The first thing that comes to mind after the question of what kind of musical instruments you know is the piano. Indeed, this keyboard invention is a classic in the musical art. It is with the help of him that musical literacy and solfeggio are studied.
But did it immediately appear in the form in which we know it, and if not, what musical instrument was the predecessor of the piano?
From the start: monochord
The earliest and most famous progenitor of the piano is the monochord instrument. It is customary to refer it to the stringed pinch group, however, the purpose with which it was used was pretty close to one of the roles of the future keyboard instrument.
The predecessor of the piano carries its history to ancient Greek antiquity (6th century BC). The creators include Pythagoras.
Definition:
- Monochord is a musical invention whose purpose is to adjust intervals by fixing certain lengths of parts excited by a pinch of string.
It consisted of:
- from the base;
- two sills;
- moving coasters;
- one stretched string.
For a more accurate understanding, markers indicating the scale of string divisions could be applied to the predecessor of the piano.
Task: a monochord, starting from ancient times and reaching the borders of the Baroque, was an integral element in the study of musical theory. It was a tool for elementary literacy (solfeggio) and served as the best device for musical recognition.
More detailed instructions on the use of this tool, focusing on the principles of Pythagoras, can be found in the work of Euclid "Division of the canon." The author of the scientific work was a native of Ancient Greece, where he was engaged in the theory of mathematics.
During practice at the monochord, Pythagoras was able to find out how the pitch can affect the division of the string. By the principle of this invention, polychords with a large number of strings were created by enthusiasts.
The methods of sound extraction were different: tweaking, striking, using mandolins (mediators). However, the creation of a keyboard mechanism was a big step in the development of the instrument and the predecessor of the piano.
Clavichord
Clavichord is one of the most ancient instruments that emerged from the monochord. The exact time of creation is not dated so far. However, there is evidence of the first surviving clavichord, the production time of which falls on 1543. The inventor was Dominic of Pisa. Also, the earliest documentary mention of the instrument dates back to 1396.
If the monochord belonged wholly and completely to the group of stringed plucked ones, then in the clavichord the principle of a keyboard stringed instrument already carried its beginning.
Structure
Construction of an ancient keyboard instrument and predecessor of a piano:
- cap;
- custom pegs;
- tangents - flat-top metal rods;
- strings
- keys.
The size of the clavichord could be with the volume of the book and reach the length of the case of 1.5 meters.
On practice
Principle of work: the sound was extracted using those same tangents. When a key was pressed, the pin hit the string, like a hammer. Each key had one string (unlike the piano, where up to three strings work on one key at once).
The main performance was the reception of the Bebung game - one of the variants of the keyboard vibrato, the reproduction of which was possible only on the harpsichord.
Since the dynamic range was poor enough, string doubling or even tripling of strings for each tone was used to enhance the volume.
The sound volume varied from the initial two and a half octaves to four (in the 16th century), and then expanded the boundaries to five octaves.
Such a keyboard instrument and the predecessor of the piano were most often used for home music making, however, there were options with enlarged keyboards and pedals, allowing organists to practice them.
Variations
There were two options for the clavichord: connected and free.
1. The connected form was a simplified string set. In this case, the tangets in the amount of two or three keys beat the same string, but only in its different parts. This option allowed to reduce the number of strings, but at the same time limited the ability to play several notes simultaneously.
2. The free view had a complete set, where each key corresponded to a certain separate string.
The instrument received its moment of fame in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Famous composers such as Bach and his son Karl, as well as Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven had their hand in compositions for the clavichord.
At the beginning of the 19th century, the predecessor of the piano was completely supplanted by its young child.
Harpsichord: History
Harpsichord, like clavichord, refers to stringed keyboard instruments, the sound of which is plucked.
The documented history of the harpsichord originates from 1397 from a Padua (Italian) source. The first attempt to depict the instrument was made in 1425 in the city of Minden (Germany) on the altar of the cathedral.
For the first written description, you should thank Arno, a native of Holland, who depicted a harpsichord-like instrument in a drawing form. The work dates from the year 1445. However, unfortunately, the harpsichords of the 15th century could not be preserved.
Based on the data that have reached the present time, the instruments had small short volumes with a rather massive body. Most of the samples were made in the scientific and educational Italian city - Venice.
The registers were quite elegant, the hull consisted of cypress wood. The sound attack was much clearer and sharper, which distinguished the harpsichord from the piano predecessor described earlier - the clavichord.
Also, the second major city of Antwerp, located in Belgium, was a major center for manufacturing tools. This production was led by the Rykkers family, subsequently creating a whole dynasty of masters. Their individual work is distinguished by elongated strings and a weighty body.
Since 1590, they begin to invent harpsichords with two keyboards (manuals).
