BY LORRAINE BERTAN,
CULTURE COMMITTEE
Twenty-one million Americans
play the piano. Elton
John and Billy Joel play
the piano. Calvin Coolidge, Harry
Truman and Richard Nixon
played the piano. Albert Einstein
and Thomas Edison played the
piano. How many people in your
family play the piano?
The piano names associated
with famous piano manufacturers,
Steinway, Bechstein, Bosendorfer
and Bluthner, are German firms,
but the piano was invented by
an Italian harpsichord maker,
Bartolomeo Christofori in approximately
1700. The piano produces
sound by striking strings with
hammers which cause vibrations.
The harpsichord plucks strings
with “plectrums” when a key is
struck. The piano can adjust the
volume of the sound, from soft
(piano) to loud (forte) and contains
a pedal which can sustain
the sound, which accounted for
its popularity when introduced.
The piano contains 88 keys which
provide a range of frequencies
compatible with the frequencies
detected by the human ear. Since
both the piano
and the harpsichord depend
on strings, loosening becomes
significant, so tuning is required.
Pianos were extremely expensive
and after their introduction
only royalty and aristocrats owned
them. Playing the piano afforded
status and women were encouraged
to play the piano to enhance
their marriageability status. The
decoration of pianos allowed for
displays of artistic opulence and
during the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries the music room
became a cultural and artistic icon
in the homes of the wealthy. Major
composers and pianists of these
times were Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, Joseph Hayden, Ludwig
Beethoven, Clara and Robert
Schumann, Franz Schubert,
Frederick Chopin, Franz Liszt
and Nicholo Paganini.
The social history of the music
room with its piano and other
music instruments parallel the
rise of the middle class and the
industrialists during the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries.
During the Victorian era, the
piano and the music room were a
symbol of social status and Emma
Wedgewood, the daughter of
industrialist Josiah Wedgewood,
took lessons from Frederick
Chopin and was an accomplished
pianist. Her husband, Charles
Darwin, was an appreciative listener
to her playing when he took
a break from writing the “Origin
of Species.” During the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries the piano
became symbolic with education
and culture, and public schools,
public buildings and hotels all
possessed pianos.
The popularity of the piano
became worldwide, and Japan
became a center of piano manufacturing
in the Far East along with
European countries. Steinway
moved to New York City and produced
the first American Steinway
in 1853. The Juilliard School,
Manhattan School of Music and
The Curtis Institute of Music were
founded during the twentieth century
for the performing arts. All of
Juilliard’s practice rooms contain
Steinways, a relationship that goes
back to 1924 and the founding
of the Juilliard Graduate School.
When Juilliard opened its doors
in 1905, the first director was
Walter Damrosch, Head of Music
Education in New York City, and
the godson of Franz Liszt.
During the Great Depression,
piano sales declined and many
piano manufacturers went out
of business. Beginning with the
player piano, radio, television
and electronic keyboards have
replaced the piano as the heart
of the home. Mass entertainment
has encouraged people to leave
the home.
Pianos are still secure as expensive
additions to the home and
are concentrated once again in
the homes of the wealthy who
want their children to acquire the
discipline of piano study. Pianos
appear in the lobbies of grand
hotels, always present in schools
and enjoyed in the concert venue,
both classical and modern. Piano
sales increased during the pandemic
as people felt trapped in
their homes and looked for ways
to make their lives more interesting
by learning to play or playing
the piano.
The Piano
Elton John’s piano
Alma Tadema Steinway piano at the Clarke Institute, Pittsfield,
Massachusetts
Pierre Auguste Renoir, “Girls at
the Piano”
Beethoven’s piano 34 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ August 2021