parliament.
The organist enjoyed honorable exception,
but it was not until the mocha nism OF the organ
keyboard had been developed to permit of
something like the modern facility of nlanipula-
ton that music more fluent than the medieval
Church chants could be performed upon the in
strument. In the preceding centuries the key
mechanism was SO cumbersome that heavy
pressure of the hand or a blow of the fist was
required to force a key down. For long time
In Germany OrSaElStS We're called ''Orgel-
schlager'-that is organ beaters-because Of
the action of their hands in playing. The SINH
larity between the keyboards Of the organ,
clavichord and the various quilted instruments
(Which shall frequently allude to genericaIly
as clavlers) turned the attention of organists to
them as soon the effect OF the ecclesiastical
taboo began to wear off. and other than ecclesi-
astical music began to be admitted to polite
habitations; but there was a long controversy
between the artistic and the popular practice
Even after compositions for key board stringed
instruments began to appear in print it was
not uncommon to find them described as pieces
translated from music" to notation for instru-
ments-Organ. Lutte and claVier sometimes being
specified. sometimes not. Music was still SO
dignified term that il had to be protected
from association with the agencies which had
employment in the service Of the Church
interceder and advocate OF the instrumental
company for their admission into the province
Of art and II In Venice that instrumental
music began to flourish in the fourteenth CEN
fury. The skill OF long line Of organists in
the fourteenth. fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
shone -eminently among the contemporaries
glories and magnfcence Of the City OF the
Doges The Cathedral of st. Mark was the
magnet that drew organ players to Venice,
the 5istne Chapel drew composers and singers