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History of pianos scholarly
History of the piano
History of pianos scholarly
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Batrolomeo Cristofori brings the piano into the musical arena around 1709 in Florence, Italy. One of Cristoforis previous instruments, the harpsichord, actually brought about the idea of the piano. Cristofori wanted to develop a more dynamic instrument, because the harpsichord had such a small dynamic range. His answer to that problem was the ‘gravicembali col piano e forte,’ which meant harpsichord with soft and loud. This long name was shortened to pianoforte, and then eventually forte was dropped, and now these modern instruments are known as pianos. As the keeper of instruments in Prince Ferdinand’s court in Florence, Cristofori reinvented the harpsichord into the piano. The actual date that he created the piano is unknown, but …show more content…
Interestingly enough, in one article, Bach is mentioned saying that at first he was not that fond of it. Not until after the Seven Years War was over did pianos become famous in Germany. A few instrument makers in the early 18th century were building on what Cristofori had invented. One of these makers was Zumpe who became famous for his “square” pianos around the 1720’s in Germany. Fransisco Mirabal is making pianos in Spain in 1745, while Thomas Culliford starts a piano making business in London just five years later. In the 1760’s Guib and Gulliford were making pianos for Longman & Broderip (famous music publishers). A few years later in 1772, Johann Stein developed pianos with what is called the Viennese action, which is allegedly the type of piano Mozart preferred. It was not until 1775 that the piano made its debut in America. Johann Behrent of Philadelphia created square …show more content…
While Tchaikovsky is known for his compositions of classical ballet, he was overall great as a pianist. Like most composers of music, his compositions reflected that of his feelings greatly, which helped him connect to the public and spread his music quite well. As a child, he became better than his teacher in one year, and at the age of ten went to the School of Jurisprudence and quickly completed the upper division classes. After graduating, he did four years at the Ministry of Justice, which didn’t really suite him well. Once out of the Ministry of Justice in the 1860s, he joined the Music Conservatory at the age of 22. Shortly after joining, he composed his first orchestral score in 1864. Two years later, he settled down in Moscow and started to increase his fame as a composer. In the following years he would tour around Europe and even into the United States. In 1893, six days after the premiere of his last piece he
It was not only until the spring of that year that he for first time left Hamburg professionally. He undertook a tour with the Hungarian violinist Eduard Remenyi for the purpose of introducing himself and his works. At Gottingen they gave a concert in which the young pianist made a deep impression upon the musicians present. He and Remenyi were to play Beethoven?s Kreutzer sonata, but at the last moment it was discovered that the piano was half a tone too low.
At the age of 17, Balanchine entered the Conservatory of Music. He studied piano, composition and th...
Since the first person heard the wind whistle through the trees or the sea in a seashell humans have been drawn to sound. Being the oppressive and ingenious species that we are we felt the need to capture these sounds and any others that we could to keep for our own. Eventually people like Pythagoras and gods such as Apollo found that by stretching materials and picking/plucking them that they would produce sounds and that the tighter you stretched these strings the higher the sound would go. These were the early beginnings of the pianoforte.
Pyotr Tchaikovsky lived from May 7, 1840 to November 6, 1893. He attended school to be a lawyer, but later chose to devote his life to music. He is one of the well known Romantic Era composers. Some of his most characteristic compositions include: Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker Suite.
Igor Stravinsky, remains the century’s most shocking and versatile composer. Born in Russia in 1882, Stravinsky enjoyed a musically wealthy childhood. He was the son of a famous opera singer and well-educated in piano performance and harmony/counterpoint. His parents sent him to St. Petersburg University to obtain a Criminal Law/Legal Philosophy degree. While attending school, Stravinsky befriended a young man whose father, Rimsky-Korsokav, later developed a special affinity for Stravinksy’s music (Nousiainen). Because Stravinsky was not schooled in traditional techniques, Rimsky-Korsakov advised him to continue private harmony and counterpoint lessons, rather than attend a formal conservatory. Rimsky-Korsakov, professor at such an institution, thought the rigorous atmosphere might overwhelm and discourage the young composer (Walsh). Despite this lack of formal training, Stravinsky created some of the 20th century's most profound pieces.
Even though the exact year the harpsichord was created there are many written accounts of a
The first composer is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who was born on May 7, 1840, in Vyataka, Russia. When he was just five years old, he began taking piano lessons. In 1863, he moved to Moscow, where he became a professor of harmony at the Moscow Conservatory. At age 21 he decided to take more music lessons at the Russian Musical Society. In 1868 was the very first time Tchaikovsky’s work was publicly performed.
