High Strung: Five centuries of stringed keyboard instruments Preview
Neapolitan Harpsichord, ca. 1530
Maker Unknown.Naples, Italy, ca. 1530.
Neapolitan Octave Virginal, ca. 1530
Maker Unknown.Naples, Italy, ca. 1530.
Form and Function
Today, the piano is one of the most famous and instantly recognizable musical instruments in the world. Its black and white keyboard is often used as a visual stand-in for music and the arts. How did this come to be? How and why do keyboard instruments look the way they do?At the most basic level, stringed keyboard instruments are a type of instrument known as a zither, with a series of strings stretched over a box resonator. A mechanism for setting those strings into vibration, known as an action, may include components that pluck, hammer, or strike them out of their resting state. The soundboard of the instrument then amplifies those vibrations.The instrument itself can take various forms, including rectangular or wing-shaped like a grand piano, depending on the string layout. Keyboards themselves were first used in organs, then began to be used on stringed instruments in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Adaption and Expansion
Stringed keyboards were established as important musical instruments during the European Renaissance. By 1550, harpsichords, virginals, and clavichords were used widely throughout the continent, and were often objects of prestige for their owners. Distinctive styles of instrument building, along with regional tastes in sound and appearance, were well developed.Flemish harpsichords made in Antwerp (now in Belgium) were particularly popular and influential. These instruments were physically modified or copied for later styles of music in other countries, especially in France. Double-manual instruments, originally designed to transpose between pitches, were reconstructed to instead be used to quickly vary tone color between the keyboards.New designs were also created, such as the spinet, which had a wing shape, but with the back and the strings of the instrument angled to the keyboard more like a virginal. Spinets became popular in England and France. Unlike today, when one ideal of piano sound dominates, there were many flourishing, dynamic aesthetics in use at the same time.
Ruckers Harpsichord, 1643
Andreas RuckersAntwerp, Belgium, 1643.
Kraemer Clavichord, 1804
Johann Paul KraemerGöttingen, Germany, 1804
Dufour Harpsichord, 1683
Nicholas DufourParis, France, 1683
Transitions
The 18th century was a period of major development for stringed keyboard instruments, physically and musically. At the beginning of the century, the harpsichord still dominated both as a solo and accompaniment instrument, but by 1800, it was largely replaced with early forms of the piano.Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655-1731) was hired in 1688 by the Medici family of Florence to build and maintain harpsichords. He was known as an inventor and was encouraged by his employer to create novel instruments. An inventory from 1700 mentions an arpicembalo che fa’ il piano, e il forte, by Cristofori, or “harpsichord that produces soft and loud.” This is the origin of our term pianoforte or piano, though this was not the first instrument of this type produced.While the musical flexibility of the piano became more appealing as the instrument was developed through the century, makers were still experimenting with new modifications to the harpsichord in the same period, particularly in England.
Kirckman Harpsichord, 1798
Joseph KirckmanLondon, England, 1798
Bas Grand Piano, 1781
Harpsichord with HammersLouis BasVilleneuve lès Avignon, France, 1781
An Alternate Lineage
While Bartolomeo Cristofori is often called the inventor of the piano, stringed keyboard instruments with hammered strings were made as early as the Middle Ages and sporadically through time after that.A concurrent development with Cristofori-type pianos was the creation of hammered dulcimers with mechanized keyboards. A German dulcimer virtuoso, Pantalon Hebenstreit (1668- 1750), made a splash with his large, hammered dulcimer and astonishing dexterity. Versions of his instrument with a keyboard and mechanized hammers came to be called pantalons. These instruments had a different tone color than Cristofori-type pianos. Their hard hammers and light (or nonexistent) damping of the strings more closely resembled the hammered dulcimer in sound.Both Cristofori-type and pantalon-type ideas flourished in central Europe in the 18th century, and our modern piano has incorporated the influence of both lineages. Examples of German developments that are retained in the modern piano are the damper lift and soft pedal. These were only two among many tone-modifying devices that were incorporated into late 18th century Central European pianos that were missing from Cristofori’s designs.
Maucher Lying Harp Piano, 1797
Lying Harp Piano or 'Pantalon'Gottfried MaucherKonstanz, Germany, 1797
Späth & Schmahl Tangentenflügel, ca. 1784
Tangent PianoFranz Jakob Späth & Christoph Friedrich SchmahlRegensburg, Germany, ca. 1784
For the Few and the Many
Stringed keyboard instruments are large and complex manufactured products. As such, they represented a significant monetary investment by their owners. A piano or harpsichord in the home of a middle-class family communicated to guests the ability to afford luxuries, as well as the cultural refinement of those who played them.Frequently, keyboard playing was part of the skills taught to a young woman to increase her eligibility in a marriage market which had significance for their status and wealth. Economies of scale, division of labor, machine tooling, and rail and steam-powered shipping were all parts of the Industrial Revolution that put keyboard instruments within the grasp of customers of more modest means.However, in addition to the mass market, major piano manufacturers also continued to make significant investments in technology that improved the most expensive professional instruments, allowing large grand pianos to produce the volume of sound necessary to fill increasingly voluminous concert halls.
Broadwood & Sons Upright Piano, ca. 1842
Cottage Upright ModelJohn Broadwood & SonsLondon, England, ca. 1842
Competing Visions
Some of the most important music for the piano was written in the 19th century, and much of it was composed and performed on pianos made in Paris or Vienna.Two major forms of piano action came to dominate piano making by the end of the 1800s. The Viennese action, where the hammer is attached at the back of the key and rotates upward, was created in the 18th century. It largely remained the same through the beginning of the 20th century, though the hammers became larger and heavier over time to increase the volume of sound.The Erard action, which employed a more complex system of levers to enable quick repetition of notes, was a further development of the 18th-century English action, in turn a derivative of the Cristofori action. Each model had its adherents, but ultimately the Erard-type action, which was better able to adapt to heavier hammers while preserving a nimble response, prevailed in the modern piano. Nevertheless, both Viennese and French piano manufacturers enjoyed a tremendous degree of success among composers and virtuosi.
Streicher und Sohn Grand Piano, 1829
Serial No. 136Nanette Streicher und SohnVienna, Austria, 1829
Erard Grand Piano, 1849
8-Foot Concert Model, Serial No. 21319ErardParis, France, 1849
Industrial Contrasts
For musical instrument manufacturers in the 19th century, the American market, with its tremendous growth and burgeoning wealth, represented opportunity.Both domestic and immigrant instrument makers entered the business. Their inventiveness and initiative have made some of the largest contributions to the sound and design of the modern piano. Steinway, the New York firm founded by a German immigrant piano maker in 1853, has had arguably the largest impact on the concept of the ideal piano sound from the mid-20th century on. However, in the 19th century, Steinway was just one of many American companies exploring new technologies and sounds. Boston was another major center for innovation.The size and wealth of the American piano companies allowed significant investments in research and development, resulting in a flurry of patents for new designs and use of materials. At the same time, Americans continued to have a nostalgia for an older format, the square piano, which had fallen out of favor in Europe, resulting in technologically advanced, heavy, and robust versions of what had originally been a delicate and light 18th-century form.
