How the Piano Came to Be

Clementi may be considered the first legitimate writer for the piano. All the great masters, including Scarlatti, Handel, Bach, and Haydn (in his first compositions), were written for the clavichord. So when listening to the classics they have left for us, we must remember the limitations of the instruments upon which they played and for which they wrote. Probably no one has realized this fact more keenly than the late Mr. Morris Steinert, of New Haven, Conn. He spent the best years of his life (to say nothing of his fortune) in collecting the rare and valuable instruments which he presented to Yale College.

Mr. Steinert not only searched for these treasures all over Europe, but he had them restored and played upon them, thus giving to the world the long-forgotten sounds and showing, by the only method possible, just how the great masters played. During the World's Fair the Steinert collection was in the Manufacturers' Building, the center of attraction for music lovers. His experiences were most interesting in obtaining some of the rarest specimens. For instance, a harpsichord with the date 1710 on its case was found broken and dust-covered in an attic in Vienna. It had two keyboards, tortoise-shell naturals and ivory sharps. It had eight stops, one imitating the lute and one the flute. The sounding board was elaborately painted with flowers and other decorative symbols, while the inside lid was ornate with strictly Japanese art.

The dearly loved "Nanette Stein" piano, Beethoven's much prized possession, is in Mr. Steinert's collection. America is the home of many priceless pianos. In this same group we find an instrument once belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte. To be correct, it is a harpsichord, and it was given to a French sergeant when the fallen monarch was banished to St. Helena. The Frenchman came to America and gave the harpsichord to Simon Bates, of Scituate Harbor Light, Mass., from whose heirs Mr. Steinert purchased it. Claviers, dulcimers, spinets, and harpsichords, belonging once upon a time to Bach, Haydn, and Mozart, are in this famous collection.

Besides the instruments of bygone days, Mr. Steinert has been able to get original manuscripts, worth their weight in gold. It is a fascinating character study to examine the scores of the old masters and note the difference in style and method. For many years this man made arduous tours with his instruments, giving lectures and illustrating them with actual performance of the music on the instrument for which it was composed. His only compensation was that he felt he was furthering the true spirit of art and music in this the country of his adoption. In his personal reminiscences published some years ago he says:

"How dealers in pianos of this day must envy the manufacturers of the good old times when they remember that then the would-be purchaser had to look up the maker and court his pleasure. He had to sign a written contract, the terms of which sound droll enough to us. The time limit for construction was from six to twelve months and the payments were, generally, so much cash, so many casks of wine, a certain amount of corn, wheat, and potatoes, while geese, chickens, and turkeys constituted some of the articles used in payment. Even a few cords of wood would be acceptable in making up the balance. When the piano was completed, ready for delivery at the home of the impatient purchaser, a general festival took place. The maker was the hero of the hour. He was accompanied by his craftsmen, and apprentices if he had any, and they followed the gaily decorated wagon and horses which bore the precious burden to its new home. A band of music headed the procession and the maker was borne aloft on the shoulders of his assistants. Musicians, organists, school masters, and other dignitaries marched in the rear. At the place of destination the procession was received with joyous shouts of welcome. The minister said a prayer and blessed the instrument and its maker. Then the mayor or burgomaster delivered an address, dwelling at length upon the importance of the event to the whole community, stating that the coming of the new musical instrument would raise the standing of the place in the eyes of the surrounding countryside. Speeches followed by the school master, doctor, druggist, and other officials. The mannechor of the village rendered songs, and amid the strains from the band the piano was moved into place. A banquet and dance closed the happy occasion."

In those days the manufacturer had to make each article by hand that went into a piano, which is the reason it took so long to finish the instrument.

If the early records are reliable, the history of the piano in this country begins at Philadelphia. In 1775 John Behrend, a German or Swede, built an instrument in the Quaker city, and up to 1855 it continued to be the center of trade in musical instruments. When we consider how much the piano has contributed to the happiness of mankind and to the promotion of art and culture, the honor conceded to the Pennsylvania city is by no means a small one. The first spinets and virginals made on this side of the water were undoubtedly of Philadelphia manufacture. This was in the year 1742. Along with its musical progress it is said that the first hand or barrel organs were made there, and of the latter some one says: "They are the curse and plague of the modern high class individual." A Scotchman, who settled in Philadelphia near the end of 1785, was the maker of the hand-organ.

To show that the town was progressive in all kinds of instruments, we find that the historical society of Philadelphia has records of the first organ built there in 1737 by one Mathew Zimmerman. Local historians claim it to be the first one built in America. John Clark built one at Salem, Mass., in 1743, for the Episcopal church at that place. This puts Massachusetts well to the front in early musical history. Zimmerman's will, probated the same year he finished the organ, bequeaths it to his nephew and expresses the hope that he would learn to play upon it, adding, "If not, it can be sold, owing to its being so much of a curiosity."

