EDGAR BRINSMEAD
.. 'fit
\v
HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
JOHNSON
,'JS!C LIBRARY
FRONTISPIECE.
FIG. 7.
m
CHLADNl'S VIBRATIONS OP SQUARE PLATES.
THE
HISTORY OF THE
PIANOFORTE
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE
THEORY OF SOUND & ALSO OF THE MUSIC
AND MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF
THE ANCIENTS.
EDGAR BRINSMEAD.
LONDON:
NOVELLO, EWER CO.,
i, BERNERS STREET (W.), AND 80 & 81, QUEEN STREET (E.C.)
MDCCCLXXIX.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY NOVELLO, EWER AND CO.,
69 & 70, DEAN STREET, SOHO, W.
PREFACE.
IN writing the " History of the Pianoforte " I have
endeavoured to give the fullest particulars regarding
a subject interesting to every one who possesses the
" Drawing-room Orchestra," by which name the piano
has been aptly designated.
Although some millions of pianofortes have been
manufactured in Great Britain, France, Germany, and
America, it is surprising how few pianists know any-
thing respecting the theory, construction, and history of
their favourite instrument.
If I have succeeded in even partially supplying the
information required, the labour of love that has
engaged my careful attention during the last ten years
will not have been undertaken in vain.
viil PREFACE.
In preparing this new edition, I found it necessary
not only to carefully revise the original work, but also
to rewrite many portions of it which were manifestly
imperfect. I have also added Part I. (on "Sound"),
in compliance with the criticisms and suggestions
which the former editions had evoked. I must grate-
fully acknowledge my indebtedness to Professor Tyndall,
who has most kindly permitted me to copy many of the
illustrations contained in his work " On Sound." In
Part I. much valuable information has been gathered
from the works of Chladni, Herschel, Helmholtz, and
Tyndall.
The principal fields of thought from which material
for the earlier chapters of Part II. has been gleaned
are the Histories of Music by Dr. Burney and Sir John
Hawkins, the works of Forkel and Carl Engel on
ancient music and musical instruments, and the de-
scriptions by Wilkinson, Rosellini, and Dr. Lorimer,
of the latest discoveries in connection with these sub-
jects. In the concluding chapters much has been
PREFACE. IX
derived from the writings of Fetis, Pole, Thalberg,
Pauer and Dr. Rimbault.
Although I have spent much time in the study of
works on music and musical instruments, it is not
merely as a theorist that I write. I bring to my
subject practical experience as a pianoforte manufac-
turer, and this gives me hope that, in explaining it to
admirers of the pianoforte, I may be in some slight
degree assisting the advancement of the art I so
dearly love.
EDGAR BRINSMEAD.
June, 1879.
INDEX.
PAGE
Preface vii
PART I.-SOUND.
CHAPTER I.
Sound, Noise, and Music i
CHAPTER II.
On the Transverse Vibrations of Tuning-forks, Rods,
Plates, and Bells - 16
CHAPTER III.
The Vibrations of Strings- - 30
PART II. HISTORY OF THE
PIANOFORTE.
CHAPTER IV.
The History of Music - - 56
CHAPTER V.
Stringed Musical Instruments of the Ancients - - 69
Xll INDEX.
CHAPTER VI.
The First Instruments with the Pianoforte Keyboard
the Clavicytherium, Clavichord, Virginal, Spi-
net, Harpsichord, etc. - 84
CHAPTER VII.
The Invention and Progress of the Pianoforte - - 107
CHAPTER VIII.
Progress of the Pianoforte from its Introduction into
England - - 117
CHAPTER IX.
Invention and Progress- of the Upright Pianoforte - 133
CHAPTER X.
Useful Hints upon selecting, and practical directions
for Tuning Pianos and Repairing small defects - 144
APPENDICES.
A List of British Pianoforte Improvements Patented
between the years 1693-1879 - 153
B Description of Dove's Sirene - - 189
C Description of Notes on Sound - - 194
PART I. SOUND.
CHAPTER I.
SOUND, NOISE, AND MUSIC.
SUCH perfect unity is displayed throughout the whole
of the laws of Nature, that no branch of Physics can be
studied without including much which at first sight
appears to have no connection with it. Thus, an
intimate acquaintance with the laws that govern radiant
heat, light, and water in their motion, reflection, and
refraction, will also give a clear insight into many of
those connected with the transmission, reflection,
and refraction of sound.
For instance, when a child watches the circlets of
miniature waves produced by the stone he has thrown
into a smooth piece of water, he takes a first step, by
analogy, in the study of the theory of sound-waves.
Many useful lessons may be taught to this little
2 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
" father of the man " by means of his innocent pastime ;
as waves of sound and waves of water are nearly allied
to each other in various ways.
When the surface of the water is in a state of great
tumult, it bears a close resemblance to the disturbed
state of the atmosphere that produces the discordance
termed noise. When the peaceful wavelets radiate
from the point at which the stone strikes the water,
their motion is closely analogous to the regular and
periodic pulsations of air that produce the sensation
of a musical sound.
To thoroughly understand the difference between a
noise and a musical sound, it is necessary to compre-
hend the distinction just set forth. Both are con-
veyed to the brain by means of the auditory nerve ;
but they produce entirely separate and distinct sensa-
tions.
The motion imparted to the air by any moving body
produces a corresponding wave in the air that is in its
immediate vicinity before it sinks to rest again, and this
transmits a still feebler motion which is reproduced,
with lessening force, in the contiguous air until the
pulsations either die away or are met by some solid
body that changes their course. Motion is thus con-
veyed from particle to particle, and when any of these
are driven against the tympanic membrane (which is
SOUND, NOISE, AND MUSIC. 3
stretched across the passage leading from the orifice of
the ear towards the brain) it sets it in motion. This
motion is transmitted to the end of the auditory nerve,
and along that nerve to the brain, where the sensa-
tion of sound is produced.
Professor Tyndall illustrated this in an extremely
homely manner. In his excellent work, " On Sound,"
he writes :*
" I have here five young assistants, A, B, C, D, and
E (Fig. i, p. 3), placed in a row, one behind the other,
FIG. i.
TYNDALL'S ILLUSTRATION.
each boy's hand resting against the back of the boy in
front of him. E is now foremost, and A finishes the
row behind. I suddenly push A, A pushes B, and re-
gains his upright position ; B pushes C, C pushes D,
D pushes E ; each boy, after the transmission of the
* " On Sound." By John Tyndall, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.
1875. P. 4-
4 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
push, becoming himself erect. E, having nobody in
front, is thrown forward. Had he been standing on the
edge of a precipice he would have fallen over ; had he
stood in contact with a window he would have broken
the glass ; had he been close to a drum-head he would
have shaken the drum. We could thus transmit a push
through a row of a hundred boys, each particular boy,
however, only swaying to and fro. Thus, also, we send
sound through the air and shake the drum of a distant
ear, while each particular particle of the air concerned in
the transmission of the pulse makes only a small oscil-
lation. But we have not yet extracted from our row
of boys all that they can teach us. When A is pushed
he may yield languidly, and thus tardily deliver up the
motion to his neighbour B. B may do the same to C,
C to D, and D to E. In this way the motion might be
transmitted with comparative slowness along the line.
But A, when pushed, may, by a sharp muscular effort
and sudden recoil, deliver up promptly his motion to B,
and come himself to rest ; B may do the same to C, C
to D, and D to E ; the motion being thus transmitted
rapidly along the line. Now this sharp muscular effort
and sudden recoil is analogous to the elasticity of the air
in the case of sound. In a wave of sound, a lamina
of air, when urged against its neighbour lamina, delivers
up its motion and recoils, in virtue of the elastic force
SOUND, NOISE, AND MUSIC. 5
exerted between them ; and the more rapid this delivery
and recoil, or, in other words, the greater the elasticity
of the air, the greater is the velocity of the sound."
When the vibrations of air are sufficiently rapid and
perfectly periodic a musical sound is the result ; but,
when these vibrations are irregular in force and un-
periodic, the sensation of noise is produced upon the
brain through the auditory nerve.
In 1705 the philosopher Hawksbee proved before the
Royal Society, that air is absolutely necessary to the
propagation of sound. He placed a bell in the receiver
of an air-pump, so that the air could be withdrawn
whilst the bell was continually struck. When the
air was almost exhausted scarcely any sound could be
heard ; but the experiment was not quite successful,
as a perfect vacuum was not obtained.
When, however, the air has been completely with-
drawn from a glass-vessel, no sound is audible, although
the stroke on the bell can be plainly seen, and a clear
ringing tone is heard directly the glass-vessel is refilled
with air. The intensity of a sound, therefore, depends on
the density of the air in which the sound is generated,
and not on that of. the air in which it is heard. Thus,
a pianoforte heard in a rarefied atmosphere appears
to lose much of the intensity of its tone ; indeed,
if the chamber were completely filled with a light gas,
B
6 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
such as hydrogen, the sound would be almost inaudible.
Sound, like radiant heat and light, is a wave-motion,
and like them it may be conveyed to a distance without
greatly impairing its intensity.
Biot, the celebrated French philosopher, found that
he could hold a conversation in a low voice through an
iron tube (one of the empty water-pipes of Paris)
3,120 feet in length, and that the slightest whisper was
distinctly heard at that distance. This is accounted for
by the fact that the air pulsations or waves, instead
of flowing in all directions, are concentrated into a
comparatively small column by the reflecting interior
surface of the pipe.
Curved roofs and ceilings also act as reflectors
of sound, as mirrors do of light and radiant heat.
Sir John Herschel, in illustration of this fact, says
that "the confessional of a cathedral in Sicily was so
placed that the whispered confessions of the peni-
tents were reflected to another part of the building.
This was accidentally discovered by a man, who often
amused himself and his friends by listening to these
confessions of guilt. He, however, heard secrets from
his wife's lips which completely 'marred the plea-
sures that he had previously derived from his eaves-
dropping."
The velocity of sound through gases and liquids may
SOUND, NOISE, AND MUSIC.
be deduced from the compressibility of these, determined
by proper measurements.*
Noise produces the effect of an irregular succession
of shocks to the listener through the jarring upon the
* Dulong calculated that the velocities of sound through the
following gases at the temperature of o centigrade are
Feet per Second.
Air 1,092
Oxygen 1,040
Hydrogen 4,164
Carbonic Acid ... ... 858
The velocities through liquids, according to Wertheim, are :
Temperature.
Centigrade.
River-water (Seine) 15
Solution of Common Salt ... 18
,, Chloride of Calcium 23 ...
Common Alcohol 20
The same authority gives the velocity of sound
at the following rates :
At 20C.
Feet per Second.
Lead ... 4,030 ... 3,95!
Gold ... 5,717 5,640
Iron ... 16,822 ... 17,386
Feet per
Second.
At iooC.
Feet per Second.
5,132
6,493
4,218
through solids
At 2ooC.
Feet per Second.
5,619
Acacia
Fir...
Beech
Oak
Pine
Elm
Sycamore
Ash
Elder
Aspen
Maple
Poplar
Along Fibre.
15,467
I5,2l8
10,965
12,622
IO,90O
13,516
14,639
15,314
15,306
16,677
I3.472
14,052
WOOD.
Across Rings.
4,840
4,382
6,028
5,036
4,611
4,665
4,916
4,491
5,297
5,047
4,600
Along Rings.
4>436
2,572
4,643
4,229
2,605
3,324
3,728
4,142
3,423
2,987
3>40i
3,444
B 2
8 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
auditory nerve ; but a musical sound flows regularly
and with perfect smoothness, rendering the impulses
received by the tympanic membrane perfectly periodic.
The production of a musical sound, in fact, depends
upon the action of a body that moves with the regu-
larity of a pendulum.
If the air-waves produced by this motion follow each
other with sufficient rapidity and regularity, the tym-
panic membrane and the auditory nerve are kept
continually in motion, for a body once shaken does not
sink to rest immediately.
Continuous impulses will thus produce the impression
of a musical sound. Galileo generated a musical sound
by drawing a knife over the edge of a piastre, as a
sonorous continuity of taps was thus produced. If the
puffs of a locomotive engine were repeated at the rate
of fifty or sixty in a second, an organlike tone would
be the result. It follows that musical sounds can be
produced by rapidly and regularly sustained taps or
puffs of any kind. The production of musical sounds
by the taps of the rotating teeth of a cogged wheel
against a card was first illustrated by Robert Hooke.
This was afterwards perfected by the Frenchman,
Savart, a drawing of whose invention is given in
Fig. 2, p. 9.
This machine consists of a wheel covered with
FIG. 2.
FIG. 3.
SAVART'S GYROSCOPE,
SEEBECK'S SIRENE.
SOUND, NOISE, AND MUSIC. II
numerous teeth, and is made to rotate very rapidly
by means of a band. When a playing-card is held
against the teeth as the wheel revolves slowly, a
succession of taps is heard ; but when the wheel is
made to rotate rapidly these blows are no longer
discernible, as a musical sound alone is perceptible.
When the revolutions are exceedingly rapid a treble
note is the result, and as these revolutions are gradually
slackened this pitch slowly flattens.
From this invention, it is apparent that the pitch of a
note is dependent upon the rapidity of its vibrations.
Professor Robison proved the fact by means of a
series of puffs of air. He writes: "A stopcock was
so constructed that it opened and shut the passage
of. a pipe 720 times in a second. The apparatus was
/
fitted to the pipe of a conduit leading from the
bellows to the wind-chest of an organ. The air was
simply allowed to pass gently along this pipe by the
opening of the cock." The repetition of this .720 times
in a second produced the note G in alt, and at 360
times per second a harsh tone like that of a man's
voice was the result. This discovery led to the in-
vention of the sirene, a description of which instru-
ment will doubtless be interesting, as its apparatus
determines the number of air-puffs per second neces-
sary to the production of any note,
12 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
The sirene was made in a very simple manner by
August Seebeck, as represented in Fig. 3, p. 9. It
consists of a pasteboard disc, about twelve inches in
diameter, in the margin of which are holes of equal
size, placed at regular intervals around the circum-
ference. The disc is made to revolve very rapidly
on its axis by means of a whirling table to which it
is attached.
Immediately over the circle of holes is placed the bent
tube, m. When the disc revolves slowly, the perfora-
tions are brought successively under the tube, allowing
the free passage of the air which is blown through it.
When the disc is made to rotate rapidly, the puffs follow
each other in such quick succession that the air-pulsa-
tions produce a musical sound.
When the rotations are very rapid a shrill treble
note is produced. When they are gradually slackened,
the puffs of air through the tube give musical sounds of
lower and lower pitch ; until, at last, only the puffs
of air themselves are heard as they pass through the
perforations.
The pasteboard sirene has been greatly improved by
Dove, whose instrument is a rather complicated one.
This apparatus has a register, by means of which the
rapidity of vibration of any sonorous body may be
accurately measured, whether it be an organ-pipe, a
FIG. 5.
DOVE'S SIRENE.
DOVE'S SIRENE.
SOUND, NOISE, AND MUSIC. 15
reed, the human voice, a vibrating string, or a tuning-
fork. It is divided into four series of orifices instead of
the one set that Professor Seebeck employed.
Dove's sirene is shown in Figs. 4 and 5, p. 13, which
are fully described in Appendix C, p. 293. By doubling
all the parts of Professor Dove's instrument, Helmholtz,
in his "double sirene," has greatly increased its power.
CHAPTEE II.
ON THE TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS OF TUNING-FORKS, RODS,
PLATES, AND BELLS.
A TIGHTLY drawn string or wire, when set in rapid
motion, will communicate .pulsations to the air at
perfectly regular intervals ; and a tuning-fork, whether
set in motion by means of a bow or by a blow, will
produce a precisely similar effect. The prongs, when
in intense vibration, produce a clear musical sound
which gradually diminishes in intensity as the ampli-
tude of these vibrations becomes lessened; the rate of
vibration being always the same, and the pitch con-
sequently remaining without alteration.
If a copper wire be attached to the prong of a tuning-
fork, it will vibrate in unison with the fork. If the
vibrating prong then be gently let down to a glass
table previously smoked or covered with soot, it will
then sing its own history, which will be faithfully regis-
tered in marks upon the glass as the fork is slowly
drawn across it; but when the fork is kept in the
same position, the prong simply vibrates along the
same line. When the vibrating fork is drawn gently
TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS, ETC. 17
along the glass a curved line is plainly marked by its
progress, and this sinuous line gradually forms itself
into a straight one as the amplitude of the vibrations
gradually diminishes.
By means of a looking-glass, Lissajous was enabled
to reflect the beam of intense light that he threw
upon the marks formed by the tuning-fork ; and this
reflection was shown upon a screen placed at a suitable
distance, the luminous wave on the screen rendering
visible the exact vibrations of the fork.
A wave of sound is produced by the prongs of
the tuning-fork advancing and retiring; as the con-
densation and rarefaction thus produced in the air
are the necessary constituents of a sonorous wave
the wave of sound being measured from one condensa-
tion to the succeeding condensation. Any two bodies
vibrating with the same rapidity will produce tones
similar in pitch, for pitch is solely determined by
rapidity of motion, whether in a string, a tuning-fork,
a reed, or in the human vocal chords ; therefore the
number of vibrations propelled by any of these can be
exactly determined by the pitch of the sound produced.
The sound-wave ordinarily generated by the speech of
a man is from eight to twelve feet, and that of a woman
is from two to four feet, in length; thus producing an
interval of about an octave between the two voices.
l8 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
This interval of an octave is proved by the sirene to
be due to the fact that the number of vibrations pro-
ceeding from the woman's voice is exactly double the
number of those proceeding from the man's voice.
Thus an octave must have exactly double the number of
vibrations of the fundamental note. Commencing, for
example, at a note of 150 vibrations, it may be proved
that the octave to this fundamental note will be 300,
the second 600, the third 1,200, the fourth 2,400
vibrations per second.
Savart, by his toothed wheel (Fig. 2, p. 9), proved that
the ordinary limit of human hearing is 24,000 vibrations
per second ; but Helmholtz fixes the limit at 38,000 in
the upper and sixteen vibrations per second in the lower
register of hearing. The sense of human hearing is
thus proved to be wisely limited to about eleven octaves ;
for, were the almost infinite vibrations of insects' wings
audible, the sound of the growth of grass, trees, and
flowers, as well as the circulation of the blood and
sap in all of these, would produce a roar simply
appalling.
Dr. Robert Hooke, in writing upon this subject, ob-
serves, " Who knows, I say, but that it may be possible
to discover the motions of the internal parts of bodies,
whether animal, vegetable, or mineral, by the sound
they make ; that one may discover the works performed
TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS, ETC. IQ
in the several offices and shops of a man's body, and
thereby discover what instrument or engine is out of
order, what works are going on at several times and lie
still at others, and the like ; that in plants and vegetables
one might discover by the noise the pumps for raising
the juice, the valves for stopping it, and the rushing of
it out of one passage into another, and the like."
The sense of hearing varies greatly in different
listeners ; but whenever the number of vibrations is in-
creased beyond the limit of his hearing, insensibility to
that sound at once ensues. For instance, the extreme
treble notes of an organ, the chirrup of a cricket, and
the squeak of a bat, are quite inaudible to many people.
Sir John Herschel writes, " Nothing can be more
surprising than to see two persons, neither of them
deaf, the one complaining of the penetrating shrillness
of a sound, while the other maintains there is no sound
at all." Thus the chirruping of sparrows and the hum
of insects are inaudible to many persons whose sense
of hearing is perfectly acute to noises of lower pitch.
Sir Charles Wheatstone proved, in a very interesting
manner, that sound will pass through solid bodies. He
placed a piano at the bottom of his house, and allowed
a tin tube, in which long deal sticks had been placed, to
rest upon the sounding-board of the instrument. These
sticks were carefully joined together and passed to the
20 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
top of his house. When the piano was performed upon
no sound was audible in the upper room, until the
sounding-board of a harp, violin, or some other musical
instrument was connected with the upper end of the
deal rod. Directly this connection had been made, the
sound of the piano became audible in the upper room,
the tone produced being very harplike in quality. The
pulsations were necessarily conveyed to the sounding-
board through the deal rod.
The vibrations produced by a tuning-fork placed on a
small wooden box can be conveyed to another wooden
box by corresponding means.
A rod, when fixed at both ends, vibrates throughout
its entire length, at half, and at a quarter of its length,
and it can divide its vibrations into even still smaller
parts. When it divides into halves, each of these
vibrates with nearly three times the rapidity of the
whole. These vibrations of a rod fixed at both ends are
maintained by its own elasticity without any external
tension. When a rod is fixed at one end and left free at
the other, it will divide into vibrating segments. If it
be struck sharply the entire oscillation is feeble, and
the partial oscillations between the nodal points are
executed with vigour ; but when the stroke is sluggish
the whole oscillation is well marked, and the nodal
divisions are not plainly discernible. Of these nodes
TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS, ETC. 21
or points of division, in vibrating rods and strings, more
will be said in the next chapter.
If the vibrating rod produced a musical sound, the
division into two vibrating parts by its central node
would produce the first overtone to its fundamental
tone. The shorter these rods are made the more
acute will be the tone produced by them when set in
vibration, as the number of vibrations executed in a
given time is inversely proportional to the square of
the length of the vibrating rod. If, therefore, a rod be
doubled in length the vibrations will then be reduced
to one-fourth ; by trebling it the rate of vibration is
reduced to one-ninth; and. by quadrupling the length
the rate of the vibrations is reduced to one-sixteenth.
Chladni took a rod, three feet in length, which
vibrated once in a second. He then reduced it to one
foot, and the result was nine vibrations per second.
When he reduced it to six inches, the rod vibrated
thirty-six times ; at three inches 144 times, and at one
inch it vibrated 1,296 times a second.
Chladni's discovery led to the invention of the " iron
fiddle," made in Paris. This instrument was simply
a wooden tray, in which were fixed small iron rods of
varying lengths arranged in a semicircle. When a
violin-bow set these pins in vibration musical sounds
were produced, but the effect was not sufficiently pleasing
22 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
to induce performers to practice this description of
violin-playing.
Small strips of metal fixed at one end are also used
in the musical box. The overtones or nodal divisions
of a vibrating rod rise very rapidly, for, from the first
division onwards, the rates of vibration are approxi-
mately proportional to the squares of the series of odd
numbers, 3, 5, 7, 9, u, &c. Thus, if the vibrations of
the whole rod be thirty-six, then the vibrations corre-
sponding to this and to its successive divisions would
be approximately expressed by the series of numbers
36, 225, 625, 1,225, 2,025, &c.
Sir Charles Wheatstone, by the use of his simple
instrument, the kaleidophone, produced on a screen
the beautiful scrolls that are represented in Fig. 6, p. 23.
These were formed by the vibrations of a rod fixed at
one end, to which light silvered glass beads were
attached. The characters resulting from the vibrations
were thrown on the screen by means of a strong light.
Chladni proves that if a rod be free at both ends
its deepest tones are higher than the deepest tones
of a rod of equal length fixed at one end in the
same proportion as four to twenty-five. In Mozart's
opera "Die Zauberflote " a little instrument, composed
either of wooden or glass rods, free at both ends, is
used to imitate a peal of bells, and the effect is
FIG. 6.
SIR CHARLES WHEATSTONE's LUMINOUS FIGURES PRODUCED BY THE
KALEIDOPHONE.
C 3
TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS, ETC. 25
very musical. When wooden rods are used this
instrument is called the " straw fiddle," because the
rods usually rest at their nodes on twisted straw.
Chladni, in . 1785, tried a great number of experi-
ments with rods and plates. He says, " The experi-
ments on the electric figures formed on a plate of
resin, discovered and published by Lichtenberg,* in
the Memoirs of the Royal Society of Gottingen, made
me presume that the different vibratory motions of a
sonorous plate might also present different appear-
ances if a little sand or some other similar substance
were spread on the surface. On employing this means,
the first figure that presented itself to my eyes upon
the circular plate already mentioned resembled a star
with ten or twelve rays ; and the very acute sound
in the series alluded to was that which agreed with the
square of the number of diametrical lines." He held a
plate of glass at its centre by means of a clamp, and,
after sand had been scattered over its surface, a corner
of the plate was first damped by touching it with the
finger-nail, and then set in vibration by means of a
violin-bow. This vibration threw aside the sand, which
then collected along the two nodal lines.
* Lichtenberg had made the experiment of scattering an elec-
trified powder over an electrified resin-cake, the arrangement of
the powder thus revealing the electric condition of the surface.
26 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
When the plate was damped in the middle of one
side and the plate was set in vibration at that point,
the sand formed itself into a diagonal figure. This
note, Chladni found, was a fifth above the previous one.
When two other points were damped and the bow had
been drawn across the centre of the opposite side of the
plate, a still higher note was produced, and the sand
marked the nodal lines.