Examining Mozart as a keyboardist would also require an exploration into his role as an organist and if his early encounter and training in this instrument influenced his decision to add a pedalboard to his piano. When discussing Mozart as a keyboardist, little attention has been devoted to how influential his training and interest was as an organist. I argue that Mozart’s keyboard style was very much influenced by the organ’s characteristics. Analyzing his compositions may reveal his continued reference to organ literature. Although the originality of Mozart’s piano is under debate since it has been altered in many ways since his death, the now missing pedalboard is well documented. This fact questions the originality of the damper-raising knee levers in Mozart’s piano. Simply, if the feet are busy playing the pedals, is it still possible to raise the damper rail with the knee? An answer may be offered by the hand stops in Mozart’s piano for operating the dampers. To support my argument, Variation IV of Mozart’s “alla Turca” Sonata K. 331 reveal three textural layers that can be conveniently played on the pedal piano using the feet for the bass and the hands for the treble. Further, a hand will be free to reactivate the hand stops and lift the damper rail, thus allowing the pianist to re-orient the listener from the preceding minor variation to the current variation in
Bie, Oscar. A History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players. trans. by E. E. Kellett
John Warrack, author of 6 Great Composers, stated, “Any study of a composer, however brief, must have as its only purpose encouragement of the reader to greater enjoyment of the music” (Warrack, p.2). The composers and musicians of the Renaissance period need to be discussed and studied so that listeners, performers, and readers can appreciate and understand the beginnings of music theory and form. The reader can also understand the driving force of the composer, whether sacred or secular, popularity or religious growth. To begin understanding music composition one must begin at the birth, or rebirth of music and the composers who created the great change.
He published his first orchestral works, a symphony and an opera, by 1869 (1). Inspired by E. T. A. Hoffmann’s libretto, Tchaikovsky wrote his best-recognized ballet, The Nutcracker (“Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky” 2).The Nutcracker lends an ironic understatement to Tchaikovsky because of the ballet’s cheerfulness and Tchaikovsky’s various forms of mental stress he faced throughout his life (2).... ... middle of paper ... ...
Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular of all composers. The reasons are several and understandable. His music is extremely tuneful, opulently and colourfully scored, and filled with emotional passion. Undoubtedly the emotional temperature of the music reflected the composer's nature. He was afflicted by both repressed homosexuality and by the tendency to extreme fluctuations between ecstasy and depression. Tchaikovsky was neurotic and deeply sensitive, and his life was often painful, but through the agony shone a genius that created some of the most beautiful of all romantic melodies. With his rich gifts for melody and special flair for writing memorable dance tunes, with his ready response to the atmosphere of a theatrical situation and his masterly orchestration, Tchaikovsky was ideally equipped as a ballet composer. His delightful fairy-tale ballets, Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker are performed more than any other ballets. Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky's first ballet, was commissioned by the Imperial Theatres in Moscow in 1875. He used some music from a little domestic ballet of the same title, composed for his sister Alexandra's children in 1871.
This report will discuss the career of prominent Italian architect, Renzo Piano. Topics discussed include: design approach, influences, building typology and the materials used, as well as a biography of Renzo.
In Medieval (1100 to 1450), the size of Pipe Organ’s keys is very big and people was only be able to play diatonic notes which is known as the white notes on current keyboard today. Until the mid of 15th century, the Organs were developed and allowed people to play both diatonic notes and chromatic notes (the notes is similar to the black keys of current keyboard nowadays). In the Renaissance (1450 to 1600), around in the year of 1500, It is easy for people to play these organs because the size of keys were also decreased. Moreover, at this time, in the north of Germany, Pipe Organ is stepped into a new stage because it was developed to have all the basic characteristics similar to the current ones. Until the Baroque period (1600 to 1750), it is known as a golden age of building organs, the Builders such as Jasper Johannsen, Zacharias Hildebrandt and Gottfried Silbermann are famous constructer who created beautiful sound for people. In the early in Romantic period, when the orchestra Music is in common in human lives, Pipe organs were out of having deep affection to the people, because of an appearance of reed organs which is smaller, more convenient, especially, the price of this Organs also less
Niccolò Paganini's first known performance was at the church of Saint Filippo Neri on May 26, 1794. After significant progress, Paganini traveled to Parma with his father to study with Alessandro Rolla. To cover the expense of the trip Paganini played a special concert on July 31, 1795. Afte...