Towards a new history of the piano

Michael Latcham
TOWARDS A NEW HISTORY OF THE PIANO
2019. 383pp with illustrations. 17x24 cm, paperback. ISBN 978-387397-270-4
Musikwissenschaftliche Schriften, Band 53 € 48,-
Histories of the piano usually provide a chronological sequence of inventions and events, sometimes starting as early as the fourteenth century, but in any case including the work of Bartolomeo Cristofori. His invention of about 1700 is usually described as already containing the main elements of the hammer mechanism of today’s grand piano. Although the line then appears to fade it re-emerges around 1760 with new pianos, often described as instruments with simplified versions of Cristo-fori’s hammer action. The progress continues, so goes the story, gaining momentum until modern grand pianos, powerful and largely uniform, are finally produced. Other inventions along the way are discussed in relation to the theme. The hammer mechanism invented by Johann Andreas Stein is included: pianos by him are typically contrasted with the English and French pianos, both of which had hammer mechanisms derived from Cristofori’s, to show why these pianos, and not Stein’s, formed the basis for the development of the modern piano.
Towards a new history of the piano rejects this evolutionary approach. Instead, the instruments of various makers are examined for what they were. A history of the early piano is thus offered that respects the work of each maker, not as a step in a development but as a creative contribution to the whole.
Two starting points for the history of the piano may be acknowledged. The first comprises the extraordinary perfor-mances given by Pantaleon Hebenstreit on his giant dulcimer, the Pantalon. Hebenstreit had developed his technique for playing this instrument by 1697. The Pantalon was much larger than an ordinary dulcimer and fully chromatic, probably with at least five octaves; it was played with hand-held wooden hammers. Hebenstreit, and after him his pupils, travelled widely as soloists, giving concerts. In 1714 Hebenstreit was appointed at the Dresden court of the Elector of Saxony, Augustus the Strong.
The second starting point in the history of the piano was Cristofori’s invention in about 1700 of a hammer action for the harpsichord. Cristofori worked at the Florentine court, taking care of musical instruments for Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici. The work of Hebenstreit and Cristofori, one a musician, the other an instrument maker, were of extraordinary importance to the piano. Hebenstreit especially inspired makers and players to appreciate the dynamic and expressive possibilities of using hammers to strike strings.
In this book, the inspiration given by Hebenstreit and Cristofori is traced in the work of many instrument makers of the eighteenth century. The book aims to present that work by describing the instruments themselves and by critically exami-ning contemporary written sources. Many of the illustrations in the book are from those sources. They include drawings from patents, portraits of owners and makers of the instrument, and drawings and engravings from other historical documents and books.
By the beginning of the nineteenth century the harpsichord and the clavichord disappeared and the piano became the only stringed keyboard instrument on the market. The competition among piano makers was one of the factors that led to uniformity: the differences in the sound produced by the pianos of the various makers became a matter of rarefied taste. Given this development, an evolutionary approach to the history of the piano has its place. The book ends with a chapter on Sébastien Erard, describing his contribution to the history of the piano, not only in the eighteenth century, developing the ideas of others before him, but also his pioneering work in the nineteenth century, the age of progress.
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