Many beautiful examples of the scrolls obtained in
this manner, by damping different parts of the plate,
are shown in the frontispiece.
Sir Charles Wheatstone analysed the vibrations of
square plates in a very complete manner. He found
that square pieces of glass or of sheet-metal obey the
same laws as free bars and rods.
The results obtained by the vibrations of circular
plates are also very beautiful. The rate of vibration of
these discs is directly proportional to their thickness, and
inversely proportional to the square of their diameter.
Thus, if two circular plates are of equal thickness, and
the diameter of the second disc be double that of the
first, the pitch produced from each will be that of an
octave to the other. If the thickness of the two plates
be precisely the same, but the diameter of one be half
that of the other, the same result of the octave will
be obtained when both are in vibration. Chladni dis-
TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS, ETC. 2J
covered that when he rendered the centre of the disc
free and damped appropriate points of the surface,
nodal circles and other curved lines were produced in
the sand with which he lightly covered the vibrating
plates.
When a point has been damped, and a violin-bow at
the distance of forty-five degrees from this point causes
the plate to vibrate, the fundamental note is produced.
If white sand has been previously scattered over the
blackened surface of the glass plate, the nodal lines will
be plainly seen dividing the surface into four quarters.
When the bow is drawn across the disc at thirty degrees'
distance from the point damped, the sand at once
arranges itself in the form of a star, thus showing
that six vibrating segments are separated from each
other by these nodal lines. By drawing the bow at
points that are still nearer to the place damped by the
finger and thumb holding the plate, the disc can be
made to divide itself into eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, or
sixteen sectors, with their appropriate nodal lines be-
tween them. As these divisions become more minute,
the vibrations are proportionately accelerated, and the
pitch of the note produced is raised until an extremely
shrill sound results. By rendering the centre of the disc
free, and damping appropriate points of the surface,
nodal circles and other curved lines may be obtained.
28 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
The nodes and vibrating segments of a bell are
similar to those of a disc, the division into four vibrating
sections towards the crown of the bell forming the
fundamental note. The same rules that have been
given respecting the division of vibrating discs and-
respecting the thickness of these plates are also appli-
cable to bells. Like a disc also, a bell can divide itself
into any even number of segments, but not into an odd
number. Thus, if the vibrations of the fundamental
note be forty, that of the next higher tone will be ninety,
of the next 160, the next 250, the next 360, and
so on.
Chladni, by experimenting on an ordinary tea-cup,
proved that it divides itself, like a bell, into four vibra-
ting segments when a fiddle-bow is drawn across its
edge. He also found that the handle had a material
influence on the tone produced. When the bow is
drawn over the point exactly opposite to the handle,
and when the point is ninety degrees from the handle,
the same note is heard; as the handle in both these
cases is in the centre of a vibrating segment, loading it
with its weight. When the bow is drawn over a point
forty-five degrees distant from the handle the note is
sensibly higher than before, as the handle then occupies
a node instead of loading the vibrating segment, as in
the previous instance.
TRANSVERSE VIBRATIONS, ETC. 29
When bells are made of thin metal the tendency to
subdivision is so great that it is almost impossible to
bring out the pure fundamental tone without the
admixture of the higher ones. Bells often have varying
thicknesses round their sound-bows, and these produce
the same effect as the handle of the cup in the experi-
ment just described. This will account for the inter-
mittent sound when the higher tones are gradually dying
out; as this effect is produced through the varying thick-
ness of the metal in the bell, which causes the different
segments to vibrate unequally.
CHAPTER III.
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS.
STRETCHED metal wire, when fixed at both ends and
tightly drawn over a sounding-board, as in the piano-
forte, is capable of intense vibration. The vibration
of strings may be studied either on elastic cords
loosely stretched, which are not sonorous, but enable
the experimentalist to see their motion; or else on
the sonorous strings of the pianoforte, guitar, or on
the monochord.
In the first instance the strings can be made of thin
spirals of brass wire of about six to ten feet in length.
When gently stretched and fastened at both ends
this string will move with great regularity if set in
vibration by the finger. The string may be first
vibrated as in Fig. 8, p. 31. In this instance a single
fundamental tone is produced, without harmonics or
overtones. The string may, however, assume the forms
of Fig. 12, B, C, and D, p. 37. In this case the form of
the string is that of two, three, or four half-waves of a
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 33
simple wave curve. In the form B the string produces
only the upper octave of its prime tone ; in the form C
the twelfth, and in the form D the second octave.
The dotted lines show the position of the string at
the end of half its periodic time.
In B the point b remains at rest; in C two points,
ci and 02, remain at rest; in D three points are at rest,
leaving the sections e, di, d2, d$ in vibration. These
points are called nodes. The nodes, or points of rest,
may be plainly seen in a vibrating spiral wire, and in an
ordinary pianoforte they may be found by placing small
pieces of twisted paper along the strings. When the
string is set in vibration the whole of these paper riders
will be thrown off, as in Fig. 10, p. 31, with the ex-
ception of those placed upon a nodal point, at which
place the string is at rest. The centre of the string is
the first nodal point ; and if it be pressed lightly
with a goose quill, the string will be at once divided
into two equal lengths, each of which will produce
the octave tone to the fundamental notes sounded
by the entire length its number of vibrations being
twice as rapid as the prime tone. If the string be
divided into three equal parts, by lightly touching these
nodal points the vibrational number of each of these
sections will be tripled ; if into four, the vibrations will
be quadrupled in rapidity, and so on.
34 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
The nodal points can be easily discovered by placing
some paper riders on the string, as in Fig, 9, p. 31 ; for a
strong vibration will overthrow all the riders that are
not astride these points of rest. In this illustration the
two riders that are not on the nodal point are tossed
off, whilst the third sits quietly astride the point of rest.
In Fig. 10, p. 31, two riders keep their seats between
the three ventral segments, whilst the others are over-
thrown. If the string be damped with -the finger at
one-fifth of its length the vibrating string will unhorse
the four riders placed on the ventral segments of the
vibrating string (Fig. n, p. 31), whilst the three that
have been placed on the nodal points retain their seats.
To set a spiral wire in these various forms of vibra-
tion it should be moved periodically at one of its
extremities with the finger. Its lowest number of
vibrations give the prime tone A (Fig. 12, p. 37);
twice this number will show the node B ; three times
the rate will show the nodal point C ; and four times
will give the nodal point D. When the finger is placed
lightly on any of these points of rest, and the string is
pulled between that point and the nearest end, the other
nodes then appear directly the vibrations commence.
For instance, if the node i in C or i in D be kept at
rest by the finger, the string will show the other nodes
after it has been twanged at E. In this illustration
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 35
the vibrational forms of a resonant string are illus-
trated. To obtain these in a pure form tuning-forks
should be struck, and the handle held on the sounding-
board near the string, which will then vibrate in
sympathy with it. By pressing the finger lightly
upon any one of the nodes all the simple vibrations
are damped, excepting those that have a node at this
point; as those alone remain which allow the string
to be at rest in this place.
Very fine strings give a greater number of nodes than
the thicker ones, which are more rigid. In the bass
strings of a grand pianoforte, tones with ten sections
may be easily produced ; and if the strings are extremely
light, as many as twenty segments may be obtained.
These vibrations, which are like the oscillations of a
pendulum, excite in the ear only the perception of a
simple tone. They are not, however, simply pendular,
when the string is excited by the friction of a violin -bow ;
by plucking, as in harp-playing, or by the stroke of a
pianoforte hammer, as the vibrations are then com-
pounded of many simple vibrations, which taken sepa-
rately correspond to those in Fig. 12, p. 37.
The multiplicity of these composite forms of motion
is infinitely great ; the string may, indeed, be considered
as capable of assuming any form (provided very small
deviations from the position of rest be closely adhered
36 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
to). Any given form of wave can be compounded out of
a number of simple waves. The bass strings of a piano-
forte therefore allow of a great number of these com-
pound upper partial tones (which are usually termed
harmonics), especially when the instrument is lightly
strung. These are discernible as high as the sixteenth,
after which harmonic they are so closely intermixed
as not to be plainly separable. Thus, when a bass
string has been struck, the upper strings which corre-
spond to the divisions of the second, third, fourth, &c.,
upper partial tones will vibrate in sympathy with them,
unless checked by the dampers.
In experimenting with the pianoforte a horizontal
grand or a square instrument should be selected.
When the top has been raised, a small chip of wood
should be placed on one of the bass strings. If this
has been placed on one of the ventral segments it will
immediately be jerked violently into the air. For
instance, when one of the lower tones of C is struck, as
C, F, C, A flat, F, D, or C, the motion is much less
violent when one of the harmonic tones of C is struck,
as C, G, or C, in which case the piece of wood will not
move if placed exactly over one of the nodal points.
These nodal points may be easily discovered by pressing
the string lightly with the finger and thumb upon both
sides of the string. When the key is struck a dull,
FIG. 12.
B
VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS.
FIG. 13.
THE MONOCHORD.
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 39
dead tone will be produced unless a nodal point has
been pressed against. In the latter case the harmonic
tone alone will be heard.
The vibrations of strings, although extremely complex,
are all divisible into the simple pendular motions that
have been described in the previous chapters respecting
other vibrating bodies.
In a single note of the pianoforte many harmonic or
partial tones may be distinctly heard, together forming
one composite note; but the simple pendulatory motion
will still be found between the different nodes of this
string. By means of the spectrum, white light may be
separated into its component colours ; and by means
of the resonator,* sound may be separated into its
composite tones.
The discovery of these upper partial tones is some-
times ascribed to Sauveur; but Chladni proved that
Noble and Pigott had previously discovered them at
Oxford in 1676.
When a string is in vibration the series of pulsations
rapidly follow one another, and when these reach the
bridge they return and come in opposition to those that
immediately follow them. This causes the division of
* The resonator is a species of ear-trumpet invented by
Helmholtz. This instrument enables the listener to hear one
distinct note only amongst a number of complex sounds.
D. 2
40 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
the string into two vibrating parts which are called
ventral segments ; and the point of rest caused by the op-
posing waves is termed a node. The first meeting of
these pulsations is succeeded by that of numberless
other opposing pulsations, which rapidly subdivide the
string into an infinity of ventral segments, each of which
has its own pendular motion. To vibrate transversely
a string must be stretched between two rigid points
which are usually termed bridges.
An extremely useful instrument called the monochord
or sonometer (Fig. 13, p. 37) will give some interesting
rules connected with the vibrations of stretched strings.
From the pin p, to which one end of it is firmly attached,
a string passes across the two bridges B and B 1 , being
afterwards carried over the wheel H. The string is
finally stretched by a weight attached to its extremity.
The bridges B and B 1 , which constitute the real ends
of the string, are fastened on to the sounding-box
M, N. When this string is plucked in the middle it
vibrates from side to side for some time, and a sound
can be distinctly heard. This sound, however, does
not proceed from the string, but from the box beneath,
which forms a sounding-board.
The vibrations of a thin stretched string are audible
at a short distance ; but in the monochord the wave
motion of the string is communicated through the bridge
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 41
to the column of air in the box beneath, which then
becomes the real sounding body. This will give some
idea of the immense importance that should be attached
to the sounding-board of a pianoforte. If the sounding-
board be not exactly proportioned to the length and
weight of the strings that it carries, the tone must in-
evitably suffer. The sounding-board must, therefore, be
exactly fitted to take up the vibrations of the wires that
pass over it. The strings of a pianoforte do not throw
the surrounding air into sonorous vibration ; this is
done by the sounding-board to which the string is
attached acting on the air inclosed by its surface.
The tone of a pianoforte depends very greatly upon
the quality of material, shape, and construction of its
sounding-board.
To prove the use of sounding-boards, Kilburn en-
cased a musical box in several thicknesses of felt,
through which a wooden rod passed, one end resting
on the box. When the musical box was played, no
sound was heard until a thin board was placed against
the outer end of the rod, when the sonorous motion
was immediately communicated to the surrounding air.
The sounding-board of a pianoforte should be made
of wood of the most perfect elasticity ; for imperfectly
elastic wood expends the motion imparted to it in the
friction of its own molecules, and the motion is thus con-
43 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
verted into heat, instead of sound. The upper bridge,
on the wrest-plank, should be as rigid as possible, and
the lower or belly bridge should be fixed on the most
yielding portion of the sounding-board.
The sonorous quality of the wood is mellowed by-
age, and playing upon the instrument greatly improves
the tone, as the molecules of. the wood are thus
compelled to conform to the requirements of the vibrat-
ing strings. A sound-wave (according to the English
and German measurement) consists of the alternate
condensation and rarefaction of the air : the measure-
ment being taken from condensation to condensation, or
from rarefaction to rarefaction.
Professor Stokes remarks that, although the ampli-
tude of the vibrating board may be very small, still its
larger area renders the abolition of the condensations
and rarefactions difficult, as the air cannot move in
front nor pass in behind, before it is sensibly condensed
and rarefied. A thin string, therefore, that would be
quite inaudible when vibrated alone, will be distinctly
heard when placed in connection with an appropriate
sounding-board.
In the monochord the exact octave to the funda-
mental tone is obtained by placing a bridge so that it
divides the strings into two exactly equal parts, as the
vibrations of the two sections are thus doubled, each
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 43
half vibrating twice as rapidly as the whole. When
the string is divided into three vibrating segments the
rate is tripled, and the fifth above the octave is pro-
duced. If the strings be divided into four parts the
rate of vibration will be quadrupled, and each section
will produce the double octave of the entire strings.
The rule for this division is : The number of vibrations is
inversely proportional to the length of the string. The
numbers of vibrations of a string are proportional to the
square roots of the stretching weights. For instance, if
the string in the monochord be attached to a weight of
twenty-six pounds, a certain number of vibrations will
be produced each second. To double this number of
vibrations a weight of 104 pounds must be employed;
to treble them the weight must be 234 pounds, and so
on. The more tightly the string is drawn, the higher
in proportion will its pitch be raised. When the
stretching weight, lengthy and material of strings are equal,
the number of vibrations varies inversely as the thickness
of the string.
A thin string will therefore execute double the
number of vibrations in the same time as one of double
the diameter, if both are of the same length and are
equally stretched. The vibrations of a string also
depend upon the density of the matter of which it is
composed, for the number of vibrations is inversely
44 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
proportional to the square root of the density of the string,
if all the other conditions are the same.
The strings of a pianoforte are in reality simply
vibrating rods.
The harmonics or upper partial tones of these depend,
upon the stroke, the place struck, and upon the density,
rigidity, and elasticity of the string. The strength and
number of the harmonics depend upon the abruptness of the
discontinuities in the motion excited. A sharply pointed
hammer or other plectrum produces a shrill tone with
a great number of high tinkling harmonic tones; but
the fundamental tone exceeds that of any of these
partial tones. Immediately after a blow has been
struck by a sharp metallic hammer, the only point
directly set in motion is the one struck, the remainder
of the string being at rest. A wave of deflection then
arises which rapidly runs backwards and forwards over
the string. This limitation of the original motion to
a single point produces the most abrupt discontinuities,
and a corresponding long series of harmonics having
intensities in most cases equalling, and sometimes even
surpassing, that of the fundamental tone.
Helmholtz remarks,* " When the hammer is soft
and elastic, the motion has time to spread before the
hammer rebounds. When thus struck, the point of the
*" Sensations of Tone." By Helmholtz. 1875. P. 132.
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 45
string in contact with such a hammer is not set in
motion with a jerk, but increases gradually and con-
tinuously in velocity during the contact. The discon-
tinuity of the motion is consequently much less,
diminishing as the softness of the hammer increases,
and the force of the high upper partial tones is corre-
spondingly decreased.
" We can easily convince ourselves of the correctness
of these statements by opening the top of any pianoforte,
and keeping one of the keys down with a weight, so as
to free the string from the damper, plucking the string
at pleasure with a point, and striking it with a metallic
edge on the pianoforte-hammer itself. The qualities of
tone thus obtained will be entirely different. When
the string is struck or plucked with hard metal the tone
is piercing and tinkling, and a little attention suffices to
make us hear a multitude of very high partial tones.
"These disappear, and the tone of the string becomes
duller, softer, and more harmonious when we pluck
the string with the soft finger, or strike it with the
proper soft hammer."
Pianoforte-hammers should therefore be made as firm
as possible in the coverings next to the wood, and the
layer of felt that immediately strikes the string should
be soft and silky upon its surface, so as to prevent
the harmonics from harshly overpowering the funda-
46 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
mental tone. The hammer has an immense influence
upon the tone produced by it. Theory proves that
those harmonics are especially favoured whose periodic
time is nearly equal to twice the period during which
the hammer lies on the string ; and that, on the other .
hand, those disappear whose periodic time is six, ten,
fourteen, &c., times as great. The place to be struck
must now be considered. When the blow is struck
upon a nodal point of the string, the harmonics that
have a node at this point will disappear ; but those
partial tones that have their greatest displacement at
this point will be considerably increased.
The musical tone of a string can therefore be
greatly varied by changing the place at which the
hammer strikes. For instance, if the string be struck
exactly in the centre the octave harmonics disappear,
but the third partial tones are extremely strong, for the
blow is then exactly in the centre of the middle ventral
segment. In this case the fourth harmonic is not
heard, as the central node is then the same as the
point struck two-fourths being the central point of
the string.
All the other even partials the sixth, eighth, and
so on disappear in the same manner, producing a
hollow quality of tone. When the string is struck at
one-third of its length, those harmonics that have an
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 47
odd number the third, sixth, and ninth are not heard,
and the result is slightly better than when the string is
struck in the middle. If the string is struck near its
end, the upp.er harmonics are greatly strengthened, and
a thin quality of tone is thus produced.
When the point of excitement is between the seventh
and ninth of the entire length, the seventh and ninth
harmonics become weak, and they are then almost
inaudible. This, by experience, has been found to be
the best place to give the blow. In the extreme treble
the shortness and rigidity of the strings preclude the
possibility of the production of audible harmonics, and
it is therefore usual to strike higher in the treble than
in the tenor and bass, for the purpose of rendering the
treble brilliant.
For the longer strings the upper harmonics would
be too loud and tinkling if a higher point than the
ninth were struck, as the fundamental tone would be
partly overpowered by them. On the other hand, the
nearer the string is struck in its middle the duller and
more hollow will its tone become, as the fundamental
tone will then greatly outweigh the harmonics. The
same effect may also be produced with a heavy and
soft hammer, without altering the striking place. In-
deed, the point of striking so greatly depends upon
other causes, which will be considered in the ensuing
48 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
chapters, that theory alone is generally inaccurate when
it names the exact point for producing the tone best
suited to the taste of a cultivated musician.
In Germany and America the seventh is the striking
point usually chosen, and a heavy hammer is almost
invariably used. The result is that a heavy, hollow
quality o'f tone is produced.
In France, where the musical instruments are always
metallic and bright in tone, the striking point is one-
eighth of the entire length.
The faults of these two systems are that the German
and American tone usually becomes dull and heavy,
and the French tone soon wears hard and harsh. In
the first instance the soft felt on the hammers quickly
cuts, and clings round the string after the blow has
been given; and in the second the upper harmonics
are disagreeably perceptible when the hammers have
become slightly worn.
The thickness and material of the strings also have a
great influence upon the tone produced by them. When
the instrument is heavily strung the rigidity of the
strings will preclude the very high harmonics from
being heard, as they cannot vibrate between two nodes
that are very near each other. These upper harmonic
tones are extremely close together, being less than a
whole tone apart in the eighth and upper partial tones ;
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 49
and the interval is less than a semitone in the fifteenth
and upwards. These tones are consequently dissonant.
The piano should therefore be strung sufficiently
heavily to prevent the highest harmonics from being
heard at all.
To sum up the matter of harmonics it may be added
that a string vibrates as a whole, with a pendular motion
between the two nodal points of its two bridges. In addition
to this simple motion, it can also form smaller vibrating
segments, called ventral segments, each of which also has
this separate pendular motion, and is divided from the
next ventral segment by a node, which is a point of
partial rest. This subdivision into a larger or smaller
number of ventral segments, whose vibrations produce
the harmonics or partial tones of the string and the
intervals between these harmonics, constitute what
is known in Great Britain as quality of tone, in France
timbre, and in Germany as Klangfarbe.
It is this union of high and low tones which enables
a musician to distinguish one musical instrument from
another. For instance, the tones of a harp or of a guitar
are not confounded with those of a pianoforte ; for the cat-
gut strings do not produce such high harmonic sounds
as those caused by the wire strings of a pianoforte.
A hard hammer and a light string are favourable to
the production of high overtones ; and a heavy string
50 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
and a soft hammer sound the fundamental note so
plainly that these high partial tones almost entirely
disappear. They also depend to a great extent upon
the rapidity with which the hammer leaves the string
after the impact has taken place, and upon the point at,
which the blow is delivered.
Helmholtz found that if the fundamental tone were
called 100, the second harmonic was 56*1 when twanged
with the finger ; but when the same string was struck
with a pianoforte-hammer, whose contact with the
string endured for three-sevenths of the period of
vibration of the fundamental tone, the intensity of the
same tone was nine, and the second overtone was
almost inaudible. When, however, the duration of
contact was diminished to tfiree-twentieths of the
period of the fundamental tone, the intensity of the
harmonic rose to 357; and when a hard hammer was
used, and the blow sharply delivered, the intensity
obtained was 505, or more than five times the number
of the primary tone.
These effects have been plainly shown by the experi-
ments of the Brothers Weber, who made them visible
in various ways, one of which was the use of thin black
cords in front of white paper.
Of the longitudinal vibrations of wires by means of
resined rubbers it is not necessary to speak, as this
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 51
system of vibration has not yet been introduced into
the pianoforte.
Experiments with Dove's polyphonic sirene prove that
two rows of an equal number of holes produce the same
pitch as each other when blown into, whether one set
of holes be larger or smaller than the other row, if they
revolve with equal velocity. When the rate of rotation
is doubled, the pitch of the note is raised an octave
higher. For instance, if a revolving disc be perforated
with one row of twenty holes and another row of ten
holes, the sounds produced will be those of a note and its
octave, as double the number of vibrations are given by
the larger series of holes when wind is blown through
them during their rotation. It is therefore proved that
a musical tone which is an octave higher than another
makes exactly twice as many vibrations in a given time
as the latter. When the number.of holes is respectively
eight and twelve a note and its fifth are produced, re-
gardless of the rate at which the disc revolves. The
fifth therefore is formed when the vibrations that form
the higher sound are three in the same time as two of
the lower tone. Dove's polyphonic sirene usually has
four series of holes eight, ten, twelve, and sixteen
respectively.
By means of this instrument and by other experi-
ments it has been proved that the relation of vibrational
52 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
numbers are the octave as 1:2; the fifth, 2:3; the
fourth, 3 : 4; the major third, 4:5; and the minor
third, 5 : 6.
These differences of relation may be easily understood
if we remember that in a unison the two strings vibrate
exactly the same number of times per second. Thus
the vibrations of one string sounding in unison with
another are as the number i : i. When the octave
string is sounded its vibrations are exactly twice
that number, therefore they are as the numbers 2:1;
that is to say, in an octave the higher note is produced
by exactly twice the number of vibrations per second
that produce the lower note. When two vibrations of
the one note fall upon the ear in precisely the same
time as three vibrations of another note, these two
sounds produce the interval of a fifth; the relation
being 2 : 3, and so on with the other intervals.
Helmholtz says,* "When the fundamental tone of a
given interval is taken an octave higher, the interval is
said to be inverted. Thus a fourth is an inverted fifth,
a minor sixth an inverted major third, and a major
sixth an inverted minor third. The corresponding
ratios of the vibrational numbers are consequently
* "Sensations of Tone." By Herman C. J. Helmholtz. 1875.
P. 22.
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 53
obtained by doubling the smaller number in the original
interval."
From 2 : 3, the fifth, we thus have 3 : 4, the fourth.
,, 4 : 5, 'the major third ,, 5:8, the minor sixth.
,, 5:6, the minor third, 6 : 10, == 3 : 5, the major sixth.
These are all the consonant intervals which lie within
the compass of an octave. With the exception of the
minor sixth, which is really the most imperfect of the
aobve consonances, the ratios of their vibrational
numbers are all expressed by means of the whole
numbers, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
Comparatively simple and easy experiments with the
sirene corroborate the remarkable law that the vibrational
numbers of consonant musical tones bear to each other ratios
expressible by small whole numbers.
The same law, of course, governs the length and
vibrations of strings. Thus, if the string of a mono-
chord be divided into two parts by a bridge in such a
manner that two-thirds of the length lie to the right and
one-third to the left, so that the two lengths are in the
ratio of 2 : i they give the interval of an octave, the
greater length giving the deeper tone. When the
bridge is so placed that three-fifths of the string lie to
the right and two-fifths to the left, the ratio of the two
lengths is 3 : 2, and the interval is a fifth. In a seven
E
54 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
and a quarter octave pianoforte the vibrations of the
lowest bass note A are about twenty-seven and a half
each second, and those of the extreme treble note C v
are 4,224 per second.