The story of the first piano to come into this country is truly romantic and historic. The famous continental frigate "Boston," a privateer, sailed into port with a British merchant ship as a prize. The dauntless Captain Tucker was in command. The cargo was sold for the benefit of the National Treasury, and among other articles was a pianoforte of London make.

It was not until after the revolutionary period that the spinet and harpsichord were superseded in this country by the piano. A newspaper of 1791 tells us that there were some twenty-seven pianos among the wealthy Boston families. All were of English make. In 1840 slow, easy-going ways crept into Philadelphia and she lost the prestige she once enjoyed of being the center of musical culture as well as of art and literature. Boston took the place and has held it ever since. Many of the distinctive features of the American piano actually originated there, such as the applying of metal in construction, which idea was first shown to be practical by Alpheus Babcock and Jonas Chickering. Then Timothy Gilbert, another Boston man, conceived the upright action which is in such general use today. There is no doubt but that Chickering was the first man who dared deviate from a prescribed method in case building.

Old newspapers contain much of interest concerning these first days in the musical history of our country. In the Boston Gazette, published in 1770, we are told that an excellent spinet had just been completed which for goodness of workmanship and harmony of sound was esteemed by the best judges to be superior to those imported. So much for American skill and enterprise.

It might be well to mention that Massachusetts is credited with making the first violins in this country. In 1789, also, there were two teachers of harp and piano in Boston, one of whom could act as tuner and repairer if occasion demanded. We find that Boston early supported a musical magazine. In 1797 Peter Van Hazen left New York for the "Hub" and there issued the first copy of his publication devoted to topics on music. He also imported sheet music direct from London. It was about 1800 when Benjamin Crehore, of Milton, Mass., built the first piano ever made in this country, and he did it in Boston. He was a skilled workman who knew how to make violins, 'cellos, guitars, drums, and flutes. Ten or twelve pianos were all he could make in one year and, to the shame of America be it recorded, he had to put the stamp of London or Paris upon them before he could make a sale, showing that our forefathers considered the foreign made article superior to those of home manufacture. All these things are changed, however; the American instrument now commands the highest price and is shipped to every part of the world.

The New York newspapers of olden time contain many notices that are curious enough to us who read them over in this day and generation. For instance, we find that "Peter Goelet has just gotten in a supply of goods on the ship 'Earl of Dunmore,' and advertises that he has over three hundred articles, from masons' trowels to oil paint, skillets and books, paint-pots, guitars, fiddles, flutes and other musical instruments, as well as a large box of harpsichord wire and hammers."

This motley collection no doubt found eager customers. Another paper tells us that "Herman Zedwitz, teacher of the violin, announces to the public that he has just returned from Europe and will give a concert in the assembly rooms at the 'Sign of the Golden Spade.'" Later, in 1774, this same man evidently found that the public did not appreciate him musically, for the intervals were so long between lessons and engagements for his violin that he was forced to take up the occupation of a chimney sweep. From accounts in the paper he must have inaugurated a sort of trust, for he advertised to take contracts by the year for "dusting out the sooty interior of flues" and adds, "None but competent boys employed." Evidently musical culture in New York was temporarily at a low ebb.

In this story of the evolution of the piano we have seen how, from its primitive beginning, it has become the one splendid instrument that is capable of representing the effect of a full orchestra. Before the death of Beethoven he realized the tremendous power of the piano and displayed its resources in a manner undreamed of by Haydn. Could these old masters return today and sit at one of the splendid productions of the twentieth century they would be dumb with amazement and entirely at a loss as to how to handle the enormous range of seven and a third octaves. Best of all, the price is such that some style of modern piano is within the reach of nearly every one. Music in the home is now the rule, not the exception.

Leigh Hunt has well expressed the feeling of all piano lovers in these verses, which are full of sentiment:

Oh, friend, whom glad or gay we seek,Heaven-holding shrine;I ope thee, touch thee, hear thee speak,And peace is mine.No fairy casket full of bliss,Outvalues thee;Love only, wakened with a kissMore sweet may be.To thee, when our full hearts o'erflow,In griefs or joysUnspeakable, emotions oweA fitting voice.Mirth flees to thee, and loves unrest,And memory dear,And sorrow, with his tightened breastComes for a tear.Oh, since few joys of human mould,Thus wait us still,Thrice blessed be thine, thou gentle foldOf peace at will.No change, no sullenness, no cheatIn thee we find;Thy saddest voice is ever sweet,Thine answer kind.