The Evolution of the Piano
Plucking and striking strings--The dulcimer--Invention of the
keyboard--The clavichord and its action--Manner of playing
the clavichord--The harpsichord family--Invention of hammer
action--Claims of Cristofori--Modern improvements--Equal
temperament.
The piano, like all our contemporaneous musical instruments, is the
result of a long development. Its fundamental principle is the setting
of a stretched string in vibration by a blow, the vibrations acting upon
the air so as to produce sound. A subsidiary principle (subsidiary
because common to all stringed instruments, such as violins, harps, or
guitars) is the shortening or lengthening of a string in order to obtain
a higher or a lower note. In the piano, the application of this
principle gives us a number of strings of different lengths. In the
violin we have only four strings, but the length of the vibrating part
is altered by pressing down the strings at different points with the
fingers of the left hand. Before the idea of setting strings in
vibration with a bow was conceived, they were plucked with the fingers,
as in the case of the harp and the guitar, and it is probable that this
is the oldest method of causing strings to sound. The Hebrew _kinnor_,
the first musical instrument mentioned in the Bible (called "harp,"
Genesis iv. 21), was either a lyre or a small harp, and, according to
Josephus, it was played with a plectrum, a small piece of ivory or
steel, used to pluck the strings. Egyptian pictures of great antiquity
show players using their fingers upon harp strings. At the same time the
Egyptians were well acquainted with the principle of dividing a string
by pressing upon it with the fingers of the left hand, as is proved by
their pictures of lute players.
But the use of a blow to set a string in vibration was also known in
very early times. The instrument called a dulcimer, which is always seen
now in Hungarian orchestras, is almost as old as the harp. It consists
of a number of strings stretched across a shallow box, which acts as a
resonator, and set in vibration by two little hammers in the hands of
the player. It was this instrument which suggested the hammer action,
and it is this action which makes the fundamental difference between the
piano and its immediate precursors. An instrument similar to the
dulcimer was the citole, the chief difference being that the strings
were plucked with the fingers. Add the principle of stopping the strings
with the fingers of the left hand, and the citole becomes the zither. In
Lydgate's "Reson and Sensualité" (circa 1430) "cytolys" are enumerated
among other instruments.
The first important step toward the evolution of the pianoforte was the
invention of the keyboard. The origin of this important part of the
instrument is uncertain. It is probable that it was first applied to the
organ. At any rate, it is said that a keyboard of sixteen keys was
attached to an organ built in the Cathedral of Magdeburg at the close of
the eleventh century, while most historians date the clavichord or the
clavicytherium two centuries later. It is possible, however, that some
sort of rude arrangement of keys was employed in the monochord, an
instrument used for measuring the scientific intervals between notes of
different pitch. It is said to have been invented by Pythagoras in the
sixth century before Christ. It consisted of an oblong box with one
string stretched across it, and a movable bridge for dividing (or
stopping) the string at different points. The continual shifting of the
bridge was very troublesome, and as early as the second century
(according to Claudius Ptolomæus and Aristides Quintilianus) there was
a four-stringed instrument called a helicon. It is surmised that the
famous teacher Guido d'Arezzo (born about 995) was the first to use the
monochord in teaching singing, and that he devised some kind of a
keyboard, because in one of his writings he advises his pupils "to
practise the hand in the use of the monochord."
The keyboard having been invented, whether for monochord or organ, its
application to stringed instruments of the dulcimer or citole family
naturally followed. It is impossible to tell whether the first action
was a plucking or a striking one, for there are no records, and it is
easily conceivable that both may have been used simultaneously in
different places. Guido's action is supposed to have consisted of a
straight lever with a bridge on the inner end. When the outer end, the
key, was struck the bridge arose, gave the string a blow which set it in
vibration, and remaining pressed against the string, divided it and
determined its pitch. This subsequently became the action of the German
clavichord. Another action consisted of a similar straight lever with a
piece of quill protruding from the inner end. When the outer end was
pressed down the inner end moved past the string and the quill plucked
it, causing it to vibrate. This became the action of the clavicytherium,
which some writers, without good ground, say was antecedent to the
clavichord, and subsequently of the Italian spinet, the harpsichord,
and the virginal.
