Scan 67
A Dictionary of music and musicians : (A.D. 1450-1880), 1880
14 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026. Printed page 55. See the scan on archive.org.
1KEY.
3in two fingerings, according as a lower or upper key may be the keynote. The note C becomes a black key, and the thumb is more frequently used on the black keys than has been usually permitted with the old keyboard. The latest school of pianists, however, regard the black and white keys as on a level (see Preface to Dr. Hans von Bülow's Selection from Cramer's Studies, 1868) and this has tended to modify opinions on the point. In 1876-7 the partisans of the new German keyboard formed themselves into a society, with the view of settling the still more difficult and vexed question of the reconstruction of musical notation. Thus, discarding all signs for sharps and flats, the five lines of the stave and one ledger line below, correspond to six black finger-keys for C, D, E, F, G, A, and the four spaces, including the two blanks one above and one below the stave, correspond to six white finger-keys, C, D, F, G, A, B. Each octave requires a repetition of the stave, and the particular octave is indicated by a number. The keyboard and the stave consequently correspond exactly, black for black and white for white, while the one ledger line shews the break of the octave. And further the pitch for each note, and the exact interval between two notes, for equal temperament, is shewn by the notation as well as on the keyboard. The name of the association is 'Chroma-Verein des gleichstüfigen Tonsystems.' It has published a journal, 'Die Tonkunst' (Berlin, Stilke), edited by Albert Hahn, whose pamphlet, 'Zur neuen Klaviatur' (Königsberg, 1875), with those of Vincent, 'Die Neuklaviatur' (Malchin, 1875) and of Otto Quanz, 'Zur Geschichte der neuen chromatischen Klaviatur' (Berlin, 1877), are important contributions to the literature of the subject. The inventor appears to have been K. B. Schumann, a physician at Rhinow in Brandenburg, who died in 1865, after great personal sacrifices for the promotion of his idea. The pianoforte maker of the society is Preuss of Berlin, who constructs the keyboard with C on a black key; width of octave 14 centimetres,1 (5 1/2 inches nearly), and with radiating keys by which a tenth becomes as easy to span as an octave is at present. About sixteen other pianoforte makers are named, and public demonstrations have been given all over Germany. In this system much stress is laid upon C being no longer the privileged key. It will henceforth be no more 'natural' than its neighbours. Whether our old keyboard be destined to yield to such a successor or not, there is very much beautiful piano music of our own time, naturally contrived to fit the form of the hand to it, which it might be very difficult to graft upon another system even if it were more logically simple.
5The fact that the fingering of the right hand upwards is frequently that of the left hand downwards has led to the construction of a 'Piano à double claviers renversés,' shown in the Paris Exhibition of 1878 by MM. Mangeot frères of that city. It is in fact two grand pianos, one placed upon the other, with keyboards reversed, as the name indicates, the lower commencing as usual with the lowest bass note at the left hand; the higher having the highest treble note in the same position, so that an ascending scale played upon it proceeds from right to left; the notes running the contrary way to what has always been the normal one. By this somewhat cumbersome contrivance an analogous fingering of similar passages in each hand is secured, with other advantages, in playing extensions and avoiding the crossing of the hands, etc. [A.J.H.]
7III. KEYS (Fr. Clefs; Ger. Klappe; Ital. Chiare). The name given to the levers on wind-instruments which serve the purpose of opening and closing certain of the sound-holes. They are divided into Open and Closed keys, according to the function which they perform. In the former case they stand normally above their respective holes, and are closed by the pressure of the finger; whereas in the latter they close the hole until lifted by muscular action. The closed keys are levers of the first, the open keys usually of the third mechanical order. They serve the purpose of bringing distant orifices within the reach of the hand, and of covering apertures which are too large for the last phalanx of the finger. They are inferior to the finger in lacking the delicate sense of touch to which musical expression is in a great measure due. In the Bassoon therefore the sound-holes are bored obliquely in the substance of the wood so as to diminish the divergence of the fingers. Keys are applied to instruments of the Flute family, to Reeds, such as the Oboe and Clarinet, and to instruments with cupped mouthpieces, such as the Key Bugle and the Ophicleide, the name of which is a compound of the Greek words for Snake and Key. [OPHICLEIDE.] In the original Serpent the holes themselves were closed by the pad of the finger, the tube being so curved as to bring them within reach. [SERPENT.]
9The artistic arrangement of Keys on all classes of wind instruments is a recent development. Flutes, Oboes, Bassoons, and Clarinets, up to the beginning of the present century or even later, were almost devoid of them. The Bassoon however early possessed several in its bass joint for the production of the six lowest notes on its register, which far exceed the reach of the hand. In some earlier specimens, as stated in the article referred to, this mechanism was rudely preceded by plugs, requiring to be drawn out before performance and not easily replaced with the necessary rapidity. [See BASSOON.]
11The older Flutes, Clarinets, and Oboes only possess three or four keys at most, cut out of sheet metal, and closely resembling mustard-spoons. The intermediate tones, in this deficiency of keys, were produced by what are termed 'cross-fingerings,' which consist essentially in closing one or two lower holes with the fingers, while leaving one intermediate open. A rude approximation to a semitone was thus attained, but the note is usually of a dull and muffled character. Boehm, in the flute named after him, entirely
131 The width of 6 of the present keys.
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