The notes of the lowest octave are not plainly dis-
cernible to ordinary auditors, but the treble notes may
be extended to nearly three and a half extra octaves
before they will pass beyond the reach of musical
hearing. This is very wonderful if it be remembered
that, to produce this sense of hearing an extreme treble
note, the tympanum of the ear. vibrates 38,000 times in
a second of time, and it shows what a great variety of
different vibrational numbers can be perceived and
distinguished by the ear. In this respect the ear is
far superior to the eye (which distinguishes light of
different periods of vibrations by the sensation of
different colours) ; for the compass of the vibrations of
light distinguishable by the eye little exceeds an
octave.
The periodic time* of the vibration of a string deter-
mines the pitch of the note produced ; the amplitude
of this vibration determines the power of the note ; and
in general terms it may be said that the quality of the
tone produced depends upon the form of vibration of
the string. Every different quality of tone requires a
* Appendix B, p. 189.
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS. 55
different form of vibration, although different forms of
vibration may correspond to the same quality of tone.
For example, the violin-piano, when played in the
same manner as an harmonium, produces the same
quality of tone as a reedy instrument of that class,
the harmonics being almost identically the same, al-
though the form of vibration of the string in the violin-
piano is entirely dissimilar to that of the reed in the
harmonium.
E 2
PART II.
CHAPTER IV.
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC.
IT may be interesting, in tracing the history of the
pianoforte, to give some slight account of the rise and
progress of its parent and offspring, Music ; for the
advance of music and the development of musical
instruments have always been simultaneous, the one
greatly influencing the other. Indeed, the chronicles of
"the drawing-room orchestra" are almost indissolubly
linked with those of music. The universe itself is
considered by modern as well as ancient philosophers
to be formed upon principles of harmony, and this
idea is not confined to such philosophers as Isaac
Newton, for the greatest poets favour this theory.
Shakespeare beautifully expresses the idea in the well-
known lines
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. 57
There's not the smallest orb that thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims ;
Such harmony is in immortal sounds !
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close us in we cannot hear it.
Burney says, " Harmony being part of nature, we
cannot speak of any inventor of music. The first
attempts must have been rude and artless ; the first
flute a whistling reed, in imitation of the wind as it blew
along the living reeds ; and the primitive lyre, perhaps,
the dried sinews of some animal."
It is not easy to determine who the first cultivators
of music were, but as all ancient histories speak of the
grandeur and civilisation of Egypt, at a time when
Phrygia and other musical nations were in a com-
paratively rude state, it is probable that Egypt was the
first nation to bring to any degree of perfection the
instruments of music handed down to them by the
descendants of Jubal, who "was the father [or chief]
of all such as handle the harp [or lyre] and [mouth]
organ."
It would be useless to attempt to trace music to a
higher source than Egypt, for even in the time of Abram
the Egyptians were formed into a nation with a king at
its head; and the earlier references to the art are so
purely incidental that they give us little clue to the
58 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
amount of knowledge of instrumental music previously
acquired.
In the antediluvian world, Jubal, we are told by the
Scriptures, was a player on both wind and stringed
instruments; the harp, or lyre rather, and the syrinx
being expressly mentioned. It appears also that the
art of music was cultivated in Mesopotamia, and that
it was used upon festive occasions. The enraged
Laban, in reproaching his son-in-law Jacob for leaving
secretly to return to his own country, indignantly says,
" I might have sent thee away with mirth and with
songs, with tabret [tambourine] and with harp." The
next reference shows an advance in vocal music,
which, in true Asiatic style, was probably performed
in unison with the accompanying instruments, and
generally in combination with poetry and dancing.
Miriam in her jubilant outburst " Sing ye to the Lord,
for he hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse- and his
rider hath he thrown into the sea " " took a timbrel in
her hand ; and all the women went out after her with
timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered [that
is, sang responsively to] Moses and the men of Israel."
This is the first mention we have of any advance in
music, and it was really a great advance; for antiphonal
singing, the one part answering to the other, would
naturally lead on to counterpoint and harmony.
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. 59
This incident, it will be remembered, occurred after
the liberated Hebrews left Egpyt ; and it is therefore
only natural to conjecture that they had made this
improvement in their music during their stay in that
country, for we can perceive by monumental evidence
that music was cultivated there long previously to that
time. Besides, the Greeks, who lost no merit by
neglecting to claim it, unanimously confessed that
most of the ancient musical instruments were of
Egyptian invention.
The changes in government, manners, and amuse-
ments, caused by the country being successively con-
quered, after the reigns of the Pharaohs, by the
Ethiopians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, were great,
so that music did not make uniform progress in Egypt.
The ancient Egyptian account of the introduction of the
first musical instrument is that the mythical Hermes
(who was supposed to have lived between the years
1800 and 1500 B.C., and was afterwards deified for his
genius and services as the great secretary of the cele-
brated king and sun-god Osiris) was walking along the
sunny banks of the Nile, when he struck his foot against
the shell of a tortoise. The flesh being wasted and dried,
nothing was left within the shell but nerves and carti-
lages. These, being braced and contracted by desicca-
tion, produced so pleasant a sound that it suggested the
6 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
first idea of a lyre to him ; and he afterwards constructed
a musical instrument in the form of a tortoise, stringing
it with the dried sinews of dead animals. This fable
has been repeated in many countries, even Ireland
having a very similar legend. But although the idea
is pretty, the story can scarcely be considered as
trustworthy.
That the Egyptian lyre and harp rapidly improved
is shown by the discoveries of Bruce and other great
travellers of most perfect instruments drawn upon
tombs and monuments. It is therefore a matter of
wonder that, many years afterwards, other instruments
of inferior kinds and with fewer strings should take
their place. In music, as in everything else, there
seems a boundary set ; and, like the stone of Sisyphus,
when one arrives at it he is precipitated back to the level
whence he started, and the work has to be begun afresh.
It seems to admit of but little doubt that the Egyptians
had, in the most flourishing times of their empire, music
and musical instruments which were far superior to
those of other countries ; but after their subjection to
the Persians this music and these instruments were
lost, and not regained until the time of the Ptolemies,
when music, together with the other arts, was en-
couraged at the court of Alexandria more than at any
other place in the known world, till the captivity of
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. 6l
Cleopatra, an event which terminated both the empire
and history of the Egyptians.
Of the Egyptian system of notation nothing can be
said, for ancient writings, although they often hint at it,
never give any description. It seems probable, however,
that their music was expressed by their alphabet, like
that of other ancient nations.
As the music of the Assyrians was probably very
similar to that of the Egyptians, it will not call for any
particular remark.
The Hebrews, having derived improvements in music
from the Egyptians, many imitations of their instru-
ments would naturally be made in a modified form to
adapt them to the long Israelitish wanderings. Moses,
learned as he was " in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,"
would not fail to instruct the people under his charge
in the musical praises of God.
After this, Samuel formed schools where the prophets
were instructed in music, with which they were accus-
tomed to soothe their own angry moods, and produce
a fit state of mind for receiving the gift of prophecy.
David was trained at these schools, and the power
of the music he produced, in calming Saul's troubled
and moody mind, proves that music in David's time
had again arrived at comparative perfection.
The musical services of the Jewish Temple were on
62 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
an extraordinarily grand scale, and of an extremely
noisy description. If we may give credence to Josephus,
who is often inaccurate when speaking of music, there
were two hundred thousand trumpets and forty thou-
sand other instruments of music with which to praise
God at the dedication of Solomon's Temple.
Grecian music is said to have originated at the birth
of Jupiter, when Rhea, his mother, appointed the
Curetes to nurse and teach him. These danced about
him in armour with great noise, that Saturn, his father,
might not hear him cry :
These represent the armed priests who strove
To drown the tender cries of infant Jove ;
By dancing quick they made a greater sound,
And beat their armour as they danced around.
CREECH.
After this rude, warlike music, drums and cymbals
were the first Grecian instruments of percussion ; and
having but one tone, required little art in the player.
The Greeks, as the Egyptians and Hebrews had
probably done before them, used their alphabetical
characters for symbols of sound; but finding twenty-
four insufficient to express the sounds in their three
genera, Diatonic, Chromatic, and Enharmonic, they
transposed the letters, sometimes placing them hori-
zontally, making some large, and some small, and
mutilating and altering them so as to increase their
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. 63
symbolic power. As the scale extended these characters
increased, for marks of accent were added, until at
last, according to Buretti's calculation, the enormous
number of sixteen hundred and twenty characters
were employed.
In the time of Aristoxenus (341 B.C.), the oldest
writer upon music whose works have been preserved,
the Greek system was called Systema perfectum, maxi-
mum, immutatum the great, the perfect, the immutable
system ; but perhaps modern musicians may not be so
enthusiastic respecting a notation that appears to be as
perfect a muddle as any classical nation ever tolerated.
Ancient authors tell us that the Greeks, in writing
their music, placed two rows of characters over the
words of a lyric poem, the upper row serving for the
voice, and the lower for the instruments. The multi-
plicity of these characters must certainly have made
music in ancient Greece a long and laborious study.
It is not therefore surprising that Plato, although he
was unwilling that youth should bestow too much time
upon music, allowed them three years to learn the
rudiments.
Despite these disadvantages, music made great pro-
gress in Greece ; indeed, modern European music is
directly derived from it.
The Roman music was derived from the Etruscan,
64 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
and was exceedingly rough, until the Romans in the
Augustine age borrowed the musical instruments and
music of the Greeks, when it received an impetus that
is still felt ; as it awakened a love of music which now
seems inborn in Italians.
Music having been used by the Egyptians, Hebrews,
Greeks, and Romans, in their religious ceremonies, it
is not surprising that the early Christians were par-
ticularly partial to singing psalms and hymns singing
even in prison and on the point of martyrdom. Their
music, however, does not seem to have been of any
new species ; and it is probable that the music of the
period, and perhaps even pagan hymn-tunes, were
adopted. The use of music was universal amongst the
early Christians long before they had built any churches,
or their religion had been recognised by law as the
established religion of the Roman empire (A.D. 312).
In 313 Constantine built many sumptuous churches, in
which music formed a very important part of the cere-
monies. During the reign of Theodosius the Am-
brosian chant was established in the church of Milan,
and the psalms and hymns were exceedingly beautiful.
The performance was so good that the Gentiles, who
went from curiosity, often liked the service so well that
they were baptised before leaving. After this, music
was even more carefully practised in the Church, and
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. 65
Pope Gregory the Great, in the year 590, collected and
arranged the hymns and psalms that had been used
by the primitive Christians. This arrangement, called
the Antiphonarium Centonem, was long in vogue at
Rome, and was soon adopted in the Western Church,
where the Gregorian chants are still great favourites.
From the time of Pope Gregory to that of Guido
there was no other distinction of key than that of
authentic and plagal ; nor were there any semitones
used but those from E to F, B to C, and occasionally
A to B.
The musical notation was precisely the same in the
Christian Church as that of the ancient Greeks, the
Greek appellatives for the musical scale being used in
the time of Boethius in 526. Pope Gregory used the
first seven of the Roman letters in such a way that
they stood for three octaves, thus : A, B, C, D, E, F,
G, signified one octave ; a, b, c, d, e, f, g, the octave
above ; aa, bb, cc, dd, ee, ff, gg, the octave again ; so
that three octaves were symbolised by these seven
letters, which are still retained in most parts of Europe,
although a different entablature and a new notation are
used in practice, and seem destined to become universal.
After the Greek characters were disused, many systems
of notation were introduced; but, for a long time, none
were so popular as that of Pope Gregory. The other
66 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
musical signs and notes were most difficult to under-
stand, and an ancient writer, speaking of them, said,
"These irregular signs must be productive of more
error than science, as they are often so carelessly and
promiscuously placed that, while one was singing a
semitone or a fourth, another would sing a third or
a fifth." About the year 1022, Guido Aretinus, a
Benedictine monk at Arezzo in Tuscany, who was
employed in correcting the ecclesiastical chants, com-
posed a scale conformable to the Greek system, adding
a few notes to it above and below. Discovering
afterwards that the first syllable of each hemistich in
the hymn to St. John the Baptist formed a regular
series of six sounds ascending Ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la he
placed at the sides of each of these syllables one of the
first seven letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D, E, F, G;
and because he accompanied the note which he added
below the ancient system with the letter gamma, the
new scale was called gamut, by which name it is still
known. The hymn which supplied the syllables ut, re,
mi, &c., was used at church, and begins
Ut queant laxis resonare fibris,
Mira gestorum/flmuri tuorum,
Solve polluti /flbii reatum,
Sancti Johannis!
Guido was not only the inventor of this celebrated
gamut, but is also generally considered to have been
THE HISTORY OF MUSIC. 67
the inventor of counterpoint as well as of the organ
keyboard, which was afterwards introduced into the
clavichord and other instruments of the pianoforte
class.
In the year 1055 Magister Franco, of Cologne, made
his important invention of the musical time-table. This
was of very great value; for time, in music, can im-
part meaning and energy to the repetition of the same
note. For nearly two centuries after Guide's arrange-
ment of the scale, and Franco's invention of the time-
table, no remains of secular music can be discovered,
except those of the Troubadours.
In the thirteenth century melody seems to have been
little more than plain-song or chanting. The notes
were square, and written on four lines only, in the
C clef, and it was not until the end of the reign of
St. Louis (in 1269) that the fifth line was added to the
stave.
Music then made rapid progress, although principally
in the Church, until the sixteenth century, when madri-
gals and fantasias were introduced in Italy.
The three modern schools of music the German,
Italian, and French have originated those great
musical forms, the sonata, the symphony, and the
opera. The present German school was founded and
built up by Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart. Beethoven,
68 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Wagner and Brahms, who gave an entirely new,
intellectual, and really artistic character to music, by
employing in their compositions subjects appropriate
to the character intended in the particular piece, and
by treating the different elements of musical pleasure
in a methodical and artistic manner. These composers
have raised the German school far above the two
others; for not only have they produced sonatas and
symphonies which are at present unapproachable, but
in opera and oratorio also their masterpieces reign
supreme, the light and pretty music of the Italian
and French schools being immeasurably below this
standard of excellence.
That the English have no school of music, properly
so called, appears extraordinary when it is considered
that in the peculiarly English ballads and glees there
are such excellent materials to commence with. Our
composers seem content to imitate the German, and
occasionally the French and Italian schools; still, it
is to be hoped that the time is not far distant when
England will boast a school of music that may be
properly claimed as her own.
CHAPTER V.
STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OF THE ANCIENTS.
SEVERAL instruments of the ancients have been men-
tioned to which the pianoforte owes its origin. In
sketching the birth and development of this instrument
it will be necessary to give some short description of
these its ancestors. Much light has been thrown on
the subject by various interesting researches and
discoveries made in the present century ; for not only
have we learned much of ancient musical instruments
from the sculptures and paintings that have been dis-
covered, but several of the instruments themselves
have been found in tombs or other protected places,
where they had remained silent beside their buried
masters an extraordinarily long time, almost without
change. One an Egyptian harp was found in an
ancient tomb at Thebes, and when the catgut strings
upon it were touched the harp still emitted sounds,
although it had been unused probably for three thousand
F
70 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE,
years. In describing these ancient instruments it will
be necessary to name those only from which the piano-
forte has immediately descended.
Amongst ancient stringed instruments,! the harp and
lyre are probably of the greatest antiquity, but which
of these can claim priority of invention it is impossible
to discover with certainty. The harps, which were
much used in ancient Egypt and Assyria, varied greatly
in size and shape, as will be seen from the illustrations
of Egyptian harps, Fig. 14, p. 71.
Those made for single use were portable and light,
while those for choral accompaniments were large and
powerful, being evidently intended to stand on the
ground. Carl Engel, in " The Music of the Most
Ancient Nations," remarks that "the Asiatic harps
never had a front pillar to assist in withstanding the
tension on the strings, as we have in our own ; but
probably metal or ivory was used in the manufacture,
to permit of the strings being screwed up very tightly."
The harp of the Burmese and other inhabitants of the
countries situated between Hindoostan and China is
very similar to the Assyrian. The Burmese harp is
tuned by tasselled cords at the end of the strings,
which are bound to the upper curved end so that they
can be pushed up or down in tuning the instrument.
This is similar to the manner occasionally adopted by
F 2
STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 73
the ancients ; but their usual system of tuning seems
to have been by tuning-pegs, round which the strings
were passed.
The Egyptian harps were sometimes most remarkable
for elegance of form and elaborate decoration. The
celebrated traveller James Bruce found two, painted in
fresco, on the wall of an ancient sepulchre at Thebes,
which is supposed to be that of Rameses III., who
reigned about 1250 B.C. Dr. Burney, in his "History
of Music," published Bruce's letter to him, accompanied
by drawings of one of these harps.
The discovery of these drawings created a great
sensation, and was hardly believed until confirmed
by other travellers. Bruce, with much truth, says,
"These harps, in my opinion, overturn all the accounts
hitherto given of the earliest state of ancient musical
instruments in the East, and are altogether, in their
form, ornament, and compass, an incontestable proof
that geometry, drawing, mechanics, and music were
at the greatest perfection when this instrument was
made, and that the period from which we date the
invention of these arts was only the beginning of the
era of their restoration. . . . One of these harps has
thirteen strings, but wants the fore-piece of the frame
opposite to the longest string. The back part is the
sounding-board, composed of four thin pieces of wood
74 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
joined together in form of a cone that is, growing wider
towards the bottom ; so that as the length of the string
increases, the square of the corresponding space in the
sounding-board, in which the sound was to undulate,
always increases in proportion. The whole of the prin-
ciples on which this harp are constructed are rational
and ingenious, and the ornamental parts are executed
in the very best manner. It would be impossible even
now either to construct or to finish a harp of any form
with more taste or elegance." But harps of this de-
scription, 'having no front pillar, could not be heavily
strung, nor would they stand well in tune.
The lyre, which is perhaps even more than the harp
the immediate ancestor of the pianoforte, was much
used in Egypt and Assyria, especially for religious
festivities. The illustrations on p. 75; Fig. 15, will
convey some idea of the shape of these ancient lyres,
and the manner in which they were played.
The drawings of the first two Assyrian lyres are from
sculptures found at Konyunjik, and now in the British
Museum; the third is taken from Botta's " Nineve."
It will be noticed that the lyres were of many different
shapes, and that the strings being partly carried, as in
the pianoforte, over the sounding-board, were not free
to be struck upon both sides throughout their entire
length by the plectra or by the fingers of the performer.
STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 77
This is the distinction between the harp and the lyre,
for the harp can be played the whole length of the
strings upon both sides, as the sounding-board is dif-
ferently placed. Both instruments were played with the
ringers, and the lyre with the plectrum also, which was
generally a small piece of ivory or bone, (as in illustra-
tion i, on p. 75,) pressed by the player against the
strings, and snapping them as though they were pulled
by the finger. The Irish, however, with their usual
originality, allowed their finger-nails to grow so long
that they were enabled to employ them as natural
plectra.
The plectra were sometimes short wands or sticks,
similar to that used by the player on the dulcimer in
illustration 16, p. 79, and in the representation of the
Assyrian dulcimer in Fig. 15, p. 75. They were held
one in each hand, and were used for striking the strings
of the instrument played upon, so as o set them in
vibration. The first kind of plectrum suggested the
crow-quill that snapped the strings in the spinet and
harpsichord ; the second probably gave the idea of the
hammer for striking. the strings in the pianoforte, as the
plectrum of wood was after some time covered on one
side with leather, so that the performer could play
softly by striking the strings with the part covered with
leather or loudly by using the wooden side. This was
78 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
succeeded by the dulcimer hammers, from which those
of the pianoforte are evidently borrowed.
The Egyptian as well as the Assyrian lyres varied
greatly in shape and number of strings. Two of these
instruments, one in the Leyden Museum and the other
in the Berlin Museum, are still in a remarkably perfect
state of preservation. They are made entirely of wood,
and, as in the Assyrian lyres, the frames are longer on
one side than on the other, for the purpose of tuning the
strings by sliding them up to sharpen, or down to flatten
them. The lyre was a very favourite instrument with
the Greeks, and was probably imported by them from
Egypt through Asia Minor.
Perhaps the dulcimer, even more than the harp and
lyre, was the immediate ancestor of the pianoforte. It
was played with the plectrum for striking, both by the
Egyptians and Assyrians, and, later, by the Hebrews
and Persians, The strings in this instrument passed
completely over the sounding-board, and were of vary-
ing lengths. The Assyrian dulcimer is represented
in Fig. 15, p. 75, and in the illustration Fig. 16,
p. 79, which are taken from a bas-relief in the
British Museum, representing a procession greeting
the conquerors after the victory of Sardanapalus over
the Susians.
The first figure in illustration Fig. 15, p. 75, is
STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 8l
playing the Assyrian harp ; the second, has the double
pipe or flute ; and the third is the performer on the
dulcimer. In his right hand the plectrum is held firmly,
and is about to strike the strings. From the manner in
which the strings run in this dulcimer, it is evident that
they must have passed over a bridge before they took a
vertical direction, but this has been very imperfectly
represented. The dulcimer was generally fastened round
the waist or shoulder of the performer by a strap, for
convenience in playing whilst marching. As the strings
run out in a straight line from the player in the same
manner as in the grand piano, instead of across, as in
the modern dulcimer, the player must have struck the
string sideways with the plectrum, probably twanging
an accompaniment upon the strings with his left hand.
The dulcimer has been a favourite instrument for ages,
and is still used in the East, especially by the Arabs
and Persians, under the name of the kanoon, in which
the lamb's-gut strings are twanged with two small
plectra, one of which is attached to the forefinger of
each hand. On the Continent, too, the dulcimer is
often met with at the rural fetes, under the name of the
Hackbrett (i.e., chopping-board), which it resembles in
shape. It is a square box about four feet in length and
eighteen inches in breadth, containing the sounding-
board and three octaves of strings, two or three to each
82 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE,
note, tuned in unison. The player holds a short stick in
either hand, with round knobs at the end, one side of
which is covered with soft leather or felt, for use in
piano passages. The sound is pleasing when played
piano, but as there are no dampers like those used in
the pianoforte, and as the hand can only be used
occasionally instead of them, the forte passages are
very confused.
Besides the instruments mentioned, the Egyptians
and Assyrians had one bearing a close resemblance to
the tamboura in common use upon the shores of the
Euphrates and Tigris, which has wire strings passing
over the sounding-board of a lute-shaped instrument,
and is usually played with a plectrum of tortoise-shell,
or of an eagle or vulture quill. The neck and finger-
board in this instrument are remarkably long and
straight, being formed of a single straight bar. Some
elegant specimens of the tamboura were sent to the
International Exhibition of 1862 from Turkey. This
will probably explain the Assyrian instrument accurately,
although the only two specimens discovered are so
much defaced as to render description and comparison
difficult and uncertain. There is also a representation
of an Egyptian musical instrument resembling the
tamboura on the Guglia Rotta at Rome, which has the
neck, keyboard, and body well marked. This instru-
STRINGED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 83
ment alone would prove that the effeminate Egyptians
and the sturdy Assyrians had made considerable advance
in music at a very early age, for it shows that they
knew how to produce a greater number of notes upon a
few strings, by means of the finger-board, than could be
obtained from their harps. There are also two or three
drawings (which will be found in Fig. 16, p. 79) of
this instrument in the British Museum, in which the
finger-board is clearly shown, especially one on a beauti-
fully modelled and well-preserved vase in terra-cotta,
which Dr. Birch describes as " probably the oldest of all
Egyptian pottery."
Besides these stringed instruments the ancients had
a three-sided harp, or, rather, a harp of two sides with
the last string appearing to form a third, which was
called the trigonon, in addition to several other shapes
of the harp and lyre, which are represented in the illus-
trations, Fig. 14, p. 71.
It is unnecessary to describe these successive modifi-
cations, as they were principally changes in shape
only, were comparatively slight, and have little bearing
upon the History of the Pianoforte. But it is interest-
ing to notice that the systrum, a little metal instru-
ment about eight inches in length, had thick metal
strings passing through it, which produced a sharp ring-
ing sound when shaken in the hand of the performer.
CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS WITH THE PIANOFORTE KEYBOARD
-THE CLAVICYTHERIUM, CLAVICHORD, VIRGINAL, SPINET,
HARPSICHORD, ETC.
IT is worthy of notice how directly every musical in-
strument that has been considered peculiarly European
appears to have been derived from the ancient Asiatic
instruments. The only exception to this, perhaps, is
the pianoforte, which, although merely a development
of the dulcimer, played with leather-covered plectra,
is converted into a new, although not original, instru-
ment, by the addition of the finger-keys and action.
