A History Of Stringed Keyboard Instruments

The first comprehensive technical and historical study of stringed keyboard instruments from their fourteenth-century origins to modern times.

Excerpt from A Description and History of the Pianoforte and of the Older Keyboard Stringed Instruments There is no musical instrument so extensively used as the piano forte, and there is certainly none so little understood by the player, in the construction, or the legitimate treatment according to the construction. It would be more intimately known if the performer had to tune it, but the difficulty Of tuning renders the employment of a specialist in that art necessary. Few piano players know more about a piano than that the sounds are caused by hammers striking against wire strings. There has, however, arisen in our leading music schools a desire to know more, and students are not now satisfied to remain unacquainted with the nature of their instru ment. TO assist those who are curious about its construction is one of the Obj ects for which this book is written. I have chosen to start from the introduction of iron in the construction of the pianoforte, about 1820, as convenient for my purpose, regarding the entirely wooden framed piano as appertaining to an historical division, in which the precursors Of the piano, the clavichord, virginal or spinet, and harpsichord will be found. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This book looks at the history of the three types of stringed keyboard instrument that dominated Western music from the sixteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth century.The Virginal, which provided the musical accompaniment to the reign of Elizabeth 1st, was part of the family that also included the harpsichord, which was the concert keyboard for over two hundred years, and its smaller cousin the spinet, which could be found in ladies' chambers across Europe. But not every polite lady owned a spinet - for some this instrument, with its plucked strings, was altogether too harsh -and the clavichord, which used flexible quills to stroke the strings, was much a much gentler option. In the latter part of the eighteenth century a new type of keyboard began to sweep all of these instruments into history: the fortepiano, the forerunner of the piano. This instrument used hammers to strike the strings, giving the possibility, for the first time, of real dynamic contrast.