Books › A dictionary of musical terms, 1907 › scan 160
Scan 160
A dictionary of musical terms, 1907
26 lines. Read by computer on 16 September 2026. Printed page 150. See the scan on archive.org.
1Piacere, a (It.) "At pleasure"; a direction equivalent to ad libitum, signifying that the expression of the passage so marked is left to the performer's discretion.—Also marks the introduction of a cadenza. (Sometimes a piacimento.)
3Piacevole (It.) Pleasant, agreeable; calls for a smooth, suave rendering, free from forcible or passionate accents. ..Piacevolmente, smoothly, suavely.
5Piacimento (It.) Equiv. to Piacere.
7Pianette. A low form of upright piano.
9Piangendo (It., "weeping, tearful.") Wailing, plaintive. (Also piangevole, piangevolmente.)
11Pianino (It., dimin. of piano.) An upright pianoforte.
13Pianista (It.) 1. A pianist.—2. A mechanical pianoforte.
15Piano (It.) Soft, softly (sign p)…Piano pedal, the soft or left pedal of the pfte…Pianissimo (superl. of piano), very soft (sign pp or ppp).
17Piano. (Abbr. of Pianoforte)…Boudoir p., a short style of grand pfte…Cabinet p., an old form of upright pfte. ..Cottage p., see Cottage…Dumb p., a pfte.-keyboard without action or strings, used for silent mechanical practice. (See Virgil Practice-Clavier.)…Electric p., one whose strings are set in vibration by electro-magnets instead of hammers…Grand p., see Pianoforte. …Pedal-piano, see Pedal…Piccolo p., a small upright piano introduced by Wornum of London in 1829…Semi-grand p., same as Boudoir…Square, Upright p., see Pianoforte.
19Piano (Fr.) A pianoforte…P. à archet, piano-violin…P. à claviers renversés, a grand pfte. having 2 keyboards, one above the other, the ascending scale of the upper one running from right to left…P. à queue, grand pfte.; à queue écourtée, boudoir grand pfte…P. à secrétaire, cabinet pfte…P. carré, square pfte…P. droit (oblique, à pilastres, vertical), upright pfte…P. éolien, see Anemochord…P. harmonicorde, a combined pfte. and harmonium, inv. by Debain…P. mécanique, a mechanical piano…P. muet, dumb pfte…P. organisé, a pfte. with physharmonica-attachment.
21Pianoforte. (Ger. Klavier' [in Ger. Pianoforte] usually means "square piano"]; Fr. piano [more rarely pianoforte or forté-piano, very seldom forté]; It. pian'no, pianofor'te.) A keyboard stringed instr. of percussion, the tones being produced by hammers striking the strings.—The principal parts are (1) the Frame, (2) the Soundboard, (3) the Strings, (4) the Action, and (5) the Pedals.—According to the shape of the case, pftes. are classed as GRAND (harp-shaped; Ger. Flü'gel; Fr. piano à queue; It. pian'no a co'da), with horizontal strings and built in several sizes, as Concert Grand, Parlor Grand, Boudoir;—SQUARE (oblong; Ger. Pianofo'nte, or ta'felförmiges Klavier'; Fr. piano carré; It. pianofor'te a tavoli'no) with horizontal strings;—and UPRIGHT (buffet-shaped; Ger. and It. Piani'no; Fr. piano droit) with vertical or slanting strings.
23(1) The Frame is now generally of iron cast in one piece (Broadwood's pftes. form the most notable exception to this rule), and braced with cross-bars and trusses to resist the string-tension. which varies from about 12 up to nearly 20 tons.—(2) Below the frame is the Soundboard, near the front end of which is a bridge of hard wood over which the strings are stretched.—(3) The Strings are attached at one end by hitchpins to the stringplate, and at the other to wrestpins (tuning-pins) set in the wrest-plank; they are of steel wire, the bass strings of a steel core covered (coiled) with copper wire; 8 or 10 of the lowest bass tones have one string, about 1½ octaves above have 2 strings, and the remaining 5 octaves 3 strings, to each tone; such pairs or triplets of strings to one tone are called unisons.—(4) The Action consists essentially of the key (digital, finger-lever); the hopper on the rear end of the key, raising the hammer when the key is depressed, and allowing the instant escape of the latter after propelling the hammer, which can therefore immediately rebound into position after striking the string; the hammer, hinged at the butt, with a slim round shank, upon which is fixed the head (the hammer proper) made of felt and sometimes covered with leather.—(5) The Pedals are 2 (sometimes 3) in number: (a) Damper-pedal, (b) Piano pedal, (c) Sustaining-pedal (comp. art. Pedal).
25The idea of the key-mechanism was derived indirectly, through the mono-
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