The first mention of the clavichord and harpsichord is found in the
"Rules of the Minnesingers," by Eberhard Cersne, A. D. 1404. The
celebrated musical theorist, Jean de Muris, of the University of Paris,
writing in 1323, and enumerating musical instruments, mentions the
four-stringed monochord, but says nothing of the clavichord or
harpsichord. This gives reasonable ground for the inference that those
instruments were either not invented at that time or had so recently
appeared that they were not yet known in Paris, then the centre of
musical culture. We are quite safe in assuming that both instruments
date from the thirteenth century, and as they were the immediate
ancestors of the piano, we must give them especial attention. The famous
collection of Mr. Morris Steinert, of New Haven, contains examples in
good working order of all the different kinds of clavichords,
harpsichords, spinets, and early pianos, and it has been my privilege to
examine and play upon all these instruments, thus obtaining a singularly
effective object lesson in the history of the piano. The clavichord was
always built in oblong shape, like our square piano. The keyboard was
precisely like that now used, except that some builders made the
naturals black and the sharps and flats white. The principle of the
action remained that of the old monochord. The key was pivoted just
inside of the front board of the case, and consisted of a single
straight shaft of wood. On the inner end was a thin, slablike upright of
brass, called a "tangent." When the player struck the outer end of the
key, the tangent was driven upward against the string, causing it to
vibrate. The tangent also acted as a bridge, and divided the string into
two unequal parts, the longer of which gave out the tone. The shorter
section was prevented from sounding by a narrow band of cloth interlaced
with the strings at that end of the instrument. This band also acted as
a damper, and caused the whole string to cease vibrating the moment the
tangent was lowered. Clavichords made before 1725 (or about that year)
had fewer strings than keys. One string had to produce two and sometimes
three tones. This was accomplished by the use of the tangents, which
divided the string at different lengths, as the violinist does with the
fingers of his left hand. These instruments were known as "gebunden," or
bound.
About 1725 Daniel Faber of Crailsheim made instruments with one string
for each tone, and such clavichords were called "bundfrei" (bound free)
or "ungebunden" (unbound). In the latest clavichords each note had two
strings tuned in unison,--a contrivance which gained power at the
expense of some of the lovely expressiveness of the instrument.
The reader will understand that, as the clavichord string ceased
sounding as soon as the tangent was permitted to drop by lifting the
finger from the key, the method of playing it was different from that
employed for the piano. A hard blow was of no use; it only twanged the
string disagreeably. Pressure, with its direct communication of the
finger-touch to the string, was the secret of clavichord playing, and it
was this which made the instrument so beautifully responsive to the
thought of the performer. By forcing the pressure a little a sort of
_portamento_ effect could be obtained, and by causing the finger to
shake up and down on the pressed key one could get a faint and pathetic
tremolo from the vibrating string. This effect the Germans called
"bebung," and it was one of the most familiar graces of clavichord
playing. No one who has played upon a clavichord can fail to see how
thoroughly the instrument works its way into the confidence and love of
an artist, and there is no room for wonder that it was the intimate
friend of the great Bach.
It is difficult to arrive at satisfactory conclusions from the
statements of early writers in regard to instruments of the harpsichord
family. Scaliger, born in 1484, says that Simius, who lived in the last
period of Greek music, invented the Simicon. In this the tone was
produced by tangents, which were subsequently armed with crow quills to
pluck the strings. Adriano Banchieri, in his "Conclusioni nel suono
dell' organo" (Boulogne, 1608), said that the spinet, one form of
harpsichord, was invented by Giovanni Spinetti, and took its name from
him. Banchieri had seen such an instrument with the inscription,
"Joannes Spinetus Venetus fecit, A. D. 1503." But the fact that De Muris
enumerated the instruments of his time without naming the harpsichord or
any of its kindred, while Cersne distinctly mentioned it in 1404, shows
that it was certainly much older than either Spinetti or Scaliger.
Ottomarus Luscinius, a Benedictine monk, in his "Musurgia" (Strasburg,
1536), describes the virginal, a square instrument, of which the strings
were plucked by plectra. Marin Mersenne, born at Oise, in 1588, in his
"De Instrumentis Harmonicis," describes the clavicymbalum, which,
according to his figure, is the same instrument as the spinet of
Banchieri and the virginal of Luscinius.
There were, indeed, several varieties of shapes and many names for what
were essentially the same instrument. Some were square, some were
trapezoid, like our grand piano, and some were upright, but they all had
the same plectral action and produced the same kind of tone. It will be
readily understood that these instruments were incapable of gradations
of power. No matter how forcibly or how gently the key was pressed, the
elasticity of the plucking quill remained constant, and so produced just
the same amount of twang from the string. Wooden uprights, called jacks,
were placed at the inner ends of the key levers, where the tangents were
in clavichords, and the quills ran through them. In some instruments
pieces of hard leather were used instead of quills. Bach was acquainted
with the harpsichord, though he always preferred the clavichord. Handel,
Scarlatti, and Mozart were all great harpsichord performers. The
instrument held its favor among musicians for a considerable time after
the introduction of the piano, to which it finally had to yield the
supremacy.
