THE EVOLUTION OF THE PIANO.

Lake County Press, Issue 1065, 21 May 1903, Page 6

THE EVOLUTION OF THE PIANO.

It is claimed that science lias done lew for musical instruments in the last century than for any other branch of inventive industry. The most complete of all musical instruments is the piano, and the reason given by the greatHubeufitein tor preferring the piano to any other instrument was " because it is a musical entity; all other instrument*, including the human voice, are fragmentary to a certain extent." The nucleus of the pianoforte was a little box over which were stretched suing?—in fact, one string only was used bv the KgyptiuDs three thousand years befor3 Christ, aud the notes were regulated bv a movable bridge. Then came the monochord used by tho Greeks and attributed to Pythagoras in the sixth century, 8.C.. and ud to 1,000, A.D.. the monochoid was used in all churches to teach choir singeis the " eight tones." From this crude instrument was developed the stole, the dulcimer and the psaltery. Besides these, were the harpsichord, the clavitheiium, the ckivicbord.the cirginal and the spinet. All these were stringed instruments. The elaviihcrium had keys; the clavichord had dumpers, and points of quill or hard leather which iose and "plucked' the strings. A Venetian named Spinetti is said to have invented the spinet in the sixteenth centurv, which followed the virginal, on which Queen Elizabeth played. The haipsichord had two rows of kejs, for which Bjcli and Handel compDsed in the seventeenth century. There is an collection of haipsicbords iu theSoutb Koisington Museum, one of which is dated 1555. The dulcimer whoso strings were not. like the foregoing, '-plucked,'' but struck by leather headed hainruern beld }o the hand*. closely resembles the " cymbal " which is used in Hungarian orchestras of the preacnt time. Fioui Lne dulcimer it was a ahor>-Htep to the piano, and its invention is attributed to B. C.'istofon. or Cristufale. cfTlcuvnee, Italv; J. C. Schroti?r,a G.»nua"u. an& a Frenchmau,carly in thc-eighteenth century. The strings were struck by struill i'«t hammers, and tlit.y were mounted m an oblong box, iu shapo similar to the oldfashioued squaic piauo, witu the color* of the keys reversed—black for the natural and white for the sharps. Schxotoi the German, about this time invented a similar ra».ti ament and is said to have presented a model of kia invention to tl.o Court of Saxony in 1717. His ideas were again improved upon by G. Silbri man, who achieved considerable sueceaa with the hrst wing -'shaped" piano, or " fortepiano," as it was then called. John Sebastian Bach played upon one of these instruments. . f Pianofortes were made in London by H. Zumpie, a German, in 1766, and have been steadily improved upon since that time. Mozart played upon pianos made by Johanu Stein and Anton Walter, and Mine. Stioicker, who was Stein's daughter, made the pianos upon which Heethoveo p a.\e<i one of which is preserved in Windsor tf.rsfe The tirst pianos known in America were i„ lr orted fiom London in 1784 by John Jacob Astor, but as they eotM not etand the ~-ois of this climate they soon became ruined. This fa< t led to the attempt to build pianos in this country, and lr. the earijf.part ofthepirsent century uprights roade-their appearance. . *._„:_« ? '-stone pianoforte, formed of a send of flints and other atones of various sues, collected in France.aoii a.ranged by M Baiidre, was ployed on by him at the Royal Institution on March 16, 186b. Knew the House.-Citizen : CfiVher. can V«u (hie) tell me wheic I (hie) live ? 1 m Mr Big»)Od-1v, »ou km w. Onicer : What s Vf i C ek's mime? Citizen: Maiy Asm (hie) oHrady. Officer : Kour blocks down and two to jeriigUl.