David forwarded: >Begin Forwarded Message >>To whom this may concern, >>I am a college student doing research on the history of the piano. What >>I am trying to find out is why in the earliest pianos the keys that are >>white today were black then and why did the color change? Can you please >>help me with this information? Angela, You won't be able to find an answer becuase the statement is not true. First, it is a generalization that fails geographically (e.g. English pianos and harpsichords) and temporally (Ruckers harpsichords from the earliest 16th c had bone keyboards with dark bog oak sharps; italian harpsichrods often had light boxwood keyboards). Second, it is a generalization that fails even within the context of Viennese pianos. All you can really say is that pianos after about 1815 all had white keyboards (either bone or ivory). But there is at least one extant Viennese piano as early as 1785 with white naturals. Prior to 1815 both types of keyboard were made and the colour of the keyboard cannot be used as an indication of the date of the piano. All that can be said is that white keyboards generally were coupled with fancier, more expensive case veneering and ornamental stuff, often mahogany, while black keyboards were used on pianos veneered more plainly, with fruitwoods or oak. When it comes down to it it is all just fashion and economics - no different from now. Yo. How about doing some real research if you are a college student. Check out the source material, organological literature etc. It's easy to ask but more rewarding to do the legwork in the library yourself. And don't believe everything that is written either - much of it is wrong. Stephen Stephen Birkett Fortepianos Authentic Reproductions of 18th and 19th Century Pianos 464 Winchester Drive Waterloo, Ontario Canada N2T 1K5 tel: 519-885-2228 mailto: sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca http://real.uwaterloo.ca/~sbirkett
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