Pianoforte A Social History Of The Piano

According to Dieter Hildebrandt, the piano is a revolutionary figure and its story a grand adventure. One by one, the memorable geniuses make their appearance: Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt. Other highlights include the great piano duels (Bach v. Marchand, Mozart v. Clementi), the dawning era of the concert tour and the music critic, and the obsessions of the leading figures.

A renowned concert pianist traces the instrument's design, manufacture, and music in a delightful "piano's eye-view" of the social history of Western Europe and the United States from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

The Encyclopedia of the Piano was selected in its first edition as a Choice Outstanding Book and remains a fascinating and unparalleled reference work. The instrument has been at the center of music history with even composers of large symphonic work asserting that they do not write anything without sketching it out first on a piano; its limitations and expressive capacity have done much to shape the contours of the western musical idiom. Within the scope of this user-friendly guide is everything from the acoustics and construction of the piano to the history of the companies that have built them. The piano-lover might also be surprised to find an entry for Thomas Jefferson, and will no doubt read intently the passages about the changing history of the piano's place in the home. Uniformly well-written and authoritative, this guide will channel anyone's love for the instrument, through social, intellectual, art history and beyond into the electronic age.

Originally published in 1933, this book provides a detailed history of the piano-forte from its invention in Italy in the eighteenth century until the presentation of the first European cast-iron frame for a piano at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Harding also analyses the role of the piano as a replacement for a chamber orchestra and its history as a domestic instrument. The text is richly illustrated with images of pianos produced by a variety of makers over time, as well as with images of piano machinery taken from patent registrations. This thoroughly-researched book will be of value to anyone with an interest in one of the most ubiquitous instruments in the Western world and the history of its development.

Since the publication of The London Pianoforte School (ed. Nicholas Temperley) twenty years ago, research has proliferated in the area of music for the piano during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and into developments in the musical life of London, for a time the centre of piano manufacturing, publishing and performance. But none has focused on the piano exclusively within Britain. The eleven chapters in this volume explore major issues surrounding the instrument, its performers and music within an expanded geographical context created by the spread of the instrument and the growth of concert touring. Topics covered include: the piano trade and how piano manufacturing affected a major provincial town; the reception of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier and Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum during the nineteenth century; the shift from composer-pianists to pianist-interpreters in the first half of the century that triggered crucial changes in piano performance and concert structure; the growth of musical life in the peripheries outside major musical centres; the pianist as advocate for contemporary composers as well as for historical repertory; the status of British pianists both in relation to foreigners on tour in Britain and as welcomed star performers in outposts of the Empire; marketing forces that had an impact on piano sales, concerts and piano careers; leading virtuosos, writers and critics; the important role played by women pianists and the development of the recording industry, bringing the volume into the early twentieth century.

"Ernest Closson's History of the Piano was first published in English in 1947, three years after the appearance of the original edition in French. Closson (1870-1950) was founder and director of the Museum of the Conservatoire Royal in Brussels, which boasts one of the richest collections of keyboard instruments in the world, and he was therefore well qualified to write a book on their evolution. The greater part of the work is concerned with the development of the piano itself, from the delicate instrument invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence in the early years of the eighteenth century, to the sturdy modern 'grand'; but there are also chapters on related instruments such as the clavichord, the harpsichord, the virginal and the spinet. When Closson's book first appeared the subject was poorly documented and the opportunities for seeing and hearing old keyboard instruments were extremely limited, but today interest in them is widespread and they are very much more accessible (and better cared for). The issue of a revised edition of Closson's work, incorporating emendations made by the author since the publication of the French and English editions, corrections and additional material made in the light of subsequent research and documentation, a greatly expanded bibliography, and new plates and line-drawings of actions--though preserving the distinctive flavour of the original book--should therefore be most welcome. This book remains a clear and readable summary of the development and refinement of stringed keyboard instruments, valuable to anyone who has any experience at all with the piano or with its antecedents." --Dust jacket.

An internationally renowned manufacturer, designer, and inventor of piano-making machinery presents a history of the development of the 19th-century piano. Photographs of instruments, working diagrams, and portraits of important personalities accompany the text. Covers automatic instruments, including player pianos. "Invaluable data about American piano making." — Grove's.

Roell uses company records and the popular press to chronicle the piano industry through changing values, business strategies, economic conditions, and technology. For Roell, as for the industry, music is a byproduct. Originally published in 1991. A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.