The Washington times., 1919-11-27


velopment OF the piano a writer in
the New York sun traces its history:
Ii is presumed that Egypt was the
first nation TO bring to a certain per-
feetion the stringed instruments left
from ancient nations Certain il is
that Egypt is looked upon as the
source whence the arts and sciences
were dtffused over Europe. and from
al accounts that We now have this is
more than likely to be true.
The. forerunners of our piano of to-
day were the Tyre, dulcimer. kythara
or guitar, the monochord and all harp
like instruments. These you will find
mentioned in Biblical stories. and they
may be said. therefore, to date back
long before the birth of Christ In
fact, there is in possession of the Ber-
In Museum a Tyre OF the Egyptian
make dating back at least TO 20OO
3. c.
The harp was also one of the favor
ite instruments of the Egyptians, and
was found delineated from the ear
Hest ages in many different forms
This instrument dates back about
hsoo years before Christ.
Claviehord introduced.
It is asserted that the first person
60 disco er the principle of n mod
ern plano " as Pythagoras. This was
done abc III 500 B. c The instrum eat
vas called monochord and consist
ed OF Lur a single string or wire
stretched over bridges fixed son an
ooiong box In 1925 or thereabout a
monk, Guido dArezzo, who is consid-
cred the founder of the modern musf-
cal system, improved the mouochord
BY applying more strings. and later
added keys. ~
1t was not until the fourteenth
century that the clavichord was in
troduced- To this instrument was at
eAched the keyboard, and IL was from
che clarichord that the idea of the
square pianoforte was taken
n 1902, the year that Columbus dis
corered THE New world. an Italian
invented the cIayicymb baIum- This
differed very materially from the CLAW
ichord and appears to have been the
original of the harpsichord, the
strings being disposed after the man
ner of the harp. -'.-s
About two years later tha spinet
vas invented by an Italian by the
name OF Spinettt and wS ~foffowed by
the harpischord- This instrument was,
evidently saggetsed by the harp, from
which II received its name. II was in
fact only q large sized spfAek The
Germans called HSfhe sT7uSYef~ an.
account Of the sFesemblance 10 TIA.
Ahape OF . win.< erhf2 nPmS = stiiI
used By them - - s ''l,s
The honor OF introducing tbs nrs.
grand piano is generally conceded to
belong rightly to Bartolommeof fchris-
tofori and 1t was not until the year
1l2o that 1t was completed Pianos
OF his manufacture were not very
successful, and 1t was not until the
year 1126 that the grand pianos made
by Gottfried Silbermann were recog-
nized as being the first to be prac-
teal Sirbermann's pianos were the
ravorttes of John Sebastian Bach. They
cannot be called perfect, however, for
they were Of very limited powers,
Judging from the style of Bach's COM
Bositions. The early sonatas OF Haydn
also bear marks Of the influence of
this Interesting instrument
The nrst square piano was made in
London about the year 1925, when IL
Was introduced by Johannes Zumpe
These square pianos, on account of
their tone, which was particularly
sweet. light touch and moderate price
suddenly rose to such favor that they
could not be made fast enough to
crafty the public fondness for them.
The square piano was developed and
continued in use in England for about
100 years when the upright super
seded IT
That great mechanical genius Sc
oastian Erard. a German, went to
Paris to seek larger fields for his me-
ehanical ideas. and in the year 1775
began the manufacture OF small piano
fortes OF ave octayes with two pedals
the tone and mechanism OF which are
said TO have been truly remarkable for
that period At the age OF twenty-five
years his reputation was so fully es-
that whoever wished to have
any ideas carried into execution ap-
piled to no one but him The Queen
ordered an instrument made to suit
her voice, which was of limited COM
pass Erard rendered the keyboard Of
this special instrument movable, so
that by changing it's position a COM
position might be played a semitone,
whole tone or even a minor third
lower or higher without tasking the
players ability to transpose.
Rapid Strides Made.
Rapid strides were now made
toward the development of the piano.
SOnn ofodu"OOIs a SCOtCnrnan,
succeeded in making radical changes
in the construction OF the square
plano, and was the first to add pedals
TO the piano, which were not known
up to the year 1888.
Pianos are now being made in the
form OF grands and squares. but IL re-
NAMED for John Isaac Hawkins, an
Englishman residing in Philadelphia.
70 make the first upright piano. This
was in the year 1900, when 10 him
was granted a patent for his inyen-
tion.
One OF the earliest piano makers in
the United States was Joseph Hisky.
who had an establishment in Balti-
more a. early as 1870. His instru-
ments were very popular throughout
the Southern States, which were sup
piled with musical Instruments dur
ing that period through Charleston
or Baltimore. owing to their geo.
graphical position.
The Risky piano demonstrated very
careful construction; the cabinet
work sayored OF originality. and the
quality Of the tone is To this day OF