THE CLAVICHORD
Clavichords were first mentioned in 1404. They were rectangular and had brass strings made to vibrate by a brass tangent attached to the end of a key. Early Clavichords had all strings of equal length and each was struck by more than one key. By 1700, a separate string each of graduated length, struck by only one key came into being. This permitted greater latitude in tuning and the "tempered scale" came into use. It is a compromise between all the keys in musical intonation and is the system used in tuning modern pianos. The Clavichord was the favorite instrument of the 16th and 17th centuries maintaining its supremacy long after the appearance of the pianoforte. The Clavichord possessed four of the most vital points of the present day piano; the independent sound board, metal strings, percussive method of agitating the strings and application of the damper to the strings. Bach, Mozart and even Beethoven used it.
THE SPINET
Next came the spinet, or virginal, which was furnished with little quill plectra with which the strings were plucked instead of the brass strikers used in the clavichord. The Spinet was invented by Giovanni Spinetti of Venice about 1503.The true Spinet was not a piano! It was oblong in form with a range of four octaves. It had long strings thus increasing the volume of tone, but the plucking system was used for vibrating the string. The plectrums were sometimes of leather, otherwise quill. In England this instrument became generally known as the Virginal, elsewhere it was sometimes called the Clavicimbalum. They were made in many sizes both with and without legs. The tone was thin and monotonous and the need for a fuller range of tonal effects led to the development of the harpsichord. Its tiny mechanism was very ingenious, but the sounds produced by it were mechanical to a degree, and the desire for greater expression led to the addition of several sets of strings and to the providing of a second keyboard. This improved spinet was called a harpsichord, and was often a very beautiful instrument. Great skill was expended upon its construction, and the decoration was often rich and beautiful in its effect. Its case was a small and attenuated form of our modern grand piano.
THE HARPSICHORD
The history of the Harpsichord: The Harpsichord evolved in the early 1400s in Flanders after a keyboard was added to the psaltery. The harpsichord may be considered as having sprung from the clavichord, consisted of a separate string for each sound; the key, instead of setting in action a device for striking and at the same time dividing the strings, caused the strings to be plucked by quills. Thus, in these instruments, not only was an entirely different quality of tone produced, but the pitch of a string remained unaltered. The harpsichord was much more complicated than the clavichord, in that the latter ceased to sound when the key which moved the bridge was released, whereas the harpsichord required what is called a "damper" to stop the sound when the key came up; once the string was touched by the quill, all command of the tone by the key was lost. To regulate this, a device was added to the instrument by means of which a damper fell on the string when the key was released, thereby stopping the sound.
THE SQUARE GRAND PIANO
The Square piano was inspired by the desire to produce a piano taking up less space than those instruments then in use. In its early stage the Square Grand, as with all stringed instruments built previous to it , had a weak wooden frame. This meant that thin wires at low tension could only be used. The square piano is sometimes referred to as a box piano or a box grand
In 1825 Alphaeus Babcock of Boston invented the one piece full cast iron frame or plate as it is now called. This allowed pianos to be built with heavier wire at higher tension which caused the instrument to have a much fuller singing resonant tone than had heretofore been possible. This was one of the most important of piano inventions. Near the end of the 18th century, square grand pianos became widely used. Measuring 3-1/2 by 7 feet, in a rectangular case. The square piano would be replaced as the dominant piano for the home by the upright piano which gained increasing popularity during the second half of the 19th century. About 97 per cent of all pianos made in the United States up to 1866 were squares.
THE GRAND PIANO
Bartolomeo Cristofori was the first person to create a successful hammer-action keyboard instrument and, accordingly, deserves to be credited as the inventor of the piano. This example is the oldest of the three extant pianos by Cristofori. About 1700 he began to work on an instrument on which the player could achieve changes in loudness solely by changing the force with which the keys were struck. By 1700 he had made at least one successful instrument, which he called "gravicembalo col piano e forte" (harpsichord with soft and loud). His instrument still generally resembles a harpsichord, though its case is thicker and the quill mechanism has been replaced by a hammer mechanism. Cristofori's hammer mechanism is so well designed and made that no other of comparable sensitivity and reliability was devised for another seventy-five years. In fact, the highly complex action of the modern piano may be traced directly to his original conception.
Bartolommeo Cristofori (1655-1731) was keeper of harpsichords and spinets at the Florentine court of Prince Ferdinand de'Medici. Cristofori's instrument was named gravicembalo col piano e forte, which means "harpsichord with soft and loud". Eventually, it was shortened to fortepiano or pianoforte, and eventually shortened to just piano. A Cristofori instrument dating from 1720 and is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
As the 18th century drew to a close, the piano was firmly established as a musical instrument. It then had a five-octave normal range and sixty-one keys not eighty-eight as it has today. Mostly, pedals were worked by the knees but the foot pedal introduced in England was catching on. The framing was still wooden; the iron frame had not yet been thought of. The strings and hammers often broke. The tone and action was very light. In about 1800, Joseph Smith of England made a complete frame of metal for resistance to strains. It is only fair to say it did not much resemble the modern conception of a metal plate. About 1820, various makers used sections of metal for hitch pins, resistance bars and pin plank reinforcements.
In 1822, the most famous of all piano actions was patented by the Erard brothers: the double escapement action. The purpose of the mechanism was the same as that of 1808, but while showing its descent from the Cristofori - Silbermann action, the function of each of its separate parts was worked out with still greater insight and ingenuity. Again the hammer did not fall back completely after its initial escapement, but returned to rest simultaneously on a check piece and a sprung, oblique lever which retained the hammer close to the strings. If they key was then raised slightly, the check released the hammer and it could be propelled against the strings once more, the movement of the key being transmitted to the hammer not by the hopper, but via the oblique lever. The action was noted at once for its remarkable lightness, flexibility and reliability. Its significance cannot be exaggerated since, with only small modifications of detail, it became the action to be fitted to the modern grand piano.
Alpheus Babcock of Boston, in 1830, cast a square piano - the first one-piece frame. While it was crude in design, it was the first. The evolution from this simple frame by Babcock to the carefully designed powerful frame of the modern piano was gradual; but by about 1860, was essentially what it is today and was capable of withstanding any strain that might be imposed by the piano maker.
The development of this plate was the greatest single invention in development of the modern piano with the exception of the Cristofore escapement. As it was with the development of the metal plate, so it was with the development of the action. There was more than one hundred years of continuous inventive genius put into it before Pierre Gerard came out with his so-called "double repeating action" for grand pianos in 1821. This action contained every essential of the modern grand action. It was the invention of the full metal plate that finally permitted makers to greatly increase diameters of strings as well as lengths and tensions which finally produced the modern piano tone. The iron frame was not developed in one swoop, but was a very gradual growth. The use of metal for added strength goes way back to the harpsichord.
Compared to modern pianos, many of the earliest ones looked awkward. Most were like pieces of overwrought furniture thick-legged and heavily carved. It seemed unlikely that they could make delicate music. The designs were fancy and the outer-case decorations unbelievably elaborate. Some of the instruments were almost smothered by decoration - ivory and precious stones, silver and gold, colored glass and enamels. Many of the pianos had paintings and complicated inlay work inside their lids. The entire outside cases of some instruments were painted with fanciful designs in oils.
The period of greatest development in piano construction lay between the years of 1760 and 1830 and then between 1835 and 1880. The first piano made in America was by John Behrent of Philadelphia in 1775
Grand
Grand Piano
Gold Grand Piano
Grand Piano
94C Gann Road SW
Marietta, GA 30008
Phone: 770-218-1934
Fax: 770-218-1923