Scan 63
Musical Courier 1892-12-21: Vol 25 Iss 668, 1892
52 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 56. See the scan on archive.org.
1"A NOBLE ART."
2BY FANNY MORRIS SMITH.
4ATTENTION was recently called in these columns to a publication entitled "A Noble Art" (for sale by G. Schirmer, Union Square, New York), consisting of a group of three lectures "on the evolution and construction of the piano," by Miss Fanny Morris Smith, and we promised to do our best to secure from the author the privilege of reproducing some parts of the work in these columns.
6Thanks to the kindness of Miss Smith, the readers of this paper are to-day enabled to get a view, to some extent, at least, of the field covered by her in the volume referred to.
8The chief aim and purport of Miss Smith's book are to show and prove that piano making is not a mere handicraft and trade, but an art, and as such the cause of inspiration and of aesthetic development. She recognizes further that it is not only an art, but a science, and for that reason, because of this co-ordination and co-operation, the pursuit of piano building as accepted in its true sense gives scope to the highest ideals and aspirations.
10This view should permeate every intelligent member of the piano making guild who desires to eliminate from its ranks those who have a merely sordid ambition in connection with so "noble" an "art;" and a debt of gratitude is due to her who has given to us a compendium which logically demonstrates the force of the argument around and about which she builds the evidences of the truths she utters. It is a work which should adorn libraries and which every piano builder should be proud to possess.
12A point at times alluded to by us is forcibly brought to the foreground by the author, and it is this, viz.: That the name upon the piano constitutes, in its relations to the instrument, a "distinct artistic ideal." We have always denominated it as the individuality. Miss Smith gives more form to the thought and makes it really a distinct concept. The piano, dissociated from the name, loses its character, and hence ceases to represent the definite classification necessary to make it a "distinct ideal." Oh! how strong is this defense of THE MUSICAL COURIER stencil warfare, and in the case of the author of this work the defense was unconsciously made, and this reference may be the first indication of such a view of the position taken by Miss Smith.
14However, there is so much of real and substantial interest in the volume that we will at once enter upon the subject matter by reprinting Part II., which will be of particular interest to makers of pianos and other musical instruments. The profundity of Miss Smith's studies will be most thoroughly appreciated by those who take an active interest in the artistic development of the piano. It is to these that she appeals most powerfully.
16II.
18SCIENTIFIC CONSTRUCTION OF THE PIANO.
20Geselle ist wer was kann;
21Meister ist war was ersann;
22Lehrling ist Jedermann.
24Theodore Steinway's Motto.
26I approach the scientific construction of the piano with diffidence. When I first pondered the subject I had continually in mind what Coleridge calls the sublimest of utterances, viz., Ezekiel's when he exclaims, "Can these dry bones live?"
28To clothe them with living interest, it is most convenient to explain, piece by piece, the mechanism of an existing piano made by one particular house.
30An article of furniture may described impersonally; for instance, a chair, as to its legs, seat and back; a stove, as to its cylinder and shaker. Not so a picture or a statue.
32I abstract from the "Critic" the following notice: "For sale, a number of paintings, all signed works, bearing the artist's name on a plate on the frame, including one, 57 x 42, by Henry; one, 51 x 40, by Bresciani, etc." Were the description more definite you would read "Animals by Landseer"; "Landscape by Corot." It is the hint of the feeling and genius of the artist that describes the work of art. So you must say "Piano by Chickering or Steinway," and the name separates a definite artistic ideal from the endless variety of possible means and treatment—separates an ideal just as inherent in the genius of the inventor as does the phrase "Interior by Gérôme," or "Evening by Innes."
34To treat of a general pattern of wooden plates and iron girders would not initiate you into the charming secrets of the piano. We enter here the region of perpetual choice and interdependent combination. Here an ideal beckons, and a personal loyalty and talent struggle toward it. In short, we deal with an art. Now, an art presupposes an artist.
36I have selected the Steinway piano. There are others upon which a musician can express his feeling with pleasure; their manufacturers have worked tirelessly, and spent their money freely and intelligently, in perfecting them. But no house has associated itself in closer fellowship with scientific research than that of Steinway. Its members have been skilled handicraftsmen, whom the first scientific societies of Europe have welcomed to their fellowship. The scientific aspect of my theme can be most easily and naturally shown by reference to the piano originated by such minds.
38All the other great makers have confronted the same problems; all have arrived at more or less complete, though often widely different, solutions. Each house has worked along the lines of its own tradition, and, in seeking to preserve some excellence whose discovery was, perhaps, the initial point of its success, has more or less qualified all its succeeding investigations and improvements. A discussion of the variations of practice among the dozen great makers of to-day would occupy many months. If the piano were nothing but the box of strings it is crudely fancied, it would have no claim on the affection or respect of civilization, such as I hope to show to be its right. The loving toil which generations of men have devoted to its evolution is a touchstone to the strength of artistic emotion in the human family. Its progress, keeping step with that of science, makes it not only the child of this and that great manufacturing house, but the characteristic offspring of the learning of our age and civilization—of the genius of such men as Huyghens, Laplace and Helmholtz—just as truly as it is of that of Erard, Bechstein, and Steinway. And I cannot insist too often that it is, above and beyond them, the fruit of Christianity, which, in teaching the infinite value of each human soul, gave each soul a right and necessity of expression such as it had never before possessed, and so taught humanity the art of Christian music.
