The Early Pianoforte

The Early Pianoforte
Title The Early Pianoforte PDF eBook
Author Stewart Pollens
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 328
Release 1995-09-14
Genre Music
ISBN 9780521417297

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This is the first comprehensive study of the history and technology of the early piano.

Bartolomeo Cristofori and the Invention of the Piano

Bartolomeo Cristofori and the Invention of the Piano
Title Bartolomeo Cristofori and the Invention of the Piano PDF eBook
Author Stewart Pollens
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 401
Release 2017-08-03
Genre Art
ISBN 110709657X

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The first comprehensive study of Bartolomeo Cristofori's working life, featuring detailed technical documentation about his instruments.

A History of Pianoforte Pedalling

A History of Pianoforte Pedalling
Title A History of Pianoforte Pedalling PDF eBook
Author David Rowland
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 208
Release 1993-12-02
Genre Music
ISBN 0521402662

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A history of piano pedalling from its beginnings in the eighteenth century to its maturity in the nineteenth century.

A Natural History of the Piano

A Natural History of the Piano
Title A Natural History of the Piano PDF eBook
Author Stuart Isacoff
Publisher Vintage
Pages 385
Release 2011-11-15
Genre Music
ISBN 0307701425

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A beautifully illustrated, totally engrossing celebration of the piano, and the composers and performers who have made it their own. With honed sensitivity and unquestioned expertise, Stuart Isacoff—pianist, critic, teacher, and author of Temperament: How Music Became a Battleground for the Great Minds of Western Civilization—unfolds the ongoing history and evolution of the piano and all its myriad wonders: how its very sound provides the basis for emotional expression and individual style, and why it has so powerfully entertained generation upon generation of listeners. He illuminates the groundbreaking music of Mozart, Beethoven, Liszt, Schumann, and Debussy. He analyzes the breathtaking techniques of Glenn Gould, Oscar Peterson, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Arthur Rubinstein, and Van Cliburn, and he gives musicians including Alfred Brendel, Murray Perahia, Menahem Pressler, and Vladimir Horowitz the opportunity to discuss their approaches. Isacoff delineates how classical music and jazz influenced each other as the uniquely American art form progressed from ragtime, novelty, stride, boogie, bebop, and beyond, through Scott Joplin, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Cecil Taylor, and Bill Charlap. A Natural History of the Piano distills a lifetime of research and passion into one brilliant narrative. We witness Mozart unveiling his monumental concertos in Vienna’s coffeehouses, using a special piano with one keyboard for the hands and another for the feet; European virtuoso Henri Herz entertaining rowdy miners during the California gold rush; Beethoven at his piano, conjuring healing angels to console a grieving mother who had lost her child; Liszt fainting in the arms of a page turner to spark an entire hall into hysterics. Here is the instrument in all its complexity and beauty. We learn of the incredible craftsmanship of a modern Steinway, the peculiarity of specialty pianos built for the Victorian household, the continuing innovation in keyboards including electronic ones. And most of all, we hear the music of the masters, from centuries ago and in our own age, brilliantly evoked and as marvelous as its most recent performance. With this wide-ranging volume, Isacoff gives us a must-have for music lovers, pianists, and the armchair musician.

English Keyboard Music Before the Nineteenth Century

English Keyboard Music Before the Nineteenth Century
Title English Keyboard Music Before the Nineteenth Century PDF eBook
Author John Caldwell
Publisher Courier Corporation
Pages 376
Release 1985-01-01
Genre Music
ISBN 9780486248516

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English keyboard art from Robertsbridge Codex (c. 1325) to John Field. Illuminating coverage of organ, harpsichord, pianoforte, other instruments; works of Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Tomkins, many others. Bibliography.

The Music of Life

The Music of Life
Title The Music of Life PDF eBook
Author Elizabeth Rusch
Publisher Simon and Schuster
Pages 52
Release 2017-04-18
Genre Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN 1481444859

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Award-winning biographer Elizabeth Rusch and two-time Caldecott Honor–recipient Marjorie Priceman team up to tell the inspiring story of the invention of the world’s most popular instrument: the piano. Bartolomeo Cristofori coaxes just the right sounds from the musical instruments he makes. Some of his keyboards can play piano, light and soft; others make forte notes ring out, strong and loud, but Cristofori longs to create an instrument that can be played both soft and loud. His talent has caught the attention of Prince Ferdinando de Medici, who wants his court to become the musical center of Italy. The prince brings Cristofori to the noisy city of Florence, where the goldsmiths’ tiny hammers whisper tink, tink and the blacksmiths’ big sledgehammers shout BANG, BANG! Could hammers be the key to the new instrument? At last Cristofori gets his creation just right. It is called the pianoforte, for what it can do. All around the world, people young and old can play the most intricate music of their lives, thanks to Bartolomeo Cristofori’s marvelous creation: the piano.

The Piano-Forte

The Piano-Forte
Title The Piano-Forte PDF eBook
Author Rosamond E. M. Harding
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Pages 529
Release 2014-07-24
Genre Music
ISBN 1107418275

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Originally published in 1933, this book provides a detailed history of the piano-forte from its invention in Italy in the eighteenth century until the presentation of the first European cast-iron frame for a piano at the 1851 Great Exhibition. Harding also analyses the role of the piano as a replacement for a chamber orchestra and its history as a domestic instrument. The text is richly illustrated with images of pianos produced by a variety of makers over time, as well as with images of piano machinery taken from patent registrations. This thoroughly-researched book will be of value to anyone with an interest in one of the most ubiquitous instruments in the Western world and the history of its development.