Beethoven's piano

[Dave Nereson]

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  ----- Original Message -----=20
  From: Ed Carwithen=20
  To: pianotech@ptg.org=20
  Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 10:38 AM
  Subject: Beethoven's piano


  Having just watched "Immortal Beloved" again... I wondered just what =
was the range of Beethoven's Broadwood piano?  On a modern 88 note piano =
what notes do we have that were unavailable to Ludwig?

  Ed Carwithen
  John Day, OR

      If I'm not mistaken, just the highest three:  A#7, B7, & C8.  I'm =
not sure when most manufacturers went from 85 to 88 keys, or what the =
reason was.  I can't imagine there was that much demand from composers & =
pianists for 3 more notes up there.  But if you cover up the highest =
three keys, then there are only two sharps in a group of what should be =
three, i.e., it can look like another C, C#, D, D#, E instead of F, F#, =
G, G#, A, and maybe they added the next higher three keys to fill out =
the octave. =20
      Welp, now that I look in "Men, Women, & Pianos", the six-octave =
grand was introduced in 1794.  (Beethoven died in 1827).  Ludwig =
received a grand from Broadwood around 1818 and the lowest key was at =
least C1, but whether it went down to A0, I don't know, and how high it =
went, I don't know either.  It probably says somewhere in some book I =
have, but would take a while to find.
      But here's some other tidbits from above-mentioned book:=20
           ". . . one could maintain that the modern piano had =
practically completed its growth before 1830.  The agraffe goes back to  =
       1808, the practical double-escapement action to 1821, the metal =
plates and bracing bars to 1822 or 1823, the felt hammer-        =
covering to 1826, the use of tempered steel wire to 1826, the low =
oblique-strung upright to 1827, the round-the-pin method of         =
continuous stringing likewise to 1827.  A seven-octave grand was played =
in a concert as early as 1824." =20
      Seven octaves is from A0 to A7, and our 88-key pianos have just 3 =
more keys than that.=20
                                                                         =
             --David Nereson, RPT, Denver =20

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