This development of the lyre and dulcimer into the
pianoforte, by the introduction of finger-keys, for raising
many plectra at the same time, is of quite recent date,
unless there were ancient instruments of a different
class to those already discovered. It seems almost
incredible that two thousand years should have elapsed
before so natural an improvement was introduced, and
yet such appears to be the fact. The first keyed
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 85
instrument was the tamboura, but the first with finger-
keys was the organ, to which, it is said, Guido applied
them. These keys were like the pedals now used in
organs, but with divisions only of tones, as the semi-
tones were not used until about the year 950, when
they were introduced in Venice, at which place
Bernhard, a German, first made organ-pedals, or
foot-keys, in 1470. Although Guido is generally
considered to have been the inventor, the date of the
introduction of finger-keys cannot be ascertained with
certainty, for the earliest reliable mention of them is
in 757 A.D., when Constantine V. sent an organ having
finger-keys to Pepin, King of France, with other
valuable presents. These keys were at first very
similar to the carillons of the Netherlands, being four
or five inches in width, and being struck with the
clenched fist.
The next instrument with finger-keys was probably
the clavicytherium, or clavitherum, as it is sometimes
termed, which was introduced about the year 1300
by the Italians, and soon imitated in Belgium and
Germany. The introduction of this instrument was
probably due to the want felt by composers of some
instrument which would give, however imperfectly, the
effect of an orchestra. A kind of harp or lyre, of an
oblong shape, with catgut strings arranged in the
G
86 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
form of a half-triangle, was therefore introduced, in
which the organ-keys were employed to raise the hard
leather plectra for snapping the strings. It was at
first in an upright position, and Sir John Hawkins
says that it was brought out as a new invention long-
afterwards under the name of the "upright harpsi-
chord." Subsequently this clavicytherium, or keyed
cithara, was placed upon supports in a horizontal
position.
Another instrument, deriving its name from employ-
ing the key (clavis), was the clavichord, which was in
use before, or at the same time as, the clavicytherium,
from which it differed, however, both in construc-
tion and in the manner of producing the tone, the
strings being of wire, and set in motion by striking
and pressing instead of the twanging of the leather
plectrum. This striking upon the string was effected
by a piece of brass in the shape of a wedge, termed
the tangent, which was placed at the end of the key,
farthest from the player, in an upright position, just
under the part of the string it was to strike.
It will be seen by the drawing of the clavichord
mechanism (Fig. 17, p. 87) that after the key had
been pressed down and the brass wedge had struck
the string, it still pressed up against it as long as
the finger held the key down, raising the string up
FIG. 17.
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 89
at that point. Thus dividing it, this tangent formed
a second bridge over which the string passed. To
prevent the string vibrating on both sides of this
bridge, the .shorter length had either a small piece of
cloth for a damper, or else a strip of list, drawn over
and under each string, which stopped the vibration of
the whole length directly the finger was raised from
the key. At first two notes were produced from the
same string by these tangents striking and stopping
the string as a violin-player's finger stops the note in
different parts, producing varying lengths. It is worthy
of notice that such a player as the great Sebastian
Bach preferred an instrument with so feeble a tone to
any other for private practice; but most excellent
effects could be produced from it by an expert per-
former with a light touch. The staccato passages
could be well rendered, and by pressing down the key
after the blow had been struck the tangent could be
made to still further raise the string, and by thus
slightly sharpening the pitch of the note give greater
prominence to the melody. It was therefore much
more capable of expressing the composer's ideas than
the early pianofortes and harpsichords. Forkel says
that the great Sebastian Bach delighted in this instru-
ment, as he considered it the best for study, and, in
general, for private musical entertainment. He found
90 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
it the most convenient for the expression of his
thoughts, and he did not consider it possible to produce
such a variety in the gradations of tone from any
harpsichord or piano as from the clavichord, although
its tone was extremely weak.
The clavicymbalum differed from the clavicytherium,
the strings being disposed after the fashion of the harp.
These strings were of steel instead of brass wire, and
were sounded by quill plectra.
The manichord by which name the clavichord was
often called was an instrument of great antiquity. At
first the monochord, as the name implies, had but one
string, which was about five feet in length, fitted up with
a finger-board and bridge, and was played upon, like a
double bass, with a bow ; but in the eleventh century
many strings had been added to it.
Although the clavichord was most probably introduced
long previously in England, the first mention of it is in
the year 1500, when William Cornish " composed in
the Fleete" "A Treatise between Trouth and Infor-
macion," in which the following passage occurs :
The clavicorde hath a tunely knyde,
As the wyre is wrested high and low :
The songe of himself yet neuer the les
Is true and tunable, and sing it as it is.
After this, we find frequent mention of the instrument.
Amongst the privy-purse expenses of Elizabeth of York,
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. gi
queen of Henry VII., the following is entered, dated
August, 1502 : " Item. The same day, Hugh Denys,
for money by him delivered to a stranger that gave the
queen a payre of clavycordes. In crowns for his reward
iiijli."
The reward was four times greater than the estimated
value of the gift, so that this royal mark of approval and
appreciation of the maker's generosity, whose name un-
fortunately is not mentioned, is highly to the honour of
the queen.
These are the earliest references to the clavichord
in England, but the following extract from Caxton's
translation of ' The Knyght of the Toure," which was
printed in 1484, proves that it had previously to that
time been in common use among the early French
minstrels: "A young man cam to a feste where were
many lordes, ladyes, and demoysels, and arrayed as
they wold have sette them to dinner, and had on him
a coote hardye after the manner of Almayne. . . . Sir
Gregory called hym before hym, and demanded hym
where his vyills or clavycordes were. . . . The yonge
man answered, ' Syre, I can not meddle therewith.'
Sayd the knight, ' I can not believe it, for ye be
counterfaytted and clothed like a minstrell."'
The clavichord-makers held in greatest repute were
Wilhelme, of Cassel, and Venesky and Horn, of Dresden.
93 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
The instrument which gradually superseded the
clavichord in England was the virginal. It was an
improvement upon the clavicytherium, to which it was
very similar, brass wire being substituted for the catgut
strings. The plectrum of hard leather was replaced by
a piece of raven or crow quill, attached to a small block
centred in a piece of wood called the jack, which rose
vertically from the end of the finger-key farthest from
the player. When the key was pressed down, the jack
moved upwards, forcing the quill past the string, which
it thus set in vibration. The quill then remained above
the string as long as the ringer held the key down,
allowing the string to vibrate freely, but directly the
finger was removed from the key the quill fell on the
string, and being on a centre the jack returned to its
place, when a small piece of cloth fixed in the top of
the jack stopped the vibrations of the string.
The touch of the virginal was extremely sensitive.
It was impossible to press down a key, when the in-
strument was in order, without the note sounding. If,
however, the key was struck a sharp blow, no greater
power could be obtained than by the lightest pressure.
Fetis, in speaking of the virginal and the spinet, which
was similar to it except in shape, says, " When the
defects inherent in the construction of the clavichord
were discovered, a plan was adopted of striking the
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 93
strings with small pieces of quill affixed to minute
springs adjusted in the upper part of small, flat pieces
of wood termed jacks. . . . This new invention was
applied to two instruments which differed only in form.
The one was the virginal, the other the spinet, which
had the form of a harp laid in a horizontal position."
The compass of these instruments was four octaves,
from second added line below the bass to second added
line above the treble. Their tone is well described by
Dr. Burney as " a scratch with a sound at the end of
it." The motion of the keys and jacks in this instru-
ment was the cause of the well-known sarcasm of Lord
Oxford, which is thus described by Isaac Reed :
" When Queen Elizabeth was playing on the virginals,
Lord Oxford, remarking the motion of the keys, said in
a covert allusion to Raleigh's favour at court, and the
execution of the Earl of Essex, ' When jacks start up,
heads go down.' " The virginal was a very favourite
instrument of Queen Elizabeth, and is sometimes
thought to have been named after that virgin queen ;
but this is evidently a mistake, as her sister Mary and
King Henry VIII. were both performers upon this in-
strument. The name virginal is therefore either derived,
as Dr. Johnson considers, from its being principally cul-
tivated by young ladies, or else from its being greatly
used in convents, in accompanying hymns to the Virgin.
94 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
The proficiency of King Henry VIII. and his daugh-
ters as players is well attested. Queen Elizabeth
must, indeed, have performed music that would be
considered exceedingly difficult even now, if she really
played the pieces that are in her virginal music-book,
which is still preserved. Sir James Melvil, in his
" Memoirs," gives an amusing account of a curious
conversation which he had with Queen Elizabeth, to
whom he had been sent on an embassy by Mary, Queen
of Scots, in 1564. After her Majesty had asked how
his queen dressed 'which of the two sovereigns dressed
the better, which of the two was the fairer, and so forth,
she inquired, on learning that Queen Mary sometimes
recreated herself in playing upon the lute and virginal,
if she played well, and was answered, ' Reasonably,
for a queen.' " "The same day, after dinner, my
Lord of Hunsdean drew me up to a quiet gallery that
I might hear some music (but he said he durst not
own it), where I might hear the queen play upon
the virginals. ... I ventured within the chamber,
and stood a pretty pace, hearing her play excellently
well ; but she left off immediately as soon as she turned
her about and saw me. She appeared to be surprised
to see me, and came forward seeming to strike me with
her hand, alleging that she was not used to play before
men, but when she was solitary, to shun melancholy."
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 95
One of Queen Elizabeth's virginals is still in existence
at Worcestershire. At the sale of Lord Spencer's effects
at Chichester it was described as having a "case of
cedar covered with crimson Genoa velvet, the inside of
the case lined with strong yellow silk." It is light and
portable, being only twenty-four pounds in weight, five
feet in length, sixteen inches wide, and seven inches
deep. The front is covered entirely with gold. There
are fifty keys, with jacks and quills, thirty of them ebony
tipped with gold, and the semitone keys (twenty in
number) are inlaid with silver, ivory, and different
kinds of wood, each key consisting of about 250 pieces.
The paintings of the royal arms and the ornamentation
give it a most beautiful appearance.
The English spinet was similar to the virginal except
in its shape, which was nearly that of the harp laid
horizontally, supposing the clavier or keyboard to be
placed on the outside of the trunk or sounding-board.
Amongst the excellent specimens of spinets in the
interesting collection of old musical instruments at
the South Kensington Museum is one probably made
by Annibale dei Rossi, of Milan; compass, four octaves
and an eighth, from E. This instrument has the in-
scription upon it, "Anniballis de Roxis, Medeiolanensis,
MDLXXVIL," and is a most beautiful specimen, being
almost covered with precious stones, as even the keys
96 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
are profusely ornamented with them. An engraving
of this gorgeously ornamented spinet will be found in
Fig. 18, p. 97. Like the virginal, it had but one string
to each note, which was set in vibration by means of
the jack, with the raven or crow quill attached. When
a second string was added to each note to render the
instrument more powerful and capable of some slight
degree of expression, it was named the harpsichord, or
horizontal harp. The harpsichord was, in effect, a
double spinet, as two rows of quills were used. When
the performer wished to play softly, he was compelled
to take one hand off the keyboard to move a stop to
the right. A single string only was then twanged by the
quill, the second row of jacks and quills being moved by
the rail in which they were fixed so that, when raised
by the key, the quills passed between the strings with-
out setting them in vibration. If the player required
greater power he would move the stop to the left again,
causing the jacks to return to the proper position for
snapping both the strings belonging to each note.
Many rows of jacks, and in some instances an ad-
ditional set of keys, were afterwards added, and other
ingenious inventions were introduced into the harpsi-
chord, until this instrument became quite an intricate
piece of mechanism.
Handel's harpsichords had three or four strings to
CO
M
6
a .J
' u
o ^
u i-
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a ^
Eo
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 99
each note ; one of them had four strings, two tuned
in unison, the third an octave above, and a fourth
tuned an octave below the two unison strings and two
octaves below the highest. This was calculated to
produce some effect in the great composer's music ;
but it was with much difficulty kept in tune. A de-
s-cription of the instrument bequeathed by Handel to
his secretary, Smith (who wrote the music that Handel
composed and dictated), will explain many of the im-
provements introduced in the harpsichord. This
instrument (which was manufactured by the cele-
brated Hans Ruckers, of Antwerp, and is shown in
Fig. 19, p. 101), is six feet eight inches in length, three
feet in height from the ground, and three feet in width.
The case is the same shape as that of the modern grand
pianos, and is made of black japanned deal, with
painted ornaments inside the top and upon the
sounding-board. It has two rows of keys, the com-
pass of each of which is four octaves and seven-eighths,
G to F. The upper row of keys presses one quill only
against one of the strings. The lower row, by use of
the stops, can be made to raise quills to strike one or
two strings ; still further to increase the tone, a third
row with finer and shorter strings under the others,
with separate bridges, could be vibrated by another
row of quills. By the use of the stops, the player,
100 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
whilst pressing down a single key, could make two
strings sound in unison, and a third an octave above,
using the upper row of keys for playing the soft passages.
Handel's performance upon this instrument must
have been very fine, for, even when his loss of sight
compelled him to trust to his inventive powers in play-
ing, his embellishments of the vocal and orchestral
score at the Opera House, London, were so admirable
that the attention of the audience was frequently diverted
from the singing to the accompaniment. This marked
preference often greatly mortified the singers, one of
whom warned Handel that, if he ever played him
such a trick again, he would jump down upon his
instrument and put an end to the nuisance. Handel
was excessively amused at this outburst, and, with his
usual dry humour, said, " You vill jump, vill you ? Very
veil, sare ; be so kind and tell me ven you vill jump,
and I vill advertishe it in de bills." The attention of his
audience was still gained by Handel, but it need scarcely
be added that the threatened onslaught was not at-
tempted. The effect of Handel's performance upon the
harpsichord was not, however, due to the instrument ;
for such a composer and player would have made any
instrument attractive. At a country church Handel
played so splendidly upon a very ordinary organ that
the congregation, instead of being "played out,"
H
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 103
remained fixed in admiration, quite calling for the
organist's impatient remark, " You can't play them
out." He then showed Handel the way, by playing a
few chords in the ordinary manner, and these speedily
operated upon the people, the church being quickly
cleared. Handel's favourite harpsichord-maker was
Hans Ruckers, who in 1585 was the inventor of the
third string tuned to the octave, and who extended the
compass to nearly five octaves. Besides Ruckers and
his family, the principal harpsichord-makers were
Geronimo, of Florence, Coushetti and Tabel.
Merlin changed the octave stop to a third unison about
the year 1770, which rendered the instrument equally
powerful and less likely to get out of tune, the octave
stop being affected by the least change of temperature.
The quill flectra of the harpsichord so quickly wore out
that various substitutes were tried, as the process of
quilling took many hours ; but neither leather, tortoise-
shell, ivory, nor any of the substances used, were found
to answer as well as the crow-quill.
It is strange to notice how old inventions, when
revived, supersede improvements, or supposed improve-
ments, that had before superseded them. Farini, a
celebrated harpsichord-maker, revived a species of clavi-
cytherium, which was imitated by so many German
makers that the catgut-stringed instruments threatened
H 2,
104 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
to take the place of those with steel and brass wire,
while the upright clavichord was revived in a modified
shape as a new invention by Rigolo, of Florence, in
1625, under the name of the upright harpsichord.
This shape was again introduced nearly two hundred
years afterwards, under the name of the upright
piano, as a novelty, and has almost superseded the
grand in France and England.
M. Fetis, in his " Sketch of the History of the Piano-
forte," refers to the numberless attempts to make the
harpsichord capable of expression in playing. He says,
" Harpsichords were constructed with more than
twenty different modifications to imitate the sound
of the harp, the lute, the mandoline, the bassoon,
flageolet, oboe, violin, and other instruments. In order
to produce these different effects new rows of jacks
were added, which were furnished with materials of the
softest kind and most conducive to expression ; and
yet, with all the complications of stops, springs, extra
rows of keys, and Venetian swells over the strings, the
grand secret the real shading of the piano and for te
were still wanting. Nothing better was devised for
augmenting or diminishing the sound than to put in
motion different rows of jacks, so as to withdraw them
from or approximate them to the strings at pleasure."
Godfrey Silbermann, of Freiburg, made several im-
THE FIRST INSTRUMENTS, ETC. 105
provements in the harpsichord about the middle of the
eighteenth century, especially in the keyboard, which
he extended, and in the touch, which he lightened.
He also revived the clavichord in a slightly altered
form, thus taking a step towards producing the piano-
forte ; for in this instrument, the clavecin d' amour, the
strings were struck as in the old clavichord, but struck
and pressed up exactly in the middle of each string
by the brass wedge, which formed a middle bridge,
allowing the string to vibrate in the lengths behind and
in front of it. This was a step in the right direction,
although a step backwards ; but was not followed by
any other striking mechanism for some years.
Our best English makers were the Haywards and
John Hitchcock. After them, Keen, Slade, John
Harris, and Rutgerus Plenius, who invented the lyri-
chord in 1741. This instrument, which was intended
to imitate stringed bow instruments, was played upon
by means of a keyboard and a treadle, that turned a
circular bow used for vibrating the strings when pressed
near to it by the keys' mechanism. The invention has
lately been revived in a slightly modified form under
the name of the piano quatuor.
Tabel introduced some ingenious improvements ; but
one of his foremen, Burckhardt Tschudi, or Schudi,
acquired a still greater reputation. Another of his
106 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
workmen, Jacob Kirkman, also became a celebrated
manufacturer, and he was the means of restoring
the harpsichord to the favour that the guitar tempo-
rarily usurped. Burney, in "Rees' Cyclopaedia, " article
" Guitar," says that the common guitar was so much
in vogue among all ranks of people as nearly to ruin
the harpsichord and spinet manufacturers. Ladies
sold their harpsichords for a third of their cost, till
Kirkman, after spending nearly all his money in buying
up these instruments for better times, made a present
of a number of cheap guitars to girls in milliners'
shops and ballad-singers. He then sent them through
the streets singing to a few accompaniments that he
had taught them. In this manner he soon made the
ladies ashamed of their frivolous and vulgar taste.
The harpsichord, although so universal an instru-
ment, was gradually supplanted by the pianoforte. As
that instrument came into public favour, Moscheles,
when giving his Soirees Musicalcs in 1838, had veiy
great difficulty in rinding one upon which to perform
some of the lessons of Scarlatti, Handel, and Bach.
CHAPTER VII.
THE INVENTION AND PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE.
THE harpsichord and other instruments of the same
class were extremely inefficient substitutes for the
orchestra ; as no improvements introduced in them
could produce the same varieties of expression. It
was reserved for the "orchestra of the drawing-room,"
the pianoforte, to accomplish this more fully.
The development of the pianoforte was particu-
larly slow. Thousands of years elapsed before the
dulcimer and harp were converted into the pianoforte
by the addition of finger-keys that could raise many
plectra together for the purpose of striking chords.
The harpsichord-makers endeavoured to render their
productions suitable for orchestral compositions, but
when such players as Handel, Bach, Beethoven,
Haydn, and Mozart commenced using keyboard in-
struments, these miserable apologies for the orchestra
could not continue long in use; and when an instrument
108 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
was invented by which the light and shade required for
imitations of orchestral effects could be produced, it is
not surprising that the pianoforte, although at first
weak in tone and of short compass, should be almost
universally adopted by the great composers. "The
use," Thalberg says, " of this kind of instrument led
to the peculiar capabilities of the pianoforte being
thoroughly studied and appreciated; and the composers
repaid their obligations to the instrument by writing
for it many of the very finest productions of music, and
by practising the execution of these productions to such
an extent as to be able to bring them before the public
with the greatest possible eclat. The importance which
the instrument thus gained led from time to time to its
improvement and enlargement, and this again to still
fin^r compositions being produced for it, and to the
adaptation for the pianoforte of all the best orches-
tral compositions ; so that the advance of art and the
improvement of the piano have had a mutual effect
upon each other, until it is now beyond all question
the first of musical instruments both to the profession
and to the cultivated classes of society."
National vanity naturally causes the wish to possess
the greatest number of men of genius, so that no
sooner does anything really useful or novel appear,
than it is claimed by half-a-dozen nations or indi-
THE INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. IOQ
viduals. It is not surprising, therefore, that although
little more than a century and a half have elapsed since
the pianoforte was invented, the name of the actual
inventor is almost lost amid a crowd of claimants and
appropriators. In England the invention is claimed for
Father Wood, an English monk at Rome, who manu-
factured a pianoforte in 1711, and sold it to Samuel
Crisp, Esq., the author of " Virginia," from whom it
was purchased by Fulke Greville, Esq. This instru-
ment, being the first piano seen in England, produced
an immense sensation amongst musicians ; for it gave
skilful performers the opportunity of playing with
much greater expression than was possible with any
harpsichord or spinet. It was, however, defective in
its action, and rapid music could not be played upon it
with good effect ; but when such slow pieces as the
Dead March in " Saul " were performed, it was con-
sidered a marvel.
Although Father Wood's claim to the invention of
the piano is often stoutly maintained, the best authen-
ticated is that of the Italians, for in 1711 Bartolommeo
Cristofali, of Padua, had already manufactured three
pianos, which are thus described in the " Giornale de'
Litterati d' Italia " (Venice, 1711), by the celebrated
Scipione Maffei : "Signer Bartolommeo Cristofali, of
Padua, harpsichord-player of the most Serene Prince
110 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
of Tuscany, has already made three harpsichords, in
which the production of more or less sound depends
upon the force the player uses in pressing upon the
keys, by regulating which not only are the piano and
the forte heard, but also the degrees of tone, as in the
violoncello." After speaking of the opposition this
new invention met with, which he ascribes to musicians
condemning it without proper trial, Maffei proceeds :
" Instead of the jacks that produced sound by quills,
there is a little row of hammers that strike the string
from below, the tops of which are covered with leather.
Every hammer has the end inserted into a circular butt,
that renders it movable ; these butts are partially em-
bedded and strung together in a receiver. Near the
butt, and under the stem of the hammer, there is a
projecting part or support that, receiving the blow from
beneath, raises the hammer and causes it to strike the
string with whatever degree of force is given by the
hand of the performer ; hence the sound produced can
be greater or less, at the pleasure of the player." The
mechanism, which is then described, was ingenious,
and the damping was effected by under-dampers that
is, the dampers acted under the strings.
From Maffei's description it seems evident that
Cristofali was really the inventor of the pianoforte in
1710. He must have been a genius, for in every part of
THE INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. Ill
the piano, and the harpsichord also, he introduced some
improvement, in the case and sounding-board as well
as in the mechanism.
Although Cristofali's claim to the invention seems
perfectly clear it is still disputed. Fetis, the great
Belgian authority, claims for Marius, the French manu-
facturer, that he " submitted two instruments to the
examination of the Academic des Sciences, in the
month of February, 1716; "for in the " Recueil des
Instruments et des Machines approuves par 1'Academie
des Sciences " are found, under Nos. 172, 173, and 174,
engraved plans of three instruments, termed by Marius
" clavecins a maillet," with a description of the me-
chanism, which was very simple and imperfect, being
merely a piece of wood fastened into the end of each
key, which raised a hammer covered with sheepskin
over the striking part. In another action, however,
he approached nearer to the desired result.
That Cristofali's invention was five years at least
prior to Marius's, and that it is greatly superior, is
certain; but it is possible from the crudeness of the
mechanism made by Marius, that he had never heard
of or seen any of Cristofali's pianos, which did not gain
any great success.
The claimant advanced by the Germans, Cristoph
Gottlieb Schroter, deserves more than passing notice ;
112 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
for, although he cannot be considered the inventor
of the piano, his improvements upon Cristofali's in-
vention were very great. Schroter, the son of an or-
ganist, was born at Hohenstein, on the borders of
Bohemia, August 10, 1699, so that ne was on ty eleven
or twelve years old when Cristofali invented the piano.
When eighteen years of age, and a pupil at the
school of the Holy Cross, in Dresden, he constructed
a model of a pianoforte, which was afterwards ex-
hibited to the court at Dresden, and received the
approval of the Elector of Saxony ; but no reward was
given to the inventor and maker. " In 1717," he says,
" I constructed at Dresden, after much consideration,
the model of a new clavier, with hammers, upon which
one could play loudly or softly."
This invention of Schroter's was not, however, lost,
for Silbermann, of Strasbourg, Spaett, of Dresden, and
Stein, of Augsburg, copied it, but made Schroter no pay-
ment for using his invention without his consent.
Godfrey Silbermann manufactured many pianos upon
Schroter's system. After making two with great care,
he submitted them to Sebastian Bach for his approval ;
but this was not to be obtained easily, for, after trying
and examining them carefully, Bach praised the me-
chanism, but complained of the tone, which he said was
unequal and feeble, especially in the upper octaves,
THE INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 113
Although Silbermann was naturally chagrined at the
opinion given by the great composer, this was his
stepping-stone to fortune ; for he was so determined
to conquer the difficulty that, after many trials, he
succeeded in producing an instrument which Bach
declared was " without fault."