The first famous harpsichord builder was Johannes Baffo, Venice, 1574,
but the most celebrated makers were: Hans Ruckers, Antwerp, 1575;
Andreas Ruckers, his son, 1614, Tschudi and Kirkman, the English
builders of Handel's day. Kirkman built harpsichords with two banks of
keys and several sets of strings, which were controlled by stops similar
to those of an organ. This was an attempt to overcome the dynamic
monotony of the instrument, but I can testify from careful trial of the
fine Kirkman harpsichords in the Steinert collection that the attempt
was not a brilliant success. You can get an approximate idea of the
sound of a harpsichord by plucking the strings of a modern piano with
the plectrum of a mandolin, or with a common quill toothpick.
The invention which overthrew the clavichord and the harpsichord and
brought into existence the piano was the hammer action. For years the
problem of applying the keyboard to the principle of the dulcimer,
already explained, had occupied the minds of instrument builders. The
solution was the work of Bartolomeo Cristofori, born at Padua, May 4,
1653, and it was made public in 1711. Two others claimed the honor:
Gottfried Silbermann and Christopher G. Schröter. In 1726 Silbermann
made two pianos and showed them to Bach, who condemned them because of
their heavy touch and the weakness of their trebles. Silbermann was
discouraged, but according to Agricola, a contemporary writer, he worked
at improvements upon his instruments, and sold one of them to Frederick
the Great, in whose music room it stood till 1880. It was then examined
by Bechstein, the leading German piano maker of to-day, who found that
it contained the Cristofori action. The priority of Cristofori's claims
is established by an article written by Scipione Maffei and printed in
the "Giornale dei Litterati d'Italia," in 1711, with a diagram of the
inventor's hammer action. A translation of Maffei's article will be
found in Rimbault's "The Pianoforte." (London, 1860.) It was also
published in German in Matheson's "Musikalische Kritik," in Hamburg,
1725, so that the contemporaries of Silbermann and Schröter ought to
have known of Cristofori's work. Indeed, Schröter's claim was made by
himself in a letter written in 1738, which appears to have been evoked
by irritation at Cristofori's glory.
It should be noted here that in the letters of an instrument maker named
Paliarino, written in 1598, the instrument "piano e forte" is twice
mentioned. It has been conjectured, and probably rightly, that this was
a harpsichord with contrivances for loud and soft effects, for it is
unlikely that even a rude hammer action could have been in existence
more than a century before Cristofori's invention. It is, however,
probable that some attempts were made before his, for his was altogether
too satisfactory to have been anything but the result of a development.
Nevertheless it was the first hammer action of permanent value, and its
essential principles are employed in the finest actions of to-day.
Therefore Cristofori fairly deserves the honor of inventing the piano.
The instrument, however, did not gain great favor in Italy, owing to the
inability of the harpsichord players to acquire the right touch, and it
soon fell into disuse. Silbermann, however, following the details of
Maffei's letter before-mentioned, built pianos, and other German makers,
notably Friederici of Gera, who is said to have made the first square
piano, followed his lead. At least as early as 1766 Johannes Zumpe built
square pianos in England.
It would fill a volume to narrate the history of the successive steps in
the development of the piano since the days of Zumpe. It is possible,
however, to point out a few of the important steps. The famous maker,
John Andrew Stein, Augsburg, was a pupil of Silbermann, and was born in
1728. He left a son, Andrew, also a maker, and a daughter, Nanette, who
became Mrs. Streicher, and was the head of a great piano house in
Vienna. The elder Stein's pianos were admired by Mozart, while Nanette
Streicher's pianos were used by Beethoven. Before the time of the elder
Stein the forte and piano effects, which gave the instrument its name,
and which were then as now, produced by the action of the dampers, were
obtained by operating "two iron springs, ornamented with copper knobs,
in that part of the chest nearest the bass. In order to move these
springs it was necessary that the player should use his left hand, and
consequently he was obliged for a moment to quit the keyboard. Stein
improved these springs by making them act by means of knobs placed
against the knees." The modern pedals are first found in John
Broadwood's patent of 1783. The pedals have been much improved since
that time, and have played a very conspicuous part in the development of
piano playing and of piano music. The "loud" pedal, as it is commonly
called, is less used by pianists to gain force than to prolong sound,
which before its invention could only be done by keeping the keys
pressed down. With the dampers raised by the "loud" pedal, the strings
struck continue to vibrate, while the fingers are free to go on striking
other keys. This enables pianists to do far more than they could in
early times in the way of producing sustained tones and modulations of
harmony, and hence composers for the instrument are able to write
passages which would formerly have been impossible.