In the 17th century, representatives of France, Germany and England followed in the footsteps of the Flemish predecessors, some of whose works have survived to this day. Cases of samples were created from walnut.
In 1690, the work of the Ryukkers was continued by French colleagues, the production of the Blanchet family became particularly successful.
Famous English masters were considered the Kirkman and Shudi families. Their work could be distinguished by the plywood case made of oak wood and the wide sound of a brightly colored timbre instrument.
In the German city and in the center for the production of harpsichords in Hamburg, harpsichords with tripled manuals were created.
The predecessor of modern piano maintained its solo status until the very end of the 18th century, until a young and more perfect instrument replaced the first in the second half of the same century.
In 1809, Kirkman created the last sample, and a year later the harpsichord finally went out of use.
However, after a while, the tool is regenerated, the tool of which was the master of tools Arnold Dolmech. The first instrument he creates on the border of the XIX-XX centuries in London (1896). After a successful experiment, Arnold opens workshops in France (Paris) and in Boston (USA).
Since 1912, the era of a different aesthetics of the harpsichord is born. At the initiative of pianist Vanda Landovsky, the Pleyel workshop opens the production of concert instruments with a massive metal frame. The highlight of such samples was in the piano structure of the keyboard and pedals.
Unfortunately, in the second half of the 20th century the fashion for concert products is passing. Hubbard and Dowd Masters from Boston are the first to start making copies of the old piano predecessors.
Structure
In its original form, the tool was created in a quadrangular shape. In the XVII century it was modernized into a geometric figure of a triangle with a pterygoid and oblong beginning. The strings were arranged horizontally and parallel to the keyboard.
Sufficient attention was paid to the appearance of the instrument: the body was trimmed with carvings, drawings and inlay (decoration with materials different from the materials of the original surface).
The following details were present:
- housing;
- soundboard;
- cap;
- shteg;
- power socket;
- tuning rings
- keyboard.
Register features
The sound of the harpsichord is very recognizable: sonorous, sharp and even brilliant, but the predecessor of the piano as a musical instrument was not melodious. This was due to the inability to smoothly increase and decrease the dynamics of the sound. In this regard, several registers were created that could actually be switched using manual mechanisms (levers), geographically they were located on the side borders of the keyboard. Register switches for legs and knees came to light from the late 1750s.
Depending on the model, the following registers were distinguished:
- eight-foot - corresponded to musical notation;
- lute - proceeded from an eight-pound, when switching which strings were drowned out using a specialized mechanism of leather or felt;
- four-foot - sounded an octave higher;
- sixteen feet - sounded an octave lower.
Range
The harpsichord (instrument in front of the piano) range in the 15th century was three octaves. A century later, the possibilities of sound expanded to four octave units. In the XVIII century, the range was able to reach its maximum - five octaves.
Typical representatives of harpsichords have two keyboards (manuals), two (8-foot) or one (4-foot) set of strings that can be used at the same time using the invented register switches. The copula mechanism also appeared, giving a chance to use the registers of the second keyboard when playing the first.
Variations
Clavichorn and harpsichord were not the only keyboard instruments and predecessors of the piano. There were smaller samples with a single string set and four octaves.
- Spinet - strings stretched diagonally from left to right.
- Claviceterium - had elements of kifara, since the location of the body and strings was vertical.
- Verginel - the manual was to the left of the center, and the strings were perpendicular to the keys.
- Muselard - the manual was already to the right of the base, the strings still remained perpendicular.
Present
At the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, musical figures began to feel quite strongly the lack of expressiveness in the keyboard version, which would not be inferior in sound to the violin.
Directly the piano itself was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori - a master from Italy. In 1709, he was engaged in a mechanism working on the principle of a hammer, and after 2 years the experience was described in a Venetian magazine by art critic Scipio Maffei, who gave the instrument its name - "pianoforte". In full translation it sounds like this: "A keyboard instrument that plays quietly and loudly."
The debut work written for piano dates back to the 1732th century - it is the sonata of Louis Giustini.
Varieties of piano
Many have heard of instruments called the piano and piano, but there is still confusion about their differences.
- The piano is a smaller version of the piano where the strings and soundboard are arranged vertically.
- The piano is the main form of the piano, the body of which has a pterygoid shape. Strings, deck and mechanics are located horizontally.
The piano has a great advantage in terms of sound: the tone is more saturated and the range of dynamics is a hundred times wider.
Characteristic
For sounds located in the lower register, one string works, for the rest (middle and high), a paired or triple string group.
The range is a width from a subcontract to a fifth octave, which in total is 88 semitones or, more simply, keys.
Total
The history of the piano and its predecessors goes back to ancient times of antiquity. Each subsequent instrument was a step towards a more perfect look, without which now music is not possible.