Forkel, in his " Life of Sebastian Bach," says that
Frederick the Great of Prussia, who was an excellent
flautist and musician, heard some of Silbermann's "forte-
pianos " (so called at first to denote the newly-acquired
power of playing loudly and softly). He was so greatly
pleased with them that, although they were fifteen in
number, he purchased the whole, placing them in
different apartments of his palace. He then invited
Bach, whose son, Charles Philip Emanuel, was in
his service, to the palace. When at last the invitation
was accepted, and Bach arrived at the lodgings of his
son, the king was at one of his private concerts, but
after he had seen Bach's name amongst the list of
strangers, he said, " Gentlemen, old Bach is come at
last." When he arrived in his travelling-dress the king
took him over the palace to try the "forte-pianos" he
had purchased, declaring the concert postponed. The
celebrated contrapuntist then spent the whole evening
with the king, who tested his musical powers most
severely. He at last gave the great composer a subject
114 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
on which to extemporise a fugue in six parts, but, as it
was unsuitable, Bach employed a subject of his own.
Although Bach preferred the clavichord for private
practice, he recommended the piano so strongly that
Silbermann was wonderfully successful, establishing
his reputation without a rival, and rapidly amassing a
considerable fortune.
Another imitator of Schrb'ter, John Andrew Stein, of
Augsburg, whose daughter was afterwards married to
Streicher, of Vienna, was a pupil of Silbermann's, and
was very successful as a pianoforte-maker. Mozart, in
one of his letters, dated October 17, 1777, says, " I
begin, in describing different pianos, with those of Stein.
Before meeting with them I thought those of Spaett
were the best ; now I give the preference to the first
mentioned, for his are better and more commodious than
the pianos of the Ratisbon manufacturer. In passages
that require vigorous play I can lift the finger or leave
it on the note, for the sound is not prolonged beyond
the instant in which it is heard ; it never shivers, nor
does it ever fail to sound, as in other pianos. It is true
Stein never lets a piano go under three hundred florins,
but one cannot sufficiently repay the trouble and zeal
he employs ; his instruments have one quality found in
them, and, above all, they have the escape movement,
without which it is almost impossible that a piano can
THE INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 115
render a well-articulated sound. The hammers fall
again as soon as they have touched the string, whether
the ringer be left on the key or not. When Stein has
finished a piano he plays all kinds of passages upon it,
and never quits it until it is capable of anything, for he
labours not for pecuniary interest, but for his love of
the art. He frequently says, ' Were I not myself a
passionate amateur in music, my patience would long
ago have failed me ; but I like an instrument that assists
the musician, and serves for a long time.' His pianos,
in fact, are very lasting." In explaining the manner of
construction, Mozart adds, " Stein warrants the solidity
of his sounding-boards. When he has completed one,
he exposes it to the air, rain, sun, and snow in a word,
to every atmosphere that it may split ; then, by means
of slips firmly glued in, he closes the crevices. When a
sounding-board has been thus prepared it may be re-
garded as safe against all accidents." Mozart, at some
length, then praises Stem's pedals, which were pressed
by the knees, and were used instead of the usual harp-
sichord stops, which compelled the player to raise his
hands from the keyboard.
The extracts given from Mozart's letter convey an
accurate idea of the perfection at which the makers and
musical professors considered the pianoforte had arrived,
and a general idea of the instruments themselves, which
Il6 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE,
were in the shape of the square and grand, with very
little power of tone and only five octaves of compass.
The escape action mentioned was that invented by
Schroter, whose plans had been copied by several
makers.
Schroter was the organist at Nordhausen, and in 1763
protected some further inventions by patenting them.
Five years afterwards he published a description of
these improvements, with which, he said, "the per-
former can play piano or forte at pleasure." Hence he is
often considered the inventor of the name pianoforte, if
not of the instrument itself; but even this is contra-
dicted by the record of the purchase of fifteen "forte-
pianos" twenty years previously by Frederick the
Great, while the name itself, by which the instruments
were expressly mentioned, implies that the piano was of
Italian origin. Schroter was so successful a manufac-
turer, that he speedily realised a large fortune ; but he
retained his organist's place at Nordhausen until his
death in 1782. In contrast to Schroter's success, it
is recorded that the first pianoforte-makers, Cristofali
and Marius, derived no material benefit from their
inventions.
CHAPTER VIII.
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE FROM ITS INTRODUCTION INTO
ENGLAND.
ALTHOUGH the pianoforte had been rising rapidly in
public favour on the Continent, almost the only piano-
fortes in England were those made by a celebrated
harpsichord manufacturer, Plenius, the inventor of the
lyrichord. Having copied the crude instrument made
by Father Wood in 1711, he attempted the manufacture
of pianos, but with little success, as the harpsichords
were generally preferred. There seemed, indeed, to be a
universal desire to return to the harpsichord, to which
the piano was for a longtime inferior in many respects.
Even King Frederick of Prussia seemed to have partly
considered the harpsichord superior, for, in 1765, he
ordered one of the best harpsichords that the great
London maker, Burckhardt Tschudi, could produce.
This is not altogether to be wondered at, as the harpsi-
chord had for a long time been manufactured very
i
Il8 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
extensively, so that numerous improvements had been
introduced in it, bringing it to the greatest perfec
tion of which it was capable; whilst the pianoforte,
being a comparatively new invention, and not manu-
factured in such large numbers, was in its infancy.
The event which seems partly to have turned the tide
of public opinion in England was the arrival of twelve
working pianoforte-makers in 1760, who came over in
search of employment. They were familiarly known as
the " twelve apostles," as they succeeded in converting
the English partiality for the harpsichord into love for
the pianoforte. All the pianofortes made in England
were in the shape of grands, until Zumpe, a German,
commenced making small square instruments in 1760.
This application of the virginal form to the pianoforte is
claimed by Fetisfor Frederici,of Gera, an organ-builder,
who made square pianos in 1758, two years before
Zumpe. The tone of Zumpe's pianos was sweet, and
the touch was good; and as these excellent qualities
were combined with low prices, convenience of shape,
and power of expression in playing, his instruments
suddenly grew into such favour that Zumpe was unable
to supply the demand for them in England and France.
An authority of the time says that in nearly every house
throughout the kingdom the older stringed instruments
were replaced by these pianos. Zumpe was one of the
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC.
successful pianoforte-makers, and he realised a large
fortune before retiring from business. Many anecdotes
are told of his cheerful glass and well-filled pipe, without
which, in those days, a German did not acknowledge
that he lived.
Backers, a harpsichord-maker of the second rank,
had constructed several pianos before Zumpe, but his
success was not great ; for, although he improved the
mechanism, his instruments lost the spirit of the
harpsichord, and gained nothing in sweetness of tone.
In 1763 John Christian Bach, an excellent organist,
pianist, and composer, one of the sons of the great
Sebastian Bach, gave a series of concerts in conjunction
with Abel, at which he introduced the pianoforte, play-
ing the compositions of the best German masters upon
it. This use^ of the instrument for public performance
brought it into such favour that England was soon in-
vaded by a fresh band of German manufacturers, and
the harpsichord-makers also commenced manufacturing
pianofortes. Musicians perceived the superiority of the
pianoforte over the harpsichord, writing many of their
best pieces expressly for it, and Haydn alone composed
sixty pianoforte sonatas. The instrument upon which
Gluck composed his celebrated " Armida " and other
works was made by Johannes Pohlmann in 1772, and
was exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1862.
i 2
120 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Accepting it as a fair specimen of the pianos of
that period, some slight description may, be of interest.
It is a square piano ; the length is four feet and a
half, and the width two feet, with a small square
sounding-board at the end. The strings are little more
than threads ; so thin, indeed, that a moderately hard
blow would break them ; but as the action is very
imperfect, and the hammers are merely a few thick-
nesses of leather glued over the heads of the horizontal
levers working on hinges, these strings were sufficiently
thick to bear the weak blows that were struck upon
them. It is difficult to conceive how such players as
Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart could have used an
instrument which seems so utterly useless and insig-
nificant when compared with the fine pianos of the
present time; but the necessity of the composer to have
some imitation of orchestral effects immediately at his
command was doubtless the reason for its success.
Pianofortes were not used in private only; for besides
the notices of Bach's performance, there is a playbill
still in existence from which the following extract is
taken :
For the benefit of Miss Brickler, i6th May, 1767.
=" * A the end of the first act Miss Brickler will sing a
favourite song from "Judith," accompanied by Mr. Dibdin on a
new instrument called the pianoforte.
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC. 121
Some writers upon music have mentioned Mason, the
favourite poet, as the inventor of the pianoforte. This
is a mistake, although Mason introduced several im-
portant improvements. The writer of the article " Piano-
forte," in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," published in
1810, says, " The piano has been called a national
instrument, because it is said to have been of English
contrivance, the invention of the celebrated poet Mason."
Mention of Mason would hardly have been necessary
had not several learned foreign writers upon musical
instruments supposed that the English founded their
claim to the invention of the piano upon Mason's
improvements.
These and other improvements assisted in rendering
the pianoforte very popular as a concert instrument, to
judge by the announcements still extant. One of
these mentions that Michael Arne would preside at
the pianoforte in the orchestra during the performance
of "Lionel and Clarissa" at the Dublin Theatre.
In the year 1751, John Broadwood, a young Scotch
carpenter and joiner, about twenty years of age, arrived
in London, and succeeded in obtaining a situation in
the employ of Tschudi, where he rapidly rose into
favour with Mr. and Miss Tschudi. Like the pro-
verbially good apprentice, he married his master's
daughter, and became his partner and successor.
122 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
In 1776, Becker, or Backers, assisted by John Broad-
wood and another workman in the employment of
Tschudi Robert Stodart after many experiments,
succeeded in producing the grand action which was
used by Stodart until the time of the dissolution of the
celebrated firm founded by him. This mechanism has
been used by the firm of John Broadwood and Sons,
with slight modifications, until the present time. The
first mention of a grand pianoforte made with this
action is found in the books of Tschudi and Company,
under date 1781.
Another celebrated manufacturer, Sebastian Erard
(or Erhadt, rather), is well worthy of notice. He was
the eldest of the four children of an upholsterer in
Strasbourg, and was born April 5, 1752. When eight
years of age he commenced the study of architecture,
perspective, linear design, and practical geometry, at
the schools of his native city; and to this Erard
ascribes his success. His early acquaintance with
drawing and the principles of mechanics was un-
doubtedly of great service to him.
When only sixteen years of age, Sebastian Erard
found himself the head of his family, for his father,
having married when advanced in years, died whilst
his children were all quite young. The lad then
courageously set off for Paris, as he fancied that there
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC. 123
he would have a greater chance of success than in Stras-
bourg. By his talent and perseverance he became the
chief workman of a harpsichord-maker, but was at last
discharged, as he was "too inquisitive, and wanted to
know too much." Another maker, being unable to
execute an order he had received, sought out young
Erard and gave it to him, reserving the right of
affixing his own name as maker. When the order
was completed, the supposed maker, not being able
to explain the mechanism, was compelled to refer to
Erard for explanation. This fact, and Erard's other
harpsichord improvements, being extensively circulated
in Paris in the musical world, so greatly increased his
reputation that the Duchess of Villeroi heard of him,
and engaged him to execute some inventions the plans
of which she had herself designed. When twenty years
of age, Sebastian Erard manufactured his first piano, in
imitation of the English instrument, and this so greatly
increased his reputation that he received numerous
orders for similar instruments, sent for his brother,
Jean Batiste, and with him founded the house of Erard.
The Revolution drove him to England, where, in
1794, he patented some harp improvements. He re-
turned to Paris two years afterwards, when affairs were
quieter. In 1808 he patented his celebrated invention of
the double action in the harp. He died August 3, 1831.
124 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Another well-known maker, Ignace Pleyel, was born
in the year 1757, at Rupperstahl, near Vienna. He
was the twenty-fourth child of Martin Pleyel, a village
schoolmaster, and of a lady of noble birth, who was
disinherited by her parents on account of her imprudent
marriage. His mother died at his birth, and his father,
marrying again, had a second family of fourteen, and
died at the age of ninety-eight. A Hungarian noble-
man, Count Erloedy, perceiving the talents of Ignace
Pleyel, acted as his patron, paid all expenses of his
tuition under Haydn, and allowed him to visit Italy,
where he was introduced to the king. As chapel-
master of Strasbourg Cathedral, and composer of many
excellent works, Pleyel is honourably remembered. He
was, however, so persecuted by his political enemies
that he was compelled to leave Strasbourg and settle
in Paris in 1805, where he soon became celebrated as
a pianoforte-maker. In 1834, his son Camille and
Kalkbrenner, his partner, manufactured a thousand
instruments in the course of the year, and employed
two hundred and fifty workmen. This was considered
an enormous number, although it would certainly not
be thought so now.
These four, Broadwood, Stodart, Erard, and Pleyel,
were at this time the principal pianoforte-makers.
In 1774 Joseph Merlin tried to effect a compromise
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC. 125
between the harpsichord and the piano which had
nearly superseded it. He patented a compound harp-
sichord and piano, five octaves in compass, the two
instruments being played together or separately at will.
When one of the pedals was pressed by the foot, the
performer played upon one row of strings only; pressed
a degree lower, two were struck; pressed still lower,
the octave was sounded with them." This, the inven-
tor said, " produces the swell of the organ." Robert
Stodart patented a somewhat similar instrument three
years afterwards, but the pianoforte by itself was
preferred to these combinations.
John Broadwood's first patent, dated July 17, 1773,
states that it is " for his new-constructed pianoforte,
which is far superior to any instrument of the kind hitherto
made.'" It was principally for the position of the wrest -
pins and the shape of the hammers and dampers.
The first action of the pianoforte, properly so called,
was extremely defective when compared with that to
which we are now accustomed; it was, in fact, the
clavichord brass wire in the key, with a leather button
on the top, as in the second figure in illustration
No. 17, on p. 87. When the key was pressed down
the button struck the hammer against the string,
causing it to vibrate. This simple but imperfect action
was generally known by the name of " the old man's
126 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
head." At the extreme end of the key the sticker, or
mopstick, as it is termed, raised the damper at the same
moment that the hammer was impelled against the
string. The damper was a wooden lever, lying hori-
zontally over the strings, with a piece of cloth attached
to the free end. This action continued long in use,
even to the commencement of the present century.
The blow it gave upon the string was very weak, so
that the tone it produced greatly lacked power ; and it
had this serious defect that, unless the key was struck
with considerable force, the hammer did not reach quite
up to the wire, and consequently no sound was pro-
duced. If, to remedy this, the hammer quite reached
the string, with a strong blow it would block that is,
the hammer would remain against the string after the
blow had been struck, and thus stop its vibrations. To
remedy these defects several escapement actions were
invented, which raised the hammer so near to the
string that a slight blow caused it to strike, and the
hopper escaped or slipped from under the hammer,
allowing it to fall away from the string, as in fig. 3,
illustration No. 17, p. 87. All these actions, however,
had one serious defect. After the hopper had raised
the hammer and had "escaped," the hammer fell upon
it or else upon the hammer-rail, and after a heavy
blow rebounded to the string, damping the vibrations
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC. 127
and injuring the tone. This was remedied by the
introduction of a leather-covered check, which caught
the head of the hammer after it had struck its blow
and fallen down, where it held it until released by the
removal of the ringer from the key. This check-action
was known in England by the name of the grand action,
and in Germany as die Englische Mechanik. The great
improvement of the check, however, caused a defect
which required a remedy. After the hammer had
fallen, it was necessary for the key to rise to its
position of rest before the note could be repeated,
but the upward motion of the hammer was prevented
by the check. This difficulty has been found the
greatest of all in pianoforte mechanism, for the
hammer, while held securely, must always be ready to
strike again. Many attempts were made to overcome
the obstacle, but none perfectly succeeded.
In 1792 John Geib, the inventor of an action well
known as the grasshopper, attempted to revive the
clavichord in combination with the pianoforte, with
separate sets of keys, but he had little success.
As the mechanism of the piano improved, the thin
wire with which the instruments were strung was
found to produce less tone than thicker wire. Several
makers tried stringing their pia'nos more heavily, but
they found that, although the wooden framing of the
128 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
case was sufficiently strong to bear the tension of the
thin wire, the strain from the thicker metal was so
much greater that instruments thus strung did not
stand in tune. Joseph Smith, in 1799, and Broadwood,
in 1808, introduced metal bracings to assist the case iir
withstanding this extra pressure. When John Broad-
wood, the founder of the justly celebrated firm of John
Broadwood and Sons, died in 1812, at the advanced
age of eighty-one, he was succeeded by his son James
Tschudi Broadwood. A fellow-workman of his, Robert
Stodart, succeeded Americus Backers, founding the firm
known so long and honourably as John William and
Matthew Stodart, a firm that was almost unrivalled
until a few years since, when the last partner retired
and would not suffer any other house to trade upon the
name. Robert Stodart patented many valuable inven-
tions, such as his " Grand Forte-Piano, with an octave
swell," which produced various fine tones at the will
of the player, and is especially worthy of mention.
Two of his workmen, Thorn and Allen, in 1820
patented an excellent system of bracing, with hollow
metal tension bars applied over the strings of the
grand pianos. These metallic tubes were fixed firmly
at one end, and at the other were made movable in a
slide, which allowed them to expand or contract in the
same degree as the strings, so that great strength was
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC. I2Q
given to the instrument; and changes of temperature
made little difference to the tuning of pianos con-
structed upon this system, which was adopted by
Stodart in all his grands.
The English pianos differed widely from all others,
as they were powerful in tone, and the touch was firm
when 'compared with the continental instruments.
Nearly all the latter were finished with the simple
but flimsy " Viennese action." In 1782 John Godfrey
Hildebrand constructed a piano with a novel species of
action and construction. It was in the shape of a
square piano, with the sounding-board covering the
whole length of the instrument. The hammer struck
downwards, the action being above the string ; but the
position being contrary to gravitation, this action has
never been successful, although Streicher, Petzold,
Wornum, Pape, and many other makers have attempted
to perfect it. The compass of the pianoforte was only
five octaves and a half until Francis Panormo, an ex-
cellent pianist and musician, suggested the advisability
of extending it ; but no pianoforte-makers ventured to
make this alteration until John Broadwood and Sons
tried the experiment. Their first addition was half an
octave of keys in the treble to C altissimo, and the
scale was afterwards carried down to CCC in the bass,
thus extending it to six octaves. The compass was
130 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
next carried up to F in the treble, forming six octaves
and a half ; and when another note was added, G, it
was termed six octaves and three-quarters. After this,
the addition of the treble A made the compass six and
seven-eighths octaves, and that of the bass notes to A
formed the complete seven octaves. These additions
were made at different and irregular times, as the
mechanical resources of manufacturers became en-
larged, and the music written for the instrument
extended in compass.
In the year 1800 Muzio Clementi and Frederick W.
Collard commenced business. Clementi was the son of
an embosser in silver at Rome, and was born there in the
year 1752. He displayed great musical ability, and
when nine years of age obtained an organist's situation
in his native city. When twelve years old he com-
posed a mass for four voices, which Carpani, his
master, was compelled to applaud, although he added
that had he been consulted "the mass might have been
better." When the famous Peter Beckford was at
Rome he heard the juvenile organist play with such
taste and execution that he brought him to England,
and undertook his musical education at his seat in
Dorsetshire. At eighteen years of age " the young
Roman," as Clementi was called, displayed such re-
markable talent as a pianist and composer that he
PROGRESS OF THE PIANOFORTE, ETC. 13!
achieved a most brilliant success, rivalling Mozart, of
whom he was a firm friend. He became connected
with the firm of Longman and Lakey in 1767. The
name of the firm was afterwards changed to that of
Clementi, Collard, and Collard. dementi's name, and
his intimate acquaintance with Haydn, Mozart, and
numberless other celebrated musicians and noble
patrons, lent a prestige to the firm that quickly
raised it to an equality with the oldest-established
houses.
From this time the harpsichord was entirely super-
seded by the piano, and as the few remaining harpsi-
chord-makers turned their attention to the improvement
of pianos, these instruments attained great excellence
in a surprisingly short time. One of the greatest of
the improvements introduced was Sebastian Erard's
repetition action for grand pianos, patented in 1821.
The improvements he had previously introduced
the upward bearing of the strings and his system of
constructing the grand case were eclipsed by this in-
vention, and the name of Erard is now always associated
with his celebrated grand action. The repetition of a
note in this action is perfect and the touch is light.
Although extremely complicated, the mechanism is
excellently constructed, and has been very generally
adopted in grand pianos. Sebastian Erard patented
132 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
several attempts to obtain a repetition combined with
that which is as essential, a perfect check, in the
upright pianoforte, but failed to produce a simple one,
although his efforts resulted in producing an excellent
check action without the repetition. This improve-
ment upon Robert Wornum's action, patented in
1826, is still in. use throughout the Continent and
America. Especial praise is due to Wornum for his
numerous inventions, the principal one of which is the
" tape action."
CHAPTER IX.
INVENTION AND PROGRESS OF THE UPRIGHT PIANOFORTE.
THE square and grand pianos only have been men-
tioned in the preceding chapters. In both of these
instruments the strings are placed in a horizontal
position. In addition to these there are pianos of an
upright form in which, with the exception of the oblique,
the strings are vertical. The oblique and the cross-
strung oblique are in the form of upright pianos, and
are generally classed with them ; but they are in
reality totally different instruments, as the strings run
obliquely from the bass end to the lower corner of the
treble, and are of greater length than those in the
upright, although the obliques are not usually so high
as the cottage pianos. Greater power of tone and com-
pactness of form are thus gained, but at an increased
cost in the construction of the case.
The form of the grand, which is the same as that of
the harpsichord, was probably suggested by the varying
K
134 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
length of the strings. Being exactly suited to the
introduction of the best mechanism, and the length of
sounding-board and the strings producing a finer tone,
this is the best shape for tone as well as for touch, and
is always the one in which the finest instruments are
made. Grand pianos are of three kinds the concert,
the semi or drawing-room, and the boudoir grands;
these names denoting the length. The terms bichord
and trichord imply the number of strings to each note
in the tenor and treble of the instrument.
The square piano varies in shape and size, the grand
square, rather a large size with grand action, being the
principal. The shape of the square, like the clavichord,
is oblong rectangular; an exceedingly awkward shape
in manufacture, as it renders it difficult to strengthen
the framing sufficiently : the oblique position of the
action and keyboard also are objectionable. These
faults and its ungainly appearance have caused the use
of the square to be discontinued except in India and
America.
The grand and the square were the only classes of
pianos manufactured until grands were set on end and
raised two or three feet from the ground upon legs, and
the instrument was played from the lower end.
This, the upright grand, was so unwieldy, from its
great height, that the cabinet, invented by Southwell,
INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 135
in 1807, or by Hancock, a musical instrument maker in
Westminster, a few years earlier, quickly superseded it.
The cabinet was formed by the frame of the piano being
brought down to the ground, and the tone was produced
by the action of connecting rods and levers from the
keys, which caused the hammers to strike against the
strings. It formed an elegant piece of furniture, and
continued long in favour, although its great height
six feet and length of action were unfavourable to
delicacy of touch. In 1811 Robert Wornum reduced
the height to between four and five feet, under the
name of the harmonic, a name afterwards changed to
cottage piano. Sixteen years later its height was still
further reduced by him to three feet and a half, under
the name of the piccolo. The cottage and piccolo
pianos became very popular, and have almost super-
seded the grand for private practice in England and
France. The cost of these instruments was much less
than that of the grands, although such exorbitant prices
were paid for them to the principal firms that they
were beyond the reach of the middle classes. How-
ever, a great change commenced in 1835, when John
Brinsmead, founder of the firm of John Brinsmead and
Sons, began manufacturing really excellent pianos at
moderate prices, and several other good makers fol-
lowed his example. The result was that, when these
K 2
136 HISTORY OF THE PIANO'FORTE.
instruments had been thoroughly tested by some years'
use, the idea that an instrument could not be made
properly for less than eighty guineas was abandoned,
and good pianos at moderate prices had a large and
increasing sale.
Many inventions patented at this time have since
been revived as new discoveries. John Schweiso
patented a wrest-plank of cast iron instead of wood,
which has since been reintroduced. John Godwin in
1836 obtained a patent for his arrangement of the
strings, part of them running obliquely over the others.
