世界钢琴史1157-2006

FROM THE BEGINNING OF TIME

At some time in the distant past, ancient man must have discovered that by stretching a thong between the horns of a dead animal, or on a branch that forked, a musical sound could be produced. The hunter would also have heard that the string of his bow would sound a definite pitch. Later it would have become clear that by stopping the string at different points and varying its length and thickness it could be made to sound other notes. Once two or more parallel strings were added to the bow, a rudimentary harp was created.

The first stringed instrument was the harp, on which the strings are plucked. The harmonic curve caused by the varied speaking lengths of strings dictated the shape of the frame of the piano and broadly follows the shape of a harp.

The monochord is simply a sound box with a single string stretched over a movable bridge to the position required, which is determined by a scale marked by "0" on the surface. The bridge is moved to each marking to give you a new note. It was plucked, and would now be referred to as a tone metre.

The psaltery was common in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. It is a shallow closed box where strings are stretched and sounded by plucking with the fingers or plectra. There was also a bowed version. The psaltery can be considered a forerunner of the harpsichord, since the strings are plucked, just as the dulcimer can be considered a forerunner of the piano, since its strings are struck. The hammer dulcimer is an ancient instrument dating back to before Christ, and it originated in Iran. The dulcimer and the psaltery may look alike, but they are played differently. Small wooden hammers are used on the strings of the dulcimer to set the strings vibrating, much as the hammers do on the piano's strings. The strings of the psaltery are plucked with the fingers or with a feather quill, as are the strings on the harpsichord.

800

Around this time in Rome, music notation started to be developed. At first it was crude, no more than a simple curve to indicate that the pitch should rise or fall. Then around 1160 in Paris the familiar five lines of the staff can be seen with the music notation, giving a clearer sense of pitch. Around 1400 in England the system of notation began to resemble our modern form, with open and closed notes. The colour red was used by some composers to indicate metric alterations, the use of such "colouration," as it was known, later giving way to other devices.

1157

Around the middle of the twelfth century we find the keyed monochord, which was developed further, several strings being added, until eventually we recognize the clavichord. A tangent was fitted to the back of each key, which when raised contacted the single string, and facilitated simultaneous notes. The tangent acted as a bridge determining the speaking length of the string. A mute was fitted to the non-speaking length, so when the key was released the note stopped singing.

1350

Towards the middle of the fourteenth century German wire smiths began drawing wire through steel plates, and this method continued until the beginning of the nineteenth century. Iron, gold, silver, brass, gut, horsehair and recently nylon have been used for strings on many different instruments. The earliest use of steel wire occurred in 1735 in Wales, but is not thought to have been used for the stringing of instruments. The Broadwood piano company stated that they were using steel wire in 1815 from Germany and Britain, but this has not been confirmed. According to the Oxford Companion, it was in 1819 that Brockedon began drawing steel wire through holes in diamonds and rubies. Before 1834 wire for instruments was made either from iron or brass, until Webster of Birmingham introduced steel wire. The firm seems to have been called Webster and Horsfall, but later the best wire is said to have come from Nuremberg and later still from Berlin. Wire has been plated in gold, silver, and platinum to stop rusting and plated wire can still be bought, but polished wire is best. In 1862 Broadwood claimed that a Broadwood grand would take a strain of about 17 tons, with the steel strings taking 150 pounds each. There had been many makers, but it was not until 1883 that the now-famous wire-making firm of Roslau began in West Germany. According to Wolfenden, by 1893 one firm claimed their wire had a breaking strain for gauge 13 of 325 pounds. The same maker gives some earlier dates for the breaking strain of gauge 13: 1867 - 226 pounds; 1873 - 232 pounds; 1876 - 265 pounds; and 1884 - 275 pounds.