Double, and even triple, stringing had been introduced in clavichords,
and was continued in pianos. The elder Stein invented the shifting of
the keyboard which causes the hammer to strike only one string instead
of three. This contrivance is used by some of the best makers of the
present day. Stein also improved the "escapement," the arrangement by
which the hammer falls back the instant it has struck the string, and
this, with other features of the action, was further developed by
Streicher, so that the Viennese pianos became famous for the extreme
lightness of their touch, and music written by composers in that part of
the world was designed to meet this quality. The English pianos,
meanwhile, were built with heavier strings and a deeper fall of the
hammer, so that greater sonority was attainable, and composers wrote for
them bold passages in successions of heavy chords, which would have gone
for nothing on a Viennese piano. At the very outset Cristofori had to
shift the pins to which the wires were attached, from the soundboard,
which would not stand the strain, to a separate rail. It became
necessary to brace the whole interior with steel arches, of whose
inventor there is no record, but Broadwood was the first to introduce
the method now employed. Sebastien Érard, a celebrated French maker,
introduced many improvements in the action and devised what was called
then the "celeste" pedal, by which the hammers struck a strip of leather
interposed between them and the strings. The leather is now replaced by
felt. The iron frame, now replaced by steel and found in all fine
pianos, was invented by Alpheus Babcock of Boston in 1825. Frederick W.
C. Bechstein, of Berlin, in 1855 combined iron frames and the powerful
English action in his instruments, and took a commanding position. The
upright piano was patented Feb. 12, 1800, by John Isaac Hawkins of
Philadelphia. Subsequent developments in the piano have been of too wide
a range to be mentioned in the space at my command, and at any rate have
all been in the nature of improvements,--highly important, indeed, but
without radical departure from the fundamental features of the
instruments.
A few words, however, must be said on the subject of equal temperament.
Previous to the time of Bach and Jean Philippe Rameau, the scale of the
piano was arranged according to the laws of acoustics. It is impossible
to enter into this fully, but the result was that a piano could not be
tuned to play in all the twenty-four keys. This is difficult to explain,
but I shall endeavor to make it clear. The pitch of a tone is determined
by the number of vibrations it makes in a second, and it follows that
there must be a regular ratio of increase in the number of vibrations of
the notes of a scale as we proceed upward. This establishes the
scientific basis of the scale. Now, any one who is at all acquainted
with the piano knows that the same black key is struck to produce either
C sharp or D flat. But this has been true only since Bach's day.
Previous to that time instruments were timed according to the scientific
laws, and by these we find that the C of the third octave has 256
vibrations, the C sharp 266.66, and the D flat 276.48. Thus D flat is a
higher note than C sharp, and scientifically requires a differently
tuned string and a separate key. The same trouble confronts us with most
other notes, so that "theory requires no less than seventy-two keys to
the octave in order that the musician may have complete command over all
the keys employed in modern music."
In order to reduce the octave to twelve semi-tones with twelve keys and
to make the sharps and flats agree, as they do now, the system of equal
temperament deliberately puts out of tune every interval except the
octave. By slightly lowering some and raising others, the present scale
was obtained. Its advantage is that it makes it practicable to play in
all twenty-four keys, and because of the identity of the sharps and
flats it becomes easy to modulate from one key to another. For instance,
C sharp, which is the distinguishing note of the scale of D major, is
also D flat, and thus it becomes easy to modulate from D to D flat,
which leads to G flat, a very remote key. This gives the modern composer
immense freedom of style, and adds greatly to the key complexity of
music, whereas, before the adoption of the system of equal temperament,
composers had to confine themselves to a few closely related keys.
Who invented the system of equal temperament, no one knows. It is
mentioned in the "Harmonic Universelle" of Marin Mersenne, the French
writer before quoted, but it is quite certain that it was not
extensively employed before the time of Bach, who brought the system to
practical perfection, and demonstrated it in his "Well-Tempered
Clavichord," a set of twenty-four preludes and fugues going through all
the keys. The science of equal temperament was first set forth in a
satisfactory manner by Jean Philippe Rameau, the French opera composer,
in his "Traité de l'Harmonie," Paris, 1722.