This also has been lately revived in America and upon
the Continent with great success. Charles Wheatstone
in the same year patented an invention for making a
note sustain as long as the ringer kept the key pressed
down. This was accomplished by means of apertures
slightly larger than the diameter of the string, through
which a current of air passed, keeping the string in
vibration. James Stewart, who was in the employment
of Collard and Collard (and previously a member of the
firm of Chickering in America), patented many excellent
improvements in the mechanism of the piano.
An invention patented by Alexander Bain in 1847 was
one in which several instruments could be performed
upon simultaneously by the intervention of an electro-
magnetic apparatus. The pianist played upon a piano,
INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 137
the keys of which worked temporary magnets in con-
nection with the other instruments to be used, so that
the act of one player could be transferred to several
similar or even dissimilar instruments. This invention
was most ingenious and well worthy of success ; but
other inventions for which patents were granted were
as ridiculous as Bain's was ingenious. Daniel Hewitt,
for instance, lost twelve thousand pounds in a few years
through attempting to introduce a down-striking grand
piano, known as the " camel-back " from its peculiarly
ungainly appearance. In a patent dated December 16,
1854, ne proposed affixing a wrest-plank and bent side
(the two parts that together carry the strings) to the
brick or stone wall of an apartment, so as to avoid the
necessity for constructing costly framework, with strong
bracing to resist the tension of the strings, between
which and the wall he placed his sounding-board.
John Dewrance in 1855 patented a system of cast-
iron framing instead of wood, and his invention is now
much imitated in America.
The Exhibition of 1851 had a most beneficial effect
upon pianoforte manufacture ; for comparison of the
instruments of different individuals and nations must
necessarily have a good result. The conclusions arrived
at from this comparison were that England had far out-
stripped every other nation in the manufacture of pianos.
138 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
The Council Medal was awarded to Erard, of London,
at the Exhibition of 1851. Fetis, the deputy-chairman
of the jurors 'in 1862, noticed this ; and in his report
paid a deserved compliment to the English makers,
especially mentioning John Broadwood and Sons,
Collard and Collard, Hopkinson, Kirkman, and John
Brinsmead and Sons, each of which firms had patented
great improvements in the grand and upright instru-
ments. Of John Brinsmead and Sons he said, " Their
productions have fixed the attention of the jury by
their excellent construction, the perfection of their
mechanism, and the most satisfactory quality of their
tone."
Griener and Sandilands exhibited an ingenious but
complicated appliance for tuning the three strings to
each note in a piano at the same time, and another
invention of a set of organ pedals to be used with the
piano. Each pedal pulled the wide end of a wedge-
shaped plectrum between two thick strings behind the
performer, producing a pedal-pipe quality of sound.
There were also several inventions of Montal exhibited,
to which additional interest was attached from the fact
that the inventor is blind. These, like many other in-
ventions exhibited, were far more ingenious than useful,
although they were worthy of great commendation. A
clever arrangement of the loud pedal action prevented
INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 139
the confused sound generally arising from its unskilful
use, by allowing only the first notes struck to remain
sounding whilst all others were stopped by the dampers.
This arrangement has lately been introduced in America.
The bridge of reverberation or duplex scale for pro-
ducing sustained effects, invented by Collard and Collard,
also has been improved and introduced in the United
States.
The American pianos were well represented by
Steinway and Chickering at the International Exhibi-
tions of 1862 and 1867, but the tone produced from
them, although very powerful, was hollow, and not of*
a sweet, sustaining character.
The result of this competition was so decidedly in
favour of the English pianos that continental makers
commenced imitating them, and England was for a
time inundated with common low-priced foreign copies.
But these proved to wear so badly, that they quickly
lost the favour their low prices and showy appearance
had gained.
At the next great International Exhibition, that of
1867, the English manufacturers were as successful
as they had previously been, for they were awarded the
highest gold medal ; and, to quote from the Report of
the Jurors, "After Broadwood and Sons come Kirkman
and Son and John Brinsmead and Sons in the manu-
140 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
facture of English grand pianos. John Brinsmead's
firm is younger in this industry, but he constructs his
instruments with great care. He has invented a new
system of mechanism which is very ingenious, and by
which the rapid repetition of the note is perfected."
This firm introduced such important improvements
in their pianofortes, that in 1870 they obtained the
" Grand Gold Medal of Honour " at Paris; at Amster-
dam they gained the Diploma for Extraordinary Merit ;
at the London and Paris International Exhibitions
they were awarded First Class Prize Medals, and at
,. the latter city they received the highest distinction,
the Grand Diploma of Honour, for the rapid advance
they had made. In 1876 they received the Grand
Prize Medal and Diploma of Honour of the Philadel-
phia Centennial Exhibition, and in 1877 they were
awarded the Gold Medal of Honour and Diploma of
Merit at the South African Exhibition.
The number of makers exhibiting pianos of ordinary
manufacture naturally suggests the oft-repeated ques-
tion, " Where do all the pianos go?" In the " London
Directory" alone we find the names of more than
200 pianoforte manufacturers. If each of these makers
produce ten per week, there are at least 104,000 pianos
manufactured annually in London alone. When it is
remembered that there are large factories in France
INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 141
Austria, Germany, and throughout the continents of
Europe and America, it is no wonder that the question
still arises, " Where do all the pianos go ? " " To pieces,"
is the answer respecting the mass of rubbishingly cheap
pianos. As to the well-made instruments the inevitable
effects of time and climate influence even the most solid
and durable mechanism. The wear and tear from use
and abuse, especially of those instruments employed
in teaching, are probably some of the causes. Aug-
mented population, and increasing love and cultivation
of music amongst all classes, are also serious items.
One of the principal causes, however, of such numbers
of pianos being made is the rapidly progressive im-
provement of the mechanism used in their construction,
which constantly induces, almost compels, the affluent
classes to reject the pianos they possess, not because
time and use have impaired them, but because the
genius and invention of makers have placed before
them instruments with better touch and more powerful
tone. The old instruments are sold and resold until
pianos that have graced mansions are found in the
humblest cottages.
The Netherlands International Exhibition of 1869
contained some excellent pianos, those of Herz and
John Brinsmead and Sons having been especially
noticed. The advance in manufacture made by these
142 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
firms is an illustration of the improvements introduced,
which compel those who can afford the outlay to
purchase an instrument from which such superior
quality and volume of tone are produced with perfect
ease and certainty. The improvements patented by
John Brinsmead, in 1862, 1868, 1871, 1875, and 1879,
throughout Europe and America, result from the
most simple means, and this very simplicity insures
the durability of the piano. The mechanism in these
instruments, both in the upright and in the grand,
produces every effect for which the Erard action has
been so long and justly celebrated, in the most simple
manner. Besides a clear, uninterrupted, and sustained
tone, as well as a perfect check and repetition, it
secures an extremely light yet firm touch, and one
that seems to sympathise with the player, so rapidly
and unfailingly does it express his ideas.
The superiority of the English pianofortes over all
rivals is due partly to the solidity of their construction,
which produces the lasting qualities for which they are
so celebrated, and partly to the simplicity and excel-
lence of the mechanism, the importance of which
cannot be over-estimated. I may have unintention-
ally omitted to mention many excellent manufacturers
of pianos in Great Britain. For instance, the firms of
Cadby, Ralph Allison and Sons, Challen and Son,
INVENTION AND PROGRESS, ETC. 143
B. Squire and Son, H. Ward, George Russell, and
William Eavestaff are worthy of special praise, as they
manufacture good pianos at moderate prices. At the
Paris International Exhibition of 1878 the Cross of
the Legion of Honour was conferred on the head of
the firm of John Brinsmead and Sons ; and gold medals
were awarded to Erard ; Pleyel Wolff and Co. ;
Herz ; Schroeder; Hopkinson ; Ehrbar; etc. Pianos
now seem almost to have reached perfection. What
will the next great invention be ? Perhaps the sus-
taining power will be obtained without the aid of such
devices as a current of air to keep the string in
vibration, the resined barrels and bows in imitation
of the violin, or of the second hammer that produces
the disagreeable tremolo by its repeated blows ; indeed,
Mustel, of Paris, has already introduced a small piano
in which tuning-forks are struck instead of strings, and
this gives greatly increased vibration of tone.
CHAPTER X.
USEFUL HINTS UPON SELECTING, AND PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR TUNING PIANOS, AND REPAIRING SMALL DEFECTS.
IN the selection of a piano even good judges are some-
times deceived, few being able to decide correctly until
after the instrument has been in use for some months.
The piano may sound well in the room in which it
stands, and yet sound badly in a carpeted and furnished
apartment. Care should therefore be taken to select a
piano with a sustaining quality of tone that is, that a
note struck in any part, except the extreme treble,
should continue sounding for some time after it has
been struck, and the key has been held down. This is
the best test of an instrument, for a piano with a sweet,
sustaining quality of tone will sound well in any room.
The only means of being certain that a piano is well
made of seasoned materials is by purchasing one manu-
factured by a good maker, whose reputation would suffer
were his name placed upon an inferior instrument.
Some makers rely on the name made by the founders
USEFUL HINTS UPON SELECTING PIANOS, ETC. 145
of their houses, instead of the quality of their manu-
facture ; and preference should be given to those who
are rapidly rising to fame by the recommendation of
the instruments they produce. Not only are their
pianos lower in price, but they are also generally better
than those manufactured by firms which, trusting to
their repute alone, are slowly but surely losing it. On
the other hand, the so-called "cheap pianos" must be
avoided ; for a really good pianoforte cannot be made at
a very low price, as either the materials or workman-
ship must be inferior.
The sales by auction, and by " the widow of a
musician," or any of the various means employed for
disposing of cheap, trashy pianos, are now too well
understood to be trusted.
The instrument, having been selected, must be taken
care of. As it is extremely susceptible to damp and
change of temperature, it should never be placed against
an outer wall, or too near the fire, door, or open window.
Damp being one of the greatest destroyers of the piano,
a short distance from the fire and from the inner wall is
the best position. It must be kept free from dust, pins,
and beads, as these often cause a jar or a note to stick
down. The polish should be carefully rubbed up every
morning with a soft duster. The keys also should occa-
sionally be cleaned. A damp duster can be used for this
146 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
purpose, and the whole should afterwards be polished
up with a dry piece of linen or silk. In damp situations
the steel strings should be carefully wiped every day
with a dry duster. A thick woollen cover or blanket
should also pass over the instrument during the night -
wherever there is much moisture in the atmosphere.
The top should not be loaded with music-books and
ornaments, as they absorb the tone, and the ornaments
often cause a jarring sound. The instrument should
be tuned five or six times in the year, especially when
new, as otherwise the pitch gradually falls and the
tone suffers.
It is impossible to explain tuning fully, as much must
necessarily be learned by experience. A few useful
hints only will therefore be given, such as will enable
an amateur with a musical ear to alter any notes that
may get out of tune, and to put on and pull up a new
string should one break. An excellent scale will also
be added for those who may already be able to tune.
The intervals of greatest importance in tuning are
the octave, the fifth, and the fourth. The unison is also
very important, as fully half the strings are tuned by it.
After seating himself at the piano, with a tuning-
fork and hammer, the tuner may strike any note, the
two strings of which will sound like one if they are
perfectly in tune. Then, placing the hammer upon
USEFUL HINTS UPON SELECTING PIANOS, ETC. 147
one of the wrest-pins, round which one of the strings
is wound, the hammer may be turned a very little
to the left, and the note when struck will now sound
greatly out of tune. After striking it several times
slowly, and listening attentively to the sound, the
hammer must be turned slowly and imperceptibly to
the right, the tuner paying great attention to the vibra-
tions of the strings, until the quick beats or undulations
cease, and one steady and apparently single sound,
which constitutes the real unison, is produced.
When the unison has been mastered by patient
practice the octaves may be attempted. These, when
perfectly in tune and struck together, like the unison,
appear to produce but one sound. The action must be
shifted by pressing the left pedal with the foot, unless
a tuning-wedge is used for damping the second string,
so that only one string of each note is struck. The
same plan as that for learning the unison tuning may
be adopted for the octave, but care must be taken
that the unison of the note is tuned afterwards.
The intervals of the fifth and fourth are not so easily
distinguished as those mentioned. When perfectly in
tune, a steady complex sound is heard.
In tuning or laying the scale or bearings, great
practice and many verbal lessons are necessary, so that
it is only requisite to give the best scale now used, and
148 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
the trials, without entering into details which would
be of little use.
As the pianoforte is an imperfect instrument
having no real B sharp and E sharp these two
intervals have to be made up by each key being
equally and slightly out of tune. Hence the necessity
of tempering the fourths and fifths, which has given the
new scale the name of equal temperament. One rule,
when properly understood and practised, will enable
the tuner to produce a good and equal scale. That
rule is tune all the fifths towards the bass a wave
sharp and all the fourths a wave flat.
In this scale, which is intended to explain the order
and manner in which the intervals are to be tuned and
the trials made, the position'of the curved lines denotes
whether the intervals are to be sharp or flat. Where
the curves are placed under the slur, the fourths or
fifths must be a wave flat ; but when they are above,
those intervals are to be tuned sharp. The waves are
plainly perceptible in the scale we have given, but in
tuning they must be almost imperceptible except to the
tuner. The trial-chord, when struck, should produce a
rapid beat or series of undulations of sound ; those with
the close intervals the first, fourth, sixth, and eighth
chords sounding rather more roughly in tune than
those with the more widely spread intervals.
USEFUL HINTS UPON SELECTING PIANOS, ETC. 149
It will be seen, upon reference to the scale, that after
pitch C has been tuned in unison with the tuning-fork,
the octave below must be "tuned perfect," that is,
without a wave. The G below is then to be tuned
from C, a trifle flat. The D above must now be
taken from G a shade flat, and A from D also slightly
flat. F must then be tuned from C, a shade sharp,
and the first trial, F, A, C, can be made. Bb must
be tuned from F a wave sharp, when the trial-chord
is F, Bb, D. E from A, B from E, Fjf from B, and
CJf from FJf, should then all be tuned slightly flat,
each interval being proved by the trials marked in the
scale. Eb when tuned from Bb and Ab from Eb must
both be a shade sharp. The trial CJf to G$ will then
prove if the front and back scales are properly tuned, as
G# should be slightly flat to C#.
The gradations of sharp and flat intervals have been
mentioned as though well denned, but this is not the
L
150 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
case in tuning, as they should be perceptible to the
practised ear of a tuner alone.
In tuning it is very important to set the pin properly.
The hand should be removed from the hammer before
a note is considered perfectly in tune, as it sometimes
requires so trifling an alteration that the mere pressure
or tap of the hand upon the hammer to the right or
left will supply it. When the pins are turned about
much, the instrument will never stand in tune. After
each string has been tuned, a heavy blow upon it should
be given to ascertain if it hangs upon the bridge pins,
in which case it would quickly get out of tune. The
hammer must not be pressed up or down on the pin in
tuning, as pianos are often injured by the pins being
bent and broken off in this manner.
In putting on a new string, all friction that will heat
the wire must be avoided, and the wire must be of the
same thickness exactly as the broken string that it re-
places. To insure its standing in tune, the string, when
on the piano, may be stretched by pressing downwards
the point where the hammer strikes with a piece of hard
wood covered with leather, and tuned until the pressure
upon the string does not cause the pitch to fall.
As a knowledge of how to properly repair small
defects in the piano may be of use, the principal of
these and their remedies shall now be described.
USEFUL HINTS UPON SELECTING PIANOS, ETC. 151
The sticking of keys is generally caused by damp,
which swells the wood, making the mortices too small
for the pins to work in. To remedy this the key must
be taken out, and the tight mortice carefully filed at the
part where the black marks show the pin has rubbed,
care being taken that the mortice is not made large
enough to cause a rattle.
Squeaking of the hoppers, when the key is pressed down,
is remedied by blackleading the tops of them, or bur-
nishing them with a smooth piece of steel.
The rattling of keys may be cured by exchanging the
key-pins for larger ones, or inserting a small wedge on
one or each side of the loose mortice.
Defects in the damping are generally caused by the
dampers not covering the strings properly, and requiring
shifting to their proper positions.
The sticking of the hopper is generally caused by the
top of it being rough, or by its spring being too strong.
In the first case, burnish it with a piece of steel; in
the second, weaken the spring by drawing it out from
the top.
The sticking of a hammer is sometimes caused by
its catching the damper wire or head, but it is frequently
from the centre wire on which it acts becoming too
tight from damp.
T blocking of a hammer against the string may be
L 2
152 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
altered by turning the button in the hopper until the
hammer falls when pressed up near the string.
Jarring, so common in pianos, is generally caused by
some small piece of wood or metal touching the string
or sounding-board, or else by the vibrations of the
strings between the lower bridge, and the hitch-pins
being insufficiently damped, by the list drawn between
them. Loose frets or ornaments about the piano will
also produce these disagreeable sympathies.
Hammers touching the wrong string may be altered
by heating the hammer-shanks with a hot iron, and
pressing the hammer in the direction required.
When the wrest-pin jumps in turning, it should be
replaced by a freshly resined one, or else either chalk or
powdered resin should be put upon it and in the hole,
before it is again inserted in the plank.
To deepen the touch, brown paper or a thin card should
be placed under the balance-rail the middle rail under
the keys near the screws, which must be taken out to
allow the paper to be forced under. To make the touch
shallower, a card or single thickness of brown paper
should be placed under the front rail.
APPENDICES.
INVENTIONS PATENTED BETWEEN THE
YEARS 1693 AND 1879 A.D.
Oct. 20, 1694. GEORGE JOYCE and P. EAST. Self-
acting harpsichord, etc.
Oct. 22, 1730. JOHN HARRIS. Harpsichord (no de-
scription).
Dec. 17, 1730. WILLIAM BARTON. Metal plectra in
spinets, etc.
Dec. 30, 1741. ROGER PLENIUS. Ivory and tortoise-
shell plectra.
July 10, 1745. ROGER PLENIUS. Harp stop and.
bushed keys.
Dec. 18, 1769. BURKAT SHUDI. Venetian swell over
the strings.
Dec. 28, 1770. THOMAS HAXBY. " A single harp-
sichord of two unisons . . . which produces ten
variations of stops."
154 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
May 2, 1771. RICHARD WAKEFIELD. Ivory and
metal plectra, and wrest-pins.
Aug. 29, 1772. ADAM WALKER. The " Celestina,"
in which the catgut strings are vibrated by circulating
bands of silk, etc.
Sept. 12, 1774. JOSEPH MERLIN. "A set of
hammers, of the nature of those used in the kind of
harpsichord called pianoforte, are introduced [in a per-
fect harpsichord] in such a manner that either may be
played separately, or both together. . . . By placing
the foot upon [the pedal] it gradually plays one unison,
one degree lower plays the second unison, and lastly
the octave, which produces the swell of an organ."
Dec. 28, 1774. S. GILLESPY. Harpsichord with
" a peddle and swell," by which the top of the instru-
ment is raised and the stops worked.
Nov. 21, 1777. ROBERT STODART. Combined harp-
sichord and piano.
July 17, 1783. JOHN BROADWOOD. Position of
wrest-pins and dampers, also making the " sound-
ing-post, that communicates the sound to a sounding-
board, of the same thickness and quality as that on
which the bridge is fixed."
March n, 1786. G. J. CHEESE. " Grand Har-
monica," with the strings stretched by weights, and
struck by hammers. Strips of glass ranged in a frame
APPENDIX A. 155
produce sounds also, by means of balls set on wires, or
by coming in contact with wheels rapidly revolved by a
treadle.
Nov. 9, 1786. JOHN GEIB. (i) Buff stop for pianos
and harpsichords, screwed under the strings, and (2)
" grasshopper action."
Jan. 15, 1787. W. THOMPSON. System of tuning
by means of a monochord with movable bridges.
March 31, 1787. JOHN LANDRETH. (i) Centring the
jack in square piano with cork. (2) The same, or
" some woolly substance manufactured after the manner
of a hat," is introduced in the upright pianoforte.
May 25, 1787. HUMPHREY WALTON, (i) Pedal for
causing the grand hammer to strike one, two, or three
strings ; the hammers " striking perpendicular hammers
which strike the wires. ... (2) The touch is regu-
lated according to the fancy of the player, from the
deepest to the most delicate [by] a regulating touch
frame," inserted between the balance rail and the back
rail of the key-frame.
Jan. 15, 1781. SAMUEL BURY. "The instrument
is a perfect pianoforte," which, by means of whalebone
plectra fixed in a sliding-board, and a slide which throws
up the dampers, produces sounds " exactly similar to
the dulcimer and harpsichord.
Aug. 15, 1788. C. CLAGGET. (i.) Piano called Telio-
HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
chordon. " Besides the ordinary ones, two other
bridges are placed nearer to the hammers, but in a just
proportion, according to the musical division of the
string." Metal bars press down the strings by means of
pedals, causing the original bridges to lose their power,
thereby producing a more acute sound as the string is
shortened by the secondary bridges and metal bars.
(2) The keys are covered with glass or enamel, in place
of ivory. (3) Another instrument has tuning-forks or
single rods of metal, instead of string, set in vibration
by means of finger-keys and action.
April 13, 1790. JOHN HANCOCK, (i.) Small pieces
of leather between the strings, to deaden one string to
each note, when required by the player. (2.) A back
sticker " presses down a palate at the bottom of pipes,"
in a case below the pianoforte, admitting wind from a
bellows blown by a pedal. This flute-stop can be used
separately or in conjunction with the pianoforte.
Nov. 16, 1790. JAMES BALL. Square piano action,
with under-dampers, and a screw in each key, for
making the touch deeper or more shallow. " The
hammers are fixed by means of screws that press " on
the centre wire.
Feb. 4, 1792. G. GARCKA. Position of wrest-pins
and sounding-board.
April 18, 1792. JOHN GEIB. Combination of clavi-
APPENDIX A. 157
chord or spinet with pianoforte, " with two sets of keys
to which either of these three instruments may be joined
and played together."
June 6, 1792. JAMES DAVIS. Combined piano and
harpsichord. " The upper row of keys is for the piano-
forte, and the lower for the harpsichord."
Oct. 17, 1794. SEBASTIAN ERARD. Two methods
for escapement of the hammer, and an arrangement for
striking one, two, or three strings at pleasure, by a side
movement of the damper rail, etc. Harmonic octave
produced by mechanism which pressed on the string
exactly in the centre.
October 18, 1794. WILLIAM SOUTHWELL. Improved
dampers, and addition of treble keys.
Jan. 12, 1795. WILLIAM STODART. " An upright
piano in the form of a bookcase," in which " both the
hammers and dampers are returned by weight."
Jan. 31, 1797. WILLIAM ROLFE and SAMUEL DAVIS.
Vellum, parchment, pasteboard, etc., varnished or oiled
for sounding-boards, instead of wood.
Nov. 8, 1798. WILLIAM SOUTHWELL. New method
of applying additional notes. The frame turns down over
the keys, and the " leader " is fastened to the hammer
by a joint of leather. A harp played with keys is also
mentioned in the specification.
Oct. 3, 1799. JOSEPH SMITH. Introduction of metal
158 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
bracings in place of wood, " so as to admit the introduc-
tion, into the internal part of the instrument, of a drum,
tabor, or tambourine, with sticks or beaters," as well as
a triangle ; all being brought into action by levers and
cranks.
July 31. 1800. PETER LITHERLAND. " A method of
keeping [pianos, etc.] in tune by means of" helical and
other springs.
Nov. 13, 1800. ISAAC HAWKINS. Spiral springs in
place of long bass strings. The strings are fixed in
a perpendicular position, ranging from three to four
feet in height to within a few inches of the floor. By
means of " primary and secondary carriages, . . . two,
three, or more strings may be stretched at the same
time" in tuning, "and they may be put in tune one
with another, by turning the screws of the secondary
carriages." A roller with pins acting upon levers
shortens any strings, at the pleasure of the player, by
pressing on and dividing them into varying lengths.
The " poiatorise " stop is produced by another roller,
which, revolving rapidly, causes projections upon it to
strike on the hammers, thus keeping them continually
striking the strings whilst the keys are held down.
Between the hammers and the strings pieces of leather,
of varying thickness, are introduced, so as to change
the tone gradually from forte to piano. The key-frame
APPENDIX A. 159
is made to turn on pivots, for economy of space. Besides
these improvements a volti subito is introduced, which,
by the use of the pedal, turns over the leaves of the
music-book when required.
May 16, 1801. SEBASTIAN ERARD. "The touch
rendered either hard or soft to any degree, at the
election of the player."
June 5, 1801. EGERTON SMITH and THOMAS TODD.
Tuning by means of screw and lever, or by a wheel,
axle, and pulley; which allow of "any number of
strings being drawn up by one weight over a wheel or
axle."
Nov. 7, iSoi. JOHN CONRAD BECKER. Half and
quarter tones, produced by causing the wrest-pins to
move partly round their centres, thereby altering the
tension of the string as may be required.
