THE ORIGIN OF THE PIANO.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 146, 9 October 1876, Page 3

THE ORIGIN OF THE PIANO.

The piano began to m»b its appearance ibout the beginning of the eighteenth Mitury.. Its invention, like many others, j disputed, an<i England, France, Italy, ud Germany claim to have a share in the iimoe. Pianos were certainty made for b lirst time in the four countries, within \ fuw years of each other•, but in Germany alone did bhey sttcceed. Siibermann improved upon the invention of Schroeter, m constructed pianos which met with Mi's approbation. From this date* the mcci'ss of the piano in Germany. Frederick tb Great had no less than forty of Silbermanus pianos in his palace at Berlin ; and "iwu Bach visited him he insisted npon thu old man trying every one. Stein of Augsburg was also a celebrated maker j mil Moaart, in one of fib letters, describes tlm care taken hf Stein in seasoning the »'iud, which was exposed to alt sorts of Luther, and afterwards had all the cracks lillutt up with slips of wood gltted into Ilium. Jn England the piano made no MsibW progress until 176®, when twelve Gorman workmen—afterwards called the " Civulve apostle* " —arrived in search of employment. Dibdin, at a concert in 1767, on the first piano publicly exhibited, and after that the instrument became v<&ty jxipnlar, and harpsichords more and more i> disrepute. Sebastian Erard made a pat improvement in the touch ; and Bvoiulwood, who came to London from Scotland in 1751, introduced what he ftlled hi* " grand action,'" which removed tony defects. From that day until the r'ftutme the piano in England liaa been