40Through the courtesy of Steinway & Sons I am able to show you these models of the essential parts of their piano: the rim and braces, resting on certain supports above the legs proper, viz., consoles and keybottom; the soundboard, which lies upon this rim; the action, whose place in a grand piano is below and in front of the soundboard, and the iron frame, which not only carries the strings but opposes the resistance of its tension bars to their drawing power. Beside these models I place the body of a Broadwood piano, made, as I judge, from the five-and-a-half octave keyboard during the time of Haydn. (The Broadwoods claim the subsequent extension of compass [c to c] as theirs, though Southwell's six octaves [f to f'] preceded them [Spillane].) If you will look at this Nuns & Clark you will see an American piano probably prior to the patent of Jonas Chickering's overstrung square, and to the fan scale of Henry Steinway. A glance shows the advance made since its construction. Its cramped strings, tiny iron plate, absurd hammers, hardly larger than those of the preceding century, all mark an earlier epoch of piano history. one of two readings
41Through the courtesy of Steinway & Sons I am able to show you these models of the essential parts of their piano: the rim and braces, resting on certain supports above the legs proper, viz., consoles and keybottom; the soundboard, which lies upon this rim; the action, whose place in a grand piano is below and in front of the soundboard, and the iron frame, which not only carries the strings but opposes the resistance of its tension bars to their drawing power. Beside these models I place the body of a Broadwood piano, made, as I judge, from the five-and-a-half octave keyboard during the time of Haydn. (The Broadwoods claim the subsequent extension of compass [c to c] as theirs, though Southwell's six octaves [f to f'] preceded them [Spillane].) If you will look at this Nunn & Clark you will see an American piano probably prior to the patent of Jonas Chickering's overstrung square, and to the fan scale of Henry Steinway. A glance shows the advance made since its construction. Its cramped strings, tiny iron plate, absurd hammers, hardly larger than those of the preceding century, all mark an earlier epoch of piano history. one of two readings
43The sons of Henry Steinway who, in 1853, assisted their father to found his modest factory had studied in different New York piano factories, and represented what variety of traditional aim and method then obtained in America. Their piano expressed the best information of their day; was as much the physical embodiment of an artistic ideal as imperfect mechanical means permitted. The rich timbre of a violoncello sang in their souls—such a voice as we have heard from Parepa-Rosa. But their first actual instrument was but the germ of their piano of 1892. The wide gaps in the scientific and practical information of its builders have been filled by incessant experiment and faithful work.
45When a man sets about making a piano he lays a sheet of paper the size of his projected instrument on a drafting table and draws a plan. On that plan he puts in its precise position every detail of the future instrument; the hammer line, the lines for the keyboard, the wrest plank, the soundboard, &c. When the plan is drawn, he makes and finishes the various parts to correspond; for the piano goes up like Solomon's Temple—hammer and chisel are not heard in it. There are, counting the screws, 40,000 separate pieces in a Steinway grand piano, and it is at least eight months in the hands of the workmen after the seasoned wood leaves the lumber yards.
47In spite of its metal frame and strings the piano is a wooden instrument. It is easy to make the vibrations of the strings audible; but the artist builder selects from his mass of vibrating materials such as are capable of a fine tone quality, gives these free play and silences those which are dissonant. The natural vibration of the iron parts of a piano, very easily excited, gives rise to a high nasal timbre. I am indebted to Mr. J. Howard Foote for the information that in the manufacture of metal musical instruments it is very difficult to lower the absolute pitch of the vibrating material even as far as to the once marked c. The natural vibration periods of metals are in the upper octaves. Even bells appear deep, not on account of their pitch, but of their loudness.
49If you will observe the sound of cymbals, tuning forks, triangles or small bells, you will easily recognize in each this characteristic high metallic twang.
51It is clear, then, that makers do not trust to the bronze and iron parts of a piano when considering tone. Metals are, primarily, factors of strength. Wood, on the contrary, while far more difficult to set in vibration, is capable of taking up and giving out the richest and most delicious resonance. Wood is not an uneven crystalline structure like cast metal, but an organic product of nature, possessing acoustic properties inherent in its cells and fibres. The art of piano making lies in skillful choice and management of the wood which receives and diffuses the vibrations of the strings. Wood not only reproduces the sounds of other singing bodies, but is able to sing on its own account. I drop, one after another, these little wooden blocks of different lengths. You hear how the concussion excites in each a musical tone of definite pitch. The property of wood which enables it to conduct and impress tone upon other media is equally important. It is the vibration of its wood which gives the piano its flute-like quality. But before we can understand the whole value and use of the several parts
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