Nov. 10, 1801. A. BEMETZREIDER, and RT. J. and
A. SCOTT. " Horizontal harp " piano ; the top opens
at the back, forming a swell.
Nov. 28, 1801. EDWARD RYLEY. Movable key-
board for transposing music simply by shifting the
keyboard and action.
March 9, 1802. THOMAS LOUD. Upright pianos
rendered portable by placing the strings in an oblique
direction, " fixing the first bass strings from the left-hand
upper corner to near the right-hand lower corner, and
l6o HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
the rest of the strings in a parallel direction. By this
means an instrument standing only five feet high and
four feet wide in front will admit of the bass strings
being their full length, which is five feet two inches."
March 24, 1802. PETER LITHERLAND. " Helical,,
spiral, or straight springs, for keeping the strings to
their tension " and the piano in tune.
June 2,8, 1803. GEORGE WOODS. Strings attached to
pulleys, beams, etc., so that the whole may be raised or
lowered in pitch at once.
Jan. 23, 1805. ED. THUNDER. " Screw rest-pin."
April 8, 1807. WILLIAM SOUTHWELL. Cabinet
pianoforte and action.
July 25, 1808. WILLIAM HAWKES. " Two sets of
strings of two unisons to each set." The action being
shifted by a pedal so as to strike each set, produces
" seven diatonic and five flat tones to our present scale of
twelve fixed tones."
Sept. 24, 1808. SEBASTIAN ERARD. Repetition
action, which " affords the power of giving repeated
strokes, without missing or failure, by very small angular
motions of the key itself.
July 26, 1809. DAVID LOESCHMAN. " By means of
six pedals that cause the hammers to act upon twenty-
four distinct sets of strings," performers can " play in
thirty-three perfect keys."
APPENDIX A. l6l
May 2, 1810. SEBASTIAN ERARD. The tuning-pins
inserted in a collar and socket for ease and smoothness
in motion.
March 4, 1811. WILLIAM SOUTHWELL. Piano
sloping backwards, with improved action and damper
wire.
March 4, 1811. J. TROTTER. New keyboard arrange-
ment.
March 26, 1811. ROBERT WORNUM. " Improved
upright pianoforte," with diagonal strings. Buff- stop
for stopping one string of each note is worked by a
pedal.
April 24, 1811. WILLIAM BUNDY. Bass pianoforte
strings covered with platina or other metal to produce
powerful sounds by vibration.
Sept. 9, 1811. WILLIAM FREDERICK COLLARD.
Square pianoforte " turned upwards on its end."
March 3, 1813. FREDERICK HAUCK. Method of
applying " additional keys, strings hammers, etc. . . .
to old-keyed instruments."
Dec. 9, 1813. JOHN BATEMAN. " The Grand Clavilyr."
" The strings may be struck at or near the middle . . .
in a similar manner to that of the finger upon the strings
of a harp, by playing upon keys."
May 14, 1816. WILLIAM SIMMONS. Barrel piano or
harpsichord.
l62 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Oct. 14, 1816. JOSEPH KIRKMAN. Two strings in
unison and one with separate bridges tuned to the
octave above, are struck by one hammer, forming an
" octave stop."
Nov. 14, 1816. JOHN DAY. Frame of musical
glasses played separately, or in combination with the
piano, by finger-keys and action.
Feb. i, 1817. ISAAC MOTT. " The Sostinente piano-
forte " produces a sustaining tone through the strings
being vibrated by a revolving roller, by means of silken
lines attached to them. A movable bridge presses
against the centre of the strings, and produces the
harmonic octave effect by dividing them into two equal
lengths.
Jan. 15, 1820. JAMES THOM and WILLIAM ALLEN.
Metallic tubular bracing to counteract the tendency of
pianofortes to get out of tune from the swelling and
contracting of the wood caused by atmospheric changes.
May 13, 1820. ROBERT WORNUM. One size wire
used for stringing tenor and treble. The length of the
first note is determined on the monochord, " and for all
the corresponding notes upwards you must halve the
several notes, and so on for as many octaves as you
require, always halving for the last octave." This is
intended to produce equal tension throughout the
instrument.
APPENDIX A. 163
March8,i82i. WILLIAM FREDERICK COLLARD. "The
bridge of reverberation " is a third bridge below the
two others to allow that part of the strings which is
generally listed, or damped, to sympathise and vibrate
in unison with the lengths between the ordinary bridges.
April 5, 1821. WILLIAM SOUTHWELL. Check action
applied to cabinet pianos, to prevent the hammer
" rebounding against the strings."
Dec. 22, 1821. PIERRE ERARD. (Communicated.)
Repetition check action for the grand pianoforte.
Jan. 14, 1821. D. LOESCHMAN and J. ALLRIGHT.
In the "patent Terpodion " sounds are produced by
friction on wood, metal or any hard substance, played
with pianoforte keyboard.
Feb. 18, 1823. FRANCIS DEAKIN. Improvement in
steel wire and mode of fastening it.
July 24, 1823. HENRY SMART. Check acting on
the hammer.
Nov. 22, 1823. THOMAS TODD. The strings are
vibrated by a roller upon each side of the strings, when
brought in contact by the key and action.
July 29, 1824. WILLIAM WHEATSTONE. External
surface covered with frames having vellum, etc., tightly
drawn across, with trumpet-mouthed holes, for aug-
menting the tone of the pianoforte.
Jan. 5, 1825. PIERRE ERARD. Wrest-plank and
164 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
key-bottom united by pieces of sheet iron placed
between the two sides of the case. New application
of patent of 1821.
Jan. 18, 1825. FRANCIS MELVILLE. Metallic
bracing for square pianos.
Feb. 6, 1825. G. A. KOLLMAN. Down-striking
grand-action and larger sounding-board.
Oct. 6, 1825. JAMES SHUDI BROADWOOD. Check
action applied to square pianos.
July 4, 1826. ROBERT WORNUM. (i) Hopper and
two check actions. (2) " Pizzicato pedal."
Feb. 20, 1827. PIERRE ERARD. Application of
action to square pianos, 1821 patent.
March 22, 1827. JAMES STEWART. Wire put on
without loops or " eyes," by making one continuous
string pass round a single hitch-pin, so as to produce
the effect of two separate strings.
April 9, 1827. JAMES SHUDI BROADWOOD. Metal
string plate in the grand piano.
July 25, 1827. EDWARD DODD. Both bridges upon
sounding-board. The quality of tone is regulated by a
brass nut and screw at the back of the hammer-head.
Aug. 30, 1827. W. DETTMER. Screws for altering
the pitch.
July 10, 1828. J. H. A. GUNTHER. A second
thicker sounding-board, with the belly-bridge upon it,
is placed over the ordinary one.
APPENDIX A. 165
July 24, 1828. R. WORNUM. Check acting on the
back part of the lever.
Aug. n, 1829. THOMAS ROLFE. Improved self-
acting pianoforte.
Nov. 2, 1829. J- STEWART. Brass rail applied to
back part of action frame.
Feb. 27, 1830. SIMON THOMPSON. Upright piano-
forte, having the top level with the lockboard.
Feb. 2, 1831. J. C. SCHWIESO. Cast-iron wrest-
plank.
July 20, 1831. W. ALLEN. Cast-iron grooved frame
with the wooden wrest-plank driven tightly into the
grooves.
Sept. 8, 1832. F. P. FISCHER. Down-striking grand
action.
Nov. i, 1833. JACOB ZEITTER. Sounding-board bars
made of two or more pieces.
Jan. 15, 1835. J. STEWART. Escapement action.
Sept. i, 1833. F. DAVCHELL. Hammer shanks, sus-
pended by an india-rubber thread to the butt. Hollow
bridge on sounding-board.
Nov. 6, 1835. R. WOLF. "Shell of curvilinear
shape, in lieu of the usual sounding-board."
May 13, 1835. P. FISCHER. Cross-strung piano.
"In order to increase the length, I place the strings
diagonally, and they then pass under the other strings. 2 '
II
l66 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Feb. 17, 1836. J. LIDEL. (i) Sounding-board free,
being fastened at one end only. (2) Piano effects are
produced by the stroke of the hammer being shortened.
March 8, 1836. J. GODWIN. Strings run over others,
or are placed across them, in square pianofortes.
May 14, 1836. WHEATLEY KIRK. Double sounding-
board and complete metallic framing or support.
July 27, 1836. CHARLES WHEATSTONE. Continuous
sounds produced from pianoforte strings or springs, by
means of currents of air which pass through apertures
slightly wider than the body the air vibrates.
Aug 24, 1837. W. SOUTHWELL. Spring applied to
hammer butt, to obtain repetition.
Feb. 21, 1839. JOHANN STUMPFF. Improvements
in mechanism and tuning apparatus.
July 2, 1839. H. PAPE. Sounding-board reversed and
placed behind the bracings in a console-shaped piano.
Feb. 14, 1840. J. CLARKE. Free sounding-board,
one part only being firmly fixed.
Sept. 24, 1840. PIERRE ERARD. Improvements in
mechanism and string plate.
Nov. 7, 1840. E. DODD. Set of strings on the back,
as well as a set in front, of the frame, acting as a
counterbalance, and " double pianoforte."
June 23, 1841. J. GODWIN. The wrest-pin block is
placed above the strings in the grand. '
APPENDIX A. 167
July 7, 1841. J. STEWARD. Complete metal framing
to carry the strings. Upright pianoforte action, pro-
ceeding downwards, strikes near the under bridge.
Nov. n, 1841. J. STEWART. Escapement action.
Jan. 15, 1842. T. LAMBERT. Improved cabinet
action.
Feb. 2, 1842. HENRY BROADWOOD. Name-board
with pictorial representation "of the extension of the
black and white keys for learners."
Feb. 15, 1842. R. WORNUM. The "tape check
action."
Feb. ii, 1843. H. Du BOCHET. Repeating square
action.
Jan. 19, 1843. J. G. KIRKMAN. Improved action
(no specification).
April 29, 1843. J. STEWART and T. LAMBERT.
Cabinet repetition action.
June 26, 1844. CHARLES SAUTTER. Continuous
sounds produced by a succession of shocks from ham-
mers put in vibration by a revolving cylinder.
Oct. 10, 1844. OBED COLEMAN. ^Eolian attachment.
Reeds are attached to the bottom of the pianoforte-
case, and are acted upon by wind. They are played
separately or in combination with the pianoforte.
Nov. 9, 1844. DANIEL HEWITT. Striking simulta-
neously in different parts of the string, etc.
M 2
l68 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Dec. 12, 1844. S. MERCIER. " Transposing piano."
April 7, 1845. W. HATTERSLEY. Metallic elastic
trusses for strengthening the framing.
Oct. 27, 1845. B. NICKELS. Two actions and
sounding-boards, and two sets of strings and keys, are
employed for producing a combined upright and hori-
zontal pianoforte.
Nov. n, 1845. S. CROMWELL. Elastic stops for
producing harmonic sounds when pressed upon the
strings in the centre of them.
April 28, 1846. ISAAC MOTT. " Metallic skeleton,"
applied to stringed instruments, to resist the pressure
caused by the tension of the strings.
June 16, 1846. F. BURKINYOUNG. Down-striking
grand action.
July 8, 1846. T. WOOLLEY. Movable key-bed and
frame.
April 29, 1847. J. SPEAR. India-rubber applied
between the movable parts to prevent noise.
Oct. 7, 1847. ALEXANDER BAIN. Electricity em-
ployed for playing several instruments simultaneously.
Aug. 12, 1850. C. CADBY. Sounding-board strained
like a drum.
Sept. 12, 1850. PIERRE ERARD. Metallic wrest-
plank.
Dec. 20, 1850. J. PAPE. Vibrations of the strings
increased by air, etc.
APPENDIX A. 169
June 3, 1851. J. HOPKINSON. " Clothing the ham-
mers with sponge." Action with sticker jointed in the
middle.
Nov. 15, 1851. PIERRE ERARD. " Laying the wires
on or against the sounding-board."
Nov. 20, 1851. T. STATHAM. Metallic stop to the
wrest-plank and sounding-board, for the purpose of
relieving the latter from the pressure of the strings.
Jan. 27, 1852. T. LAMBERT. Bevelled lever.
Jan. 31, 1852. WILLIAM SQUIRE. Gravitation em-
ployed in a new check-action, instead of springs.
July 15, 1852. H. GAUNTLETT. Pianofortes and
organs played by means of electricity.
Oct. i, 1852. G. BROCKBANK. Two wrest-planks,
between which the strings pass.
Oct. i, 1852. J. STEWART. Stop for the hammer at
the back of the lever.
Nov. 17, 1852. H. RUSSELL. Flattened wire, in
place of round pianoforte strings.
March 7, 1853. W. MATTHEWS. " Propeller action,"
to prevent " blocking " in damp situations.
March 17, 1853. J. ASHENHURST. Hollow wood
bracings and bridges.
May 30, 1853. H. HUGHES and W. DENHAM.
Continuous sounds, produced by two sets of hammers
being successively brought into action.
170 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
July 6, 1853. R. RUST. Sound-holes in the
sounding-board, with metal tubes passing through
hollow bars inserted.
Aug. 16, 1853. J. STEWART. Connecting the sticker
with the fore end of the lever, the back end being
hinged to the lever-rail in the upright pianoforte.
Oct. 6, 1853. JOSEPH GARY. Single check action
with "loop and spring."
Dec. 22, 1853. J. SHAW. Construction and arrange-"
ment of the action and bracings.
May i, 1854. W. WADDINGTON. The ribs or bars
in front, instead of at the back, of the sounding-board.
May 8, 1854. Gr. THOMAS. Bracings dovetailed into
the body of the wrest-plank.
May 25, 1854. J. HARRISON. Metallic wrest-plank
and improved lever.
Aug. 23, 1854. W. S. SMITH. Rounded bridges with
plates of metal.
Oct. 12, 1854. F. DELSARTE. Apparatus for tuning.
Nov. 3, 1854. E. ALEXANDRE. Combination of organ
and piano.
Dec. 16, 1854. D. HEWITT. Piano constructed
against any strong wall : the wall supplying the place
of " costly framework with strong bracings."
Dec. 19, 1854. WILLIAM DREAPER. Application of
compensating-bars and generators of sound to the
sounding-board and bars.
APPENDIX A. 171
Jan. 22, 1855. J. PAPE. Tuning-fork piano.
April 28, 1855. JAMES MARSH. Piano capable of
being separated for portability.
May 2, 1855. T. LAMBERT. Hopper-head connected
with the hopper by a regulating screw.
Oct. 13, 1855. JOHN DEWRANCE. Cast-iron framing,
with wrest-plank secured in a metal-frame by bolts, and
covered with a plate of soft metal.
Nov. i, 1855. S. DRIGGS (U.S.). Metallic framing,
with sounding-board within an independent metallic
frame, x which holds it in an arched form.
Nov. 23, 1855. J. FISHER. Reversible hammer-
head.
Jan. 3, 1856. F. GUICHE* NE. Connecting-rods,
which cause chords of the note to sound when a single
key is struck.
Jan. 25, 1856. W. OWEN. Second sounding-board.
Feb. 13, 1856. W. MOUTRIE. Springs acting upon
the dampers.
Feb. 2,6, 1856. J. STEEDMAN. Arched bars " for the
support of the sounding-board and central bridge."
April 16, 1856. F. PRIESTLY. " Rocking lever or
butt to each key, . . . constructed with a hammer-
shank and hammer."
July ii, 1856. A. N. WORNUM. Repetition grand
action.
172 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Oct. 9, 1856. J. and E. SHAW. Separate strings for
sharps and flats.
Oct. 10, 1856. D. SHIRLEY (U.S.). Simplified
action, " to render it cheap, . . . and to prevent
blocking."
Nov. 6, 1856. J. LA CABRA. Arrangement of sticker
and check.
Dec. i, 1856. J. C. HADDON. Metal framing, " and
loading the bass strings with buttons, . . . placed upon
them so as to obtain deep notes " with short lengths of
strings. The strings are galvanised or tinned, " to
preserve them from oxidation."
Feb. 26, 1857. WILLIAM MILLS. Escapement upon
the upper part of the sticker.
April 9, 1857. T. ROLFE. Vulcanised or plain
india-rubber, in place of wire, for a " check."
May n, 1857. S. HALLETT. Strings are arranged
"concentric with the sound-boards. One, two, four,
six, or eight keys " may be applied to the same instru-
ment.
May 13, 1857. H. TOLKIEN and J. MIDDLETON.
" Hard wedge or wedges," inserted in the bracings for
strength.
May 14, 1857. G. CRAWFORD. Upper bridge entirely
of glass. The sounding-board has a double bridge,
indented with bone or ivory instead of pins.
APPENDIX A. 173
July 25, 1857. F. OETZMANN and T. L. PLUMB.
Hopper acting directly on the hammer-butt.
Sept. 3, 1857. T. JACKSON. Check upon hammer-
butt by sticker.
Oct. 30, 1857. M. STODART. Reduction in thick-
ness of sounding-board, from the bridge outwards,
towards each edge where it is fixed.
Nov. n, 1857. H. and S. THOMPSON. Additional
stickers, for producing an octave or chord at will, when
a single key is struck.
May 13, 1858. A. WOLFF. " Independent pedallier."
Sept. 21, 1858. JOHN DEWRANCE. Compensating
bars in bass of piano.
Oct. 2, 1858. J. and E. HOLMAN. Upright pianoforte
action.
Nov. 17, 1858. J. ROBERTSON. Thicker sounding-
board, with the surface grooved out " longitudinally
in parallel lines."
Dec. 9, 1858. R. BURROWES. Set of rectangular
cranks, to elicit the sound of two notes by the touch of
one key.
Dec. 9, 1858. J. STEWART. Hopper escapement
action.
Feb. n, 1859. C. JACKSON. Escapement hopper.
Feb. u, 1859. C. MILLS. Improved hopper.
Aug. 15, 1859. C. GLASSBOROW. Sounding-board
174 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
and strings in front, and a second set behind the
bracings, to produce equal tension and sympathetic
vibration of the two sets of strings.
Aug. 30, 1859. JAMES HARE. Improvement in
wrest-pins and string-plate.
Sept. 6, 1859. J. STEWART. Improved escapement
action.
Oct. 4, 1859. G. GREINER. (i) Appliance for tuning
two strings at the same time. (2) Pedallier with leather
covered plectra for pulling the strings.
Nov. 30, 1859. F. MATHUSEK (New York). Sound-
ing-board, strings, etc., are arranged so as to make
them somewhat similar in action to instruments of the
violin class.
Jan. 2, 1860. DR, HURLIMANN (Zurich). Light
"wooden frame. . . . Metal bars, . . . placed between
the sounding-board and the strings, . . . extend in the
same direction, . . . and are fastened tojthe wrest-plank
near the piano-pins, and below on the iron plate on
which the strings are fixed."
April 17, 1860. S. B. DRIGGS (U.S.). Graduated
sounding-board and bridge.
April 28, 1860. T. MOLINEUX. Single check action
with loop and spring.
May 21, 1860. C. DE MEYER. Two sounding-
boards " fitted on metallic construction of framework."
APPENDIX A. 175
May 29, 1860. W. NOSWORTHY. Sounding-board
passing under detached metal bridge.
July 2,8, 1860. J. PAPE. The hammers " have two,
three, and even four faces, instead of a single one," to
replace the surface worn by use. The height of this
piano is two and a half feet only.
Aug. 3, 1860. C. WILLIAMS and E. F. FALCONER,
(U.S.). Bells instead of strings.
Aug. 27, 1860. J. P. PIRSSON (U.S.). The " Trylo-
deon," a combination of the piano and harmonium.
Sept. 25, 1860. CARL KIND. Repetition grand
action.
Dec. 29, 1860. H. VINER. " One set of keys trans-
mits motion to two sets of hammers, . . . one to strike
up [on the strings in the grand piano] , and the other
to strike down " upon a second set of strings tuned in
unison with, or an octave above or below, the upper set.
Feb. 2, 1861. W. PRANGLEY. " Rise [in the key]
at a point before it reaches its centre-pin."
May 21, 1861. WILLIAM DREAPER. " Tie-rod is
applied to ... the bars of the sound-board in such
manner as to draw such bar or bars into a bent form."
June 20, 1861. J. L. CLEMENT. To overcome the
non-continuity of sound, " an arrangement somewhat
similar to the bow of a violin," acting separately, or
simultaneously with the hammers, is added to the piano.
176 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
July ii, 1861. J. R. COTTER. Strings pulled by
claw-shaped plectra in the middle of their length.
July 18, 1861. B. JOHNSON and W. H. ANDERSON.
Double sounding-board, with " swell valves " and " the
very forte pedal" for sounding octaves.
Nov. 16, 1861. R. T. WORTON. " Lyro-piano-
forte." A pianoforte and harpsichord combined.
Dec. 3, 1861. R. A. RUST. Sloping front and sliding
extended desk.
Feb. n, 1862. JOHN BRINSMEAD. Grand and upright
mechanism for producing "a perfect check, great
power, . . . and quick repetition."
Feb. 13, 1862. WILLIAM WILLIAMS. Diagonal bass
strings, inclining towards the right in grand pianos,
and continued below the keyboard towards the front of
the keys.
Feb. 26, 1862. C. L. KNOLL. Connecting-rods from
the keyboard to cause the action to strike upon strings
at the back of the instrument.
Feb. 26, 1862. E. G. BRUZAUD. Two dampers for
each note.
March 10, 1862. W. S. NOSWORTHY. Keyboard,
pedals, and seat raised above the usual height, enabling
vocalists to read the performer's music.
March 20, 1862. J. G. THOMPSON. Enharmonic
scale and shifting keyboard.
APPENDIX A. 177
April 7, 1862. THOMAS JACKSON. Spring on end of
sticker that causes a check.
April 14, 1862. J. M. FRENCH. Hollow wooden
bracings.
April 19, 1862. A. N. WORNUM. Improved damper.
April 30, 1862. H. F. BROADWOOD. Metal plate
over the wrest-planks of grands, tapped to receive wrest -
pins upon which either a male or female screw has been
cut.
May 9, 1862. G. F. GREENER and I. H. C. SANDI-
LANDS. Improved grand action.
May 22, 1862. G. CRAWFORD. Small pianoforte
with metal prongs instead of strings.
June 23, 1862. R. COOK. Metal employed for tops
of hoppers.
June 28, 1862. G. H. HULSKAMP. Compressed
sounding-board.
Aug. 27, 1862. J. J. POTTER. Improved upright
action.
Sept. n, 1862. J. MOLINEUX. Sticker action with
check.
Feb. 5, 1863. R.A.BROOMAN (FRANCOIS DELSARTE).
Method of tuning two strings simultaneously.
Feb. 13, 1863. S. M. INNES. Transposing key-
board.
March 16, 1863. W. G. EAVESTAFF. Check action.
178 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
April 29, 1863. W. FARR and E. FARR. Improved
action.
July 31, 1863. B. JOHNSON. Combination of piano
and organ.
Sept. 30, 1863. W. CLARKE. Combined piano and
organ or harmonium.
Nov. 12, 1863. G. H. BROCKBANK. Perforated
metal plate between sounding-board and strings.
Nov. 20, 1863. A. H. FERRY. Hammer-head made
so that the coverings can be tightened or loosened.
Jan. 18, 1864. W. H. MARKS. Piano with four
strings to each note, two of which are tuned an octave
higher or lower than the other two.
April 12, 1864. R. A. KEMP. Tuning the piano-
forte scale by means of twelve harmonium reeds.
April 20, 1864. A. V. NEWTON. Action for pro-
ducing increased power in short horizontal grands.
June i, 1864. A. V. NEWTON [JOHN WINTER JONES] .
Combination of piano and drum.
June 15, 1864. R. A. BROOMAN. Improved tuning
apparatus.
July 4, 1864. J. W. JONES. Down-striking action.
July 19, 1864. E. LEA. Combined piano and
harmonium.
Aug. 4, 1864. T. J. V. Roz. Transposing keyboard.
. i, 1864. W. MOODY. New tuning apparatus.
APPENDIX A. 179
Jan. 17, 1865. F. H. LAKIN. Tuning by means of
levers on metal plate over wrest-plank.
March g, 1865. W. T. HAMILTON. Guide for the
position of the hands in playing.
April 4, 1865. W. MOODY and W. J. HULAND.
New method of stringing.
June 15, 1865. G. E. WAY. Improved metal plate
in cross-strung square pianos, with repetition action.
June 26, 1865. W. E. NEWTON. Metal frame over
thin boards in sweep-side and wrest-plank.
June 30, 1865. R. A. BROOMAN. New tuning
apparatus.
Aug. 5, 1865. H. C. BAUDIT. Violin-piano.
Oct. 5, 1865. B. JOHNSON. Combined piano and
organ.
