OK Stephen. Now I must ask something that's been bugging me for years: What, pray tell, is a "Fortepiano"??? Christophori's first was a "Piano et Forte", so how can one say that earlier instrumenmts had the inverted usage. When did "Forte piano" enter the language, why, and by whom, if you please ? Thump --- Stephen Birkett <sbirkett@real.uwaterloo.ca> wrote: > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > pianotech list info: https://www.moypiano.com/resources/#archives __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More http://faith.yahoo.com
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