A Description And History Of The Pianoforte And Of The Older Keyboard Stringed Instruments Classic Reprint

A Description and History of the Pianoforte and of the Older Keyboard Stringed Instruments (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from A Description and History of the Pianoforte and of the Older Keyboard Stringed Instruments There is no musical instrument so extensively used as the piano forte, and there is certainly none so little understood by the player, in the construction, or the legitimate treatment according to the construction. It would be more intimately known if the performer had to tune it, but the difficulty Of tuning renders the employment of a specialist in that art necessary. Few piano players know more about a piano than that the sounds are caused by hammers striking against wire strings. There has, however, arisen in our leading music schools a desire to know more, and students are not now satisfied to remain unacquainted with the nature of their instru ment. TO assist those who are curious about its construction is one of the Obj ects for which this book is written. I have chosen to start from the introduction of iron in the construction of the pianoforte, about 1820, as convenient for my purpose, regarding the entirely wooden framed piano as appertaining to an historical division, in which the precursors Of the piano, the clavichord, virginal or spinet, and harpsichord will be found. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Piano in Nineteenth-Century British Culture

Since the publication of The London Pianoforte School (ed. Nicholas Temperley) twenty years ago, research has proliferated in the area of music for the piano during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and into developments in the musical life of London, for a time the centre of piano manufacturing, publishing and performance. But none has focused on the piano exclusively within Britain. The eleven chapters in this volume explore major issues surrounding the instrument, its performers and music within an expanded geographical context created by the spread of the instrument and the growth of concert touring. Topics covered include: the piano trade and how piano manufacturing affected a major provincial town; the reception of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum during the nineteenth century; the shift from composer-pianists to pianist-interpreters in the first half of the century that triggered crucial changes in piano performance and concert structure; the growth of musical life in the peripheries outside major musical centres; the pianist as advocate for contemporary composers as well as for historical repertory; the status of British pianists both in relation to foreigners on tour in Britain and as welcomed star performers in outposts of the Empire; marketing forces that had an impact on piano sales, concerts and piano careers; leading virtuosos, writers and critics; the important role played by women pianists and the development of the recording industry, bringing the volume into the early twentieth century.

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