Oct. 10, 1865. G. G. RICH. Improved damper
action.
Nov. 29, 1865. E. FARR and J. GREGORY. Improved
action.
Dec. 7, 1865. W. E. EVANS. Transposing key-
board.
March 22, 1866. J. MACINTOSH. Trumpet-shaped
covering to be placed over the piano or vocalist, so that
the tone may be augmented by means of compressed air.
April 3, 1866. G. HASTLETINE. Pianoforte with
four strings to each note, two of which are struck by an
l8o HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
action above the keys and two by an action below the
keyboard.
April 5, 1866. B. JOHNSON. Combined piano and
harmonium.
April 24, 1866. S. THOMPSON. Octave couplers to
pianoforte keys.
July 10, 1866. J. MILLWARD. Combination of piano,
couch, closet, and bureau with toilet articles. The
music-stool is constructed to contain a workbox, a
looking-glass, a writing-desk or table, and a set of
drawers.
Aug. 24, 1866. W. E. NEWTON [GEORGE BYRON
KIRKHAM] . Movable transposing keyboard.
Sept. 4, 1866. E. FARR and J. GREGORY. Each
string passes from its wrest-pin completely round both
sides of the sounding-board, so as to obtain an equal
upward and downward pressure.
Nov. 28, 1866. G.HASTLETINE [LEVI SMITH TOWER] .
Improvements in the mode of, and means for, regulating
and registering the tension of pianoforte strings.
Dec. 3, 1866. M. A. F. MENNONS [JUAN AMANN].
Apparatus for performing by means of electro-mag-
netism.
Dec. 14, 1866. H. BRINSMEAD. Simple check action.
Feb. 4, 1867. J. F. PHILLIPE. Metal frame cast in
one piece.
APPENDIX A. l8l
March 6, 1867. W. E. GEDGE. Transposing action.
March 18, 1867. H. SIMMS. Tone resonator.
May 9, 1867. A. HERCE. Keyboard to enable per-
former to face auditors.
June 3, 1867. E. McLEAN. Arched resonator at
top of piano.
Oct. 16, 1867. W. H. MAY. Impregnating sounding-
boards with salt water.
Oct. 19, 1867. M. J. MATTHEWS. Double piano-
forte strung at back and in front.
Nov. i, 1867. J. GILMOUR. Improved back.
Nov. 6, 1867. A. M. CLARK. Vibrating hammer set
in motion by a cylinder for producing sustained tones
by continuous blows.
Nov. 16, 1867. R. W. PEARCE. Hollow case made
on violin principle and placed under feet of piano.
Feb. 27, 1868. F. WIRTH. Assistant for raising
parts only of the dampers, by means of the loud pedal.
March 6, 1868. J. BRINSMEAD. (Perfect check re-
peater action) for producing perfection of touch with
increased durability.
Aug. 20, 1868. G. CALKER. Diagram of music in
front of keyboard for beginners.
Sept. i, 1868. E. JOBSON. Hammers covered with
velvet or other piled fabric instead of felt.
Sept. 16, 1868. G. R. SAMSON. New method of
stringing. N
l82 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Oct. 28, 1868. W. DAWES. (i) A zinc compensating
frame. (2) Double sounding-board. (3) Mechanism
for producing sustained tones by repeated blows. (4)
Octave coupler.
Nov. 6, 1868. T. HARRISON. Improved action. .
Nov. 23, 1868. C. MONTAGUE. Framing covered
with caoutchouc.
Dec. 17, 1868. J. T. HALL. Improved hinges for
piano tops.
Dec. 28, 1868. J. P. MILLS. Drawn steel wrest-pins.
Jan. 20, 1869. T, STEINWAY. Metallic action frame.
Feb. n, 1869. P. J. SMITH. Metal bars under
sounding-board.
April 14, 1869. E. DOWLING. Application of
T-headed screw to fly-rest.
April 28, 1869. F. BAUER. Combined wood and
metal framing.
April 30, 1869. L. B. FORTIN. Improvements in
felt machinery.
May 26, 1869. C. F. CHEW. Transposing double
keyboard and metal bars in wooden bracings.
July 2, 1869. J. STEWARD. Sounding-board with
concave bars.
July 14, 1869. C. BREWER. India-rubber tubes for
under-covering of bass hammers.
Sept. 7, 1869. T. KING. Check action.
APPENDIX A. 183
Nov. ii, 1869. J.JULES. Combined piano and organ.
April 8, 1870. J. H. KIRKMAN. Steel bar in wrest -
plank.
Nov. 23, 1870. W. G. EAVESTAFF. Check action.
Nov. 29, 1870. T. LAMBERT. India-rubber springs
for action.
Dec. i, 1870. H. L. GLEIG. Sounding-board ex-
tended under metal wrest-plank "bridge."
Dec. i, 1870. A. N. WORNUM. Position of wrest -
pins.
Jan. 8, 1871. W. TONGUE. Flattened steel wire,
kept in vibration by currents of air.
Feb. 16, 1871. T. LAMBERT. Improved action, with
zinc, lead, or tin slates on top of hoppers.
March 5, 1871. J. BRINSMEAD. Improvements in
piano action.
March 30, 1871. F. and R. HUND. Cast-iron frame.
April 25, 1871. A. ZEWADSKI. Octave coupler.
April 27, 1871. D. ROGERS, J. MONINGTON, J.
WESTON. Combined wood and metal bracings.
Jiwe, i, 1871. C. F. CHEW. (i) Conical pins.
(2) Adjustable tension straps. (3) Straps for strengthen-
ing bridges. (4) Hollow resonator.
June, 21, 1871. I. LIEBICH and W. PATERSON.
Harp effects caused by tongues of metal placed between
strings and hammers.
N 2
184 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
July 20, 1871. W. R. NORMINTON. Self-escapement
hopper.
Aug. 12, 1871. R. GAUNT. Metal hinges.
Sept. 20, 1871. E. MOLYNEUX. Electro-magnetic
mechanical arrangement.
Oct. 3, 1871. T. JACKSON. Improved hopper.
Now. 22, 1871. J.AMANN. Mechanical arrangement
for playing keyboard instruments
March 20, 1872. R. SMITH. Laminated sounding-
board.
April 16, 1872. C. S. VENABLES. Two damper
pedals.
May i, 1872. C. A. DE LAZKAWSKI, H. KITUMAN.
Tuning forks used in lieu of strings
May 3, 1872. L. GUNTHER. String rail.
May 14, 1872. C. T. STEINWAY. Improved agraffe
or stud.
Aug. 16, 1872. C. F. GOFFREE and J. H. SCHUEL.
Improved method of balancing keys.
Oct. 14, 1872. E. B. GOWLAND. Double bearing on
bridge, with down-pressure bar.
Jan. 2, 1873. A. D. B. WOLFF. Transposing key-
board attachment.
March 17, 1873. J. BURTON. Metal frets.
May 6, 1873. W. FRIUDENTHEIL. Cast-iron wrest-
plank.
APPENDIX A. 185
May 31, 1873. D. G. STAIGHT and S. STAIGHT.
Alabaster or gypsum substitute for ivory.
June 18, 1873. C. J. COXHEAD. Improved damper.
July 31, 1873. U. C. HILL. Cellulated bell, or
tuning-fork piano.
Oct. 15, 1873. C. H. L. PLASS. Repetition action.
Dec. i, 1873. H. HANKINSON. Transposing key-
board.
Feb. 9, 1874. H. CHATWIN. Mother-of-pearl in lieu
of ivory.
Feb. 27, 1874. J. H. DUNKLEY. Sounding-board
carried up to top-bridge.
May 6, 1874. J. B. HAMILTON. Coiled, flat, or round
wires.
May 20, 1874. E. ILIFF and J. RINTOUL. Simple
action.
June 12, 1874. C. J. COXHEAD. Prolonge on key.
July 14, 1874. F. H. WHITEMAN. India-rubber used
instead of felt in every part of the action.
July 27, 1874. D. IMTROF. Automatic piano.
Sept. 2, 1874. M. W. HANCTIEL. Dampers mecha-
nically held after the strings have been struck.
Oct. 20, 1874. W. MEAD. Combined piano and
musical-box.
Nov. 23, 1874. A. STEINWAY. Dampers mecha-
nically held after the strings have been struck.
l86 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Nov. 25, 1874. J. B. HAMILTON, G. WADE, and R.
W. VOSEY. Compensating springs attached to strings
to prevent changes of pitch.
Jan. 2, 1875. W. R. MILLER. Insulators.
Jan. 27, 1875. G. H. BROCKBANK. Simple action.
Feb. 19, 1875. E. T. BURLING. A system of tuning.
Feb. 20, 1875. G. and A. ROBERTS. Escapement
action.
March i, 1875. J. ELLIS. Transposing keyboard.
March 6, 1875. J. BRINSMEAD. Perfect check re-
peater action for producing increased durability as well
as perfection of touch.
March 16, 1875. R. H. ROGERS. Simple action.
May 13, 1875. A. D. B. WOLFF. Stops for regu-
lating dampers.
May 31, 1875. T. B. HOWELL. Method of strength-
ening back.
July 17, 1875. E. G. BURLING. Banjo attachment.
Aug. 21, 1875. A. MONTGOMERY. Improved ar-
rangement of keyboard.
Aug. 31, 1875. W. R. NORMINTON. Transposing
keyboard.
Nov. 5, 1875. C. J. WARD. Harmonic seraphlute,
with concertina keyboard applied to a stringed instru-
ment.
Nov. 12, 1875. A. D. B. WOLFF. Improvements in
wrest-plank and pins.
APPENDIX A. 187
April 19, 1876. C. E. ROGERS (U.S.A.). (i) New
damper. (2) Universal joint connecting key and jack.
(3) Improved escapement. (4) Three springs to coun-
teract atmospheric influence. (5) String plate and
new method of tuning the strings.
May 30, 1876. F. WIRTH. (i) Additional strings
and bridges for producing the overtones. (2) Im-
proved dampers.
Aug. i, 1876. G. T. BOUSFIELD. Hand-rest for
position of the player's hands.
Sept. 23, 1876. G. A. CASSAGNES. Nickel-plating of
strings and metal work.
Oct. 14, 1876.]. C. WARD. (i) The strings,
hammers, and stickers are alternately placed on the
opposite sides of the frame. (2) Harmonic angelute.
Nov. 7, 1876. J. ROBINSON. Combined piano and
harmonium.
Feb. 6, 1877. J. T. WRIGHT. Combined piano and
harmonium or organ.
Feb. 20, 1877. E. LECOMTE. (i) Strings set in
vibration by the longitudinal friction of prepared felt
rubber. (2) The forked damper.
Feb. 27, 1877. H. BROOKS. Improved action.
March 23, 1877. E ZACHARIAE. Cellular boxes
within the instrument to augment the tone.
Oct. 20, 1877. J- MONINGTON and J. WESTON.
Transposing keyboard.
l88 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
Nov. 20, 1877. C. PIEPER. Second row of strings
and hammers for producing the octave and funda-
mental tones simultaneously.
Dec. 29, 1877. H. WITTON. Improved action.
July 5, 1878. T. HOWELLS. Portable pianoforte.
The strings are stretched horizontally along the
exterior of a hollow cylinder or framework ; the action
operates upon the strings from the interior of the
cylinder.
July 23, 1878. E. C. CADOT. Automatic equaliser
for pianoforte keys.
Aiigust 20, 1878. S. F. WASLEY. Resonators under
the castors.
March 20, 1879. BRINSMEAD, J. (i) Sostenente
sounding-board, glued on rim of soft wood. (2) New
form of metal plates and supports. (3) Improved
repeater check action. (4) Improved sticker action.
(5) Various appliances of tone - sustaining pedal.
(6) Strength of sounding-board regulated by springs.
APPENDIX B.*
DESCRIPTION OF DOVE'S SIRENE, FIGS. 4 & 5, PAGE 13.
"I WILL take the instrument asunder, so that you may
see its various parts. A brass tube t, Fig. 4, leads into
a round box c, closed at the top by a brass plate
a b. This plate is perforated with four series of holes,
placed along four concentric circles. The innermost
series contains eight, the next ten, the next twelve,
and the outermost sixteen orifices. When we blow
into the tube t, the air escapes through the orifices,
and the problem now before us is to convert these
continuous currents into discontinuous puffs. This is
accomplished by means of a brass disc d e, also per-
forated with eight, ten, twelve, and sixteen holes, at
the same distances from the centre and with the
same intervals between them as those in the top of the
box c. Through the centre of the disc passes a steel
* From "On Sound," by John Tyndall, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S.
HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
axis, the two ends of which are smoothly bevelled off
to points at p and p'. My object now is to cause this
perforated disc to rotate over the perforated top a b of
the box c. You will understand how this is done by
observing how the instrument is put together.
" In the centre of a b, Fig. 4, is a depression x sunk in
steel, smoothly polished and intended to receive the
end/)' of the axis. I place the end p' in this depression,
and, holding the axis upright, bring down upon its
upper end p a steel cap, finely polished within, which
holds the axis at the top, the pressure both at top and
bottom being so gentle, and the polish of the touching
surfaces so perfect, that the disc can rotate with an ex-
ceedingly small amount of friction. At c, Fig. 5, is the
cap which fits on to the upper end of the axis pp'. In
this figure the disc d e is shown covering the top of the
cylinder c. You may neglect for the present the wheel-
work of the figure. Turning the disc d e slowly round,
its perforations may be caused to coincide or not coin-
cide with those of the cylinder underneath. As the disc
turns its orifices come alternately over the perforations
of the cylinder, and over the spaces between the per-
forations. Hence it is plain that if air were urged into
c, and if the disc could be caused to rotate at the same
time, we should accomplish our object and carve into
puffs the streams of air. In this beautiful instrument
APPENDIX B.
the disc is caused to rotate by the very air currents
which it renders intermittent. This is done by the
simple device of causing the perforations to pass
obliquely through the top of the cylinder c, and also
obliquely, but oppositely inclined, through the rotating
disc de. The air is thus caused to issue from c, not
vertically, but in side currents, which impinge against
the disc and drive it round. In this way, by its passage
through the sirene, the air is moulded into sonorous
waves.
" Another moment will make you acquainted with the
recording portion of the instrument. At the upper part
of the steel axis pp', Fig. 5, is a screw s, working into a
pair of toothed wheels (seen when the back of the
instrument is turned towards you). As the disc and its
axis turn, these wheels rotate. Finally, by the pins m,
n, o, p, any series of orifices in the top of the cylinder
c can be opened or closed at pleasure. By pressing
m, one series is opened ; by pressing n, another.
By pressing two keys, two series of orifices are opened ;
by pressing three keys, three series ; and by pressing
all the keys, puffs are caused to issue from the four
series simultaneously. The perfect instrument is now
before you, and your knowledge of it is complete.
" This instrument received the name of sirene from its
inventor, Cagniard de la Tour. The one now before
IQ2 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
you is the sirene as greatly improved by Dove. The
pasteboard sirene, whose performance you have already
heard, was devised by Seebeck, who gave the instru-
ment various interesting forms, and executed with it
many important experiments. Let us now make the
sirene sing. By pressing the key m, the outer series of
apertures in the cylinder c is opened, and by working
the bellows, the air is caused to impinge against the
disc. It begins to rotate, and you hear a succession of
puffs which follow each other so slowly that they may
be counted. But as the motion augments, the puffs
succeed each other with increasing rapidity, and at
length you hear a deep musical note. As the velocity
of rotation increases the note rises in pitch : it is now
very clear and full, and as the air is urged more
vigorously, it becomes so shrill as to be painful. Here
we have a further illustration of the dependence of pitch
on rapidity of vibration. I touch the side of the disc
and lower its speed ; the pitch falls instantly. Con-
tinuing the pressure the tone continues to sink, ending
in the discontinuous puffs with which it began.
" Were the blast sufficiently powerful and the sirene
sufficiently free from friction, it might be urged to
higher and higher notes, until finally its sound would
become inaudible to human ears. This, however, would
not prove the absence of vibratory motion in the air ;
APPENDIX B.
193
but would rather show that our auditory apparatus is
incompetent to take up and translate into sound vibra-
tions whose rapidity exceeds a certain limit. The ear,
as we shall immediately learn, is in this respect similar
to the eye."
APPENDIX C.*
" THE motion of a sound-wave must not be confounded
with the motion of the particles which transmit the
wave. In the passage of a single wave each particle
over which it passes makes only a small excursion to
and fro, the semi-length of which is called the amplitude
of the vibration, the time occupied during one vibration
being called its period.
"4. The intensity of a sound is proportional to the
square of the maximum velocity of the vibrating particles.
It also approximately varies inversely as the square of the
distance from the origin of the sound ; for supposing the
latter to be produced at a uniform loudness, the same
amount of energy has to be communicated to the par-
ticles contained within the external and internal surfaces
of shells of the same thickness but of different radii.
For example, if we take a shell of air whose internal
radius is one foot, one of the same thickness whose
radius is two feet will contain four times the quantity of
* From "A Dictionary of Musical Terms" (article, "Acoustics"), by
Dr. Stainer and W. A. Barrett, Mus. B.
APPENDIX C. 195
matter ; one whose radius is three feet, nine times the
quantity, and so on. Thus the amount of matter over
which a given quantity of energy has to be distributed
augments as the square of the distance from the origin
of sound, and therefore the amount of energy or, what
comes to the same thing, the intensity of the sound
diminishes in the same ratio.
"5. At a temperature of zero Centigrade sound is propa-
gated at the rate of about 1,090 feet per second, and this
speed augments about two feet per second for every
additional degree of temperature ; thus at 15 C. the
rate of propagation would be about 1,120 feet per second.
The velocity of sound in air depends on the elasticity
of the air in relation to its density. It is also directly
proportional to the square root of the elasticity, and
inversely proportional to the square root of the density.
Now for a constant temperature the elasticity varies as
the density; hence in this case they neutralise one
another, and the velocity of the sound is independent of
.the density of the air.
" 6. One sound differs from another not only in quan-
tity but also in quality and pitch.* The pitch of a sound
depends on the number of vibrations per second by which
it is caused : the greater this number is the higher is
the sound, and vice versa; thus pitch is a more or less
* For the cause of the different qualities of sound see 16, p. 197.
196 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
relative term, and it is therefore necessary to have some
standard to which different sounds may be referred.
This standard is so chosen that the middle C of the piano-
forte shall be produced by 264 vibrations per second.*
" 10. As the character of a sound depends upon that-
of the vibrations by which it is caused, it is important to
know of what kind the latter must be in order that they
may give the sensation of a perfectly simple tone, i.e.,
one which the ear cannot resolve into any others.
Such a vibration is perhaps best realised by comparison
with that of the pendulum of a clock when it is swinging
only a little to and fro. Under these circumstances it
is performing what are called harmonic vibrations, and
when the air particles in the neighbourhood of the ear
are caused by any means to vibrate according to the
same law as that which the pendulum follows, and also
with sufficient rapidity, a perfectly simple tone is the
result. Such a tone is, however, rarely heard except
when produced by means specially contrived for the
purpose. If a note on the pianoforte is struck, the
impact of the hammer on the string throws it into a
state of vibration which, though periodic, is not really
harmonic ; consequently we do not hear perfectly a
simple tone, but one which is in reality a mixture of
* That is, according to German pitch ; at present there is no
definitely fixed standard in general use in England.
APPENDIX C. 197
several higher simple tones with that one which cor-
responds to the actual length of the string. The former
are, however, generally faint, and become associated by
habit with the latter, appearing to form with it a single
note of determinate pitch. These higher tones are the
harmonics of the string, and are produced by vibrations
whose numbers per second are respectively twice, three
times, four times, etc., as great as those of the funda-
mental tone of the string. The same may be said
of the notes of all instruments, including the human
voice, which are usually employed for the production of
musical sounds.
" 16. It was stated ( 10, p. 196) that the sound of a
vibrating string was in general compounded of a number of
simple tones, and a well-trained ear can detect a consider-
able number of them. If it were not for these harmonic
components, the tones of strings, pipes, of the human
voice, or, in short, of every instrument most generally
used for the production of sound, would be flat and
uninteresting like pure water. Each harmonic compo-
nent is by itself a simple tone, and is due to the vibration
of the corresponding segment of the string superposed
upon that of the whole. The same statement applies
mutatis mutandis to pipes, whether open or stopped. That
the harmonics of different instruments greatly influenced
their several characters is observable in the difference of
o
HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
the tones of a flute and clarinet. A flute is an open
pipe, a clarinet a stopped one ; in the former there-
fore the harmonics follow the order of the natural
numbers i, 2, 3, 4, and in the latter the order i, 3, 5, 7
the intermediate notes being supplied by opening the
lateral orifices of the instrument.
" 17. When two simple tones, that is (as explained
above), notes deprived of all the harmonic components
which under ordinary circumstances accompany them,
are sounded together very nearly in unison, there are
heard what are called beats succeeding one another at
regular intervals, their rapidity depending inversely on
the smallness of the interval between the two tones.
Their origin may be explained thus : Suppose the tones
to be produced by vibrations numbering 500 and 501 per
second respectively, then every sooth sound wave of the
former will strike on the tympanum at exactly the same
instant as every 5oist of the latter, and will reinforce it ;
while at the 25oth of the first the corresponding wave of
the other will be just half a period in front of it. Now,
a sound-wave consists of a condensed and rarefied
stratum of air particles, and therefore the condensed
portion of one wave here coincides with the rarefied por-
tion of the other, and neutralises it. Thus there will be
an alternate reinforcement and diminution of sound,
every second, from the maximum intensity when both
APPENDIX C. 199
waves impinge on the tympanum at the same instant to
the minimum when they counteract each other as much
as possible, and vice versa.
" In the above case it was supposed that the number
of vibrations of one tone were only one more per second
than those of the other ; but if the difference of the
numbers had been two, for instance, then in one second the
first tone would have gained two vibrations on the other,
and there would have been two beats ; and in general the
number of beats per second is always equal to the diffe-
rence between the two rates of vibrations per second.
" 19. When the vibrations of the air due to a number
of different sounds which co-exist at the same time are
infinitely small, they are merely superposed one on
another, so that each separate sound passes through
the air as if it alone were present ; and this law of
superposition holds, though only approximately, until
the vibrations have increased up to a certain limit,
beyond which it is no longer true. Vibrations which
give rise to a large amount of disturbance produce
secondary waves; and it is to these that the phe-
nomena of resultant tones are due.
"Thus if two notes a fifth apart, for instance, are
forcibly sounded together, a third tone is heard an.
octave below the lower of the two, and this ceases
to be perceptible when the loudness of the concord
3
200 HISTORY OF THE PIANOFORTE.
diminishes. In general the resultant tone of any com-
bination of two notes is produced by a number of
vibrations per second equal to the difference of the
numbers per second of the notes. This fact formerly
led to the supposition that the resultant tone was
produced by the beats due to the consonance, which,
when they occurred with sufficient rapidity, linked
themselves together so as to form a continuous mu-
sical note. If this were so it is clear that the resultant
ought to be heard when the original notes are sounded
gently as well as forcibly ; and it was the failure of
this condition that led Helmholtz to the reinvestigation
of their origin. These resultant tones have been named
by him difference tones; he has also discovered the
existence of resultant tones formed by the sum of the
numbers of vibrations of the primaries. These sum-
mation tones as they are called cannot be explained
on the old theory.
" 20. The theory of beats explains the law that the
smaller the two numbers are, which express the ratio
of their vibrations, the smoother is the combination
of any two tones. When two simple tones are sounded
together whose rates of vibration per second differ by
more than 132, the beats, according to Helmholtz,
totally disappear. As the difference grows less the
beats become more and more audible, the interval
APPENDIX C. 201
meanwhile growing proportionately dissonant, till they
number 33 per second, at which point the dissonance of
the interval is at its maximum.
"This, however, depends upon the position of the
interval asregards its pitch. For it should be remembered
that though the ratio of any given interval remains the
same whatever the absolute pitch of its tones may be
yet the difference of the actual numbers of their vibra-
tions, and therefore the number of beats due to their con-
sonance, alter with it ; and vice versa, if the difference of
the number of vibrations remains constant, the interval
must diminish as its pitch rises. For instance, either
of the following combinations would give rise to 33 beats
per second, since the numbers of vibrations of their tones
per second, are 99-66, and 528-495, respectively. Now
it is obvious that in the latter case the dissonance would
be far greater than in the former.
" The above explanation of the cause of dissonance is
also due to Helmholtz, and completely solves a question
which had remained unanswered since the time of
Pythagoras, although that philosopher made the im-
portant discovery that the simpler the ratio of the two
parts into which a vibrating string was divided, the
more perfect was the consonance of the two sounds.
THE END.
NOVELLO, EWER & CO.,
PRINTERS,
69 & 70, DEAN STREET, SOflO, Vf.
