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Mozart: Sonata for two fortepianos, K 448, played on fortepianos by Alexei Lubimov and Yury Martynov
20 Wednesday Jun 2018
Tag Archives: Music
Taking lessons from old pianos — The Cross-Eyed Pianist
20 Wednesday Jun 2018
Posted in Fortepianos, Music
Tags
https://open.spotify.com/embed/user/1966frances/playlist/5baLmF0k6oZHNUDoL6mARS
Why play or listen to an early or “period” piano? An instrument which may have significant limitations compared to a precisely made and carefully calibrated modern instrument, and surely “better” and infinitely more sturdy and reliable than an old piano? Aside from the visual aesthetic of period pianos (many are very attractively designed, with fretwork […]
Clementi: Sonata in A, Op. 25 No. 4, on a restored 1807 Clementi square piano
20 Wednesday Jun 2018
Posted in Art, Fortepianos, Historically informed performance, Music
This lovely piano has a delicate, sweet sound!
I saw a Broadwood Square piano at Castle Howard last week:
Isn’t it lovely? It plays well I think as the guide pressed a few keys and it sounded nice. It looks well cared for. It sits in a beautiful little music room.
I’ve a fondness for square pianos, and so I had to make one for my next piano roombox. Here is a Regency era square piano in a roombox I completed yesterday.
I made the Piano out of cardboard boxes, vintage sheet music, and matches for legs. It has been decorated with craft gems and pretty trimmings. The sheet music was painted with sienna and gold acrylic paints.
The stool is also made out of a cardboard box, matches for legs and covered with a hand sewn cushion and various pretty ribbons and trimmings.
The wall candles are birthday cake candles covered with painted vintage book pages and glued onto metal craft fans for sconces.
I had bought a new design pad and loved this turquoise paper that has a period wallpaper design with some lettering on it- I think it makes the roombox have a charming Regency look.
You can see more photos of the Regency Piano Roombox here in my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/622115727/regency-style-miniature-piano-piano?ref=shop_home_feat_1
Polish music of the 18th century played by Magdalena Baczewska on a harpsichord
09 Saturday Jun 2018
Beethoven’s “Broken” Metronome: Solving the Hammerklavier’s Mysterious 138 by Wim Winters
31 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Music, Music History
The most complicated fairy tales can easily be found on Beethoven’s so-called ‘broken’ metronome. In all the discussions you’ll find on Beethoven’s metronome, one general agreement among all layers of musical society is easily agreed upon: By definition it is Beethoven who was wrong. Not we.
Stay tuned for what I believe is an extremely important element in the interpretation of Beethoven’s music. I might even give you a few bars of my…yes… Hammerklavier sonata.
An immensely talented young pianist: William Bracken
26 Saturday May 2018
Posted in Music, Talented Young Pianists
I was very fortunate to see a young pianist of immense talent playing at an event today. Here is a video of him playing Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto.
Patricia JANEČKOVÁ: “Frühlingsstimmen” (Johann Strauss II)
23 Wednesday May 2018
Posted in Music
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I’ve just discovered this 19 year old soprano- what an amazing voice she has!
Chopin and Grieg on an 1864 Steinway Square Grand Piano
21 Monday May 2018
Posted in Fortepianos, Frederic Chopin, Music, Piano
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A charming and beautiful antique Piano.
The Victorian Piano and its place in the British home
21 Monday May 2018
George Goodwin Kilburne, “The Piano Lesson”, 1871
I found this interesting article “The Growth of the Market for Domestic Music” on Lee Jackson’s website “The Victorian Webb“. This article examines the rise of middle class wealth and how “the first musical fruit of middle-class prosperity appeared in the form of a piano.”
http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/dbscott/2.html
The importance of the piano in the middle class home shouldn’t be under estimated:
It was the acquisition of pianos in large numbers which was to vastly extend the market for drawing-room ballads, and to standardize the genre as a song with piano accompaniment (rather than, say, harp). In the early part of the nineteenth century it was taken for granted that a song published with piano accompaniment was intended for home music-making, or ‘at home’ functions such as soirees, since songs at public concerts were normally performed with an orchestral accompaniment until the 1840s.
The tradition of publishing music heard at concerts in versions aimed at amateurs stretched back into the previous century: then the passion for the German flute among gentleman amateurs had lain behind such remarkable publications as Handel’s complete Messiah arranged for flute. The piano seemed to attract the middle class in its earliest arrival in England: Charles Dibdin introduced it at Covent Garden in 1767, and Drury Lane gained an official pianist in 1770.
By way of contrast, the piano did not replace the harpsichord in the King’s Band for another twenty-five years. In the 1830s there was a great variety of pianos available (grands, squares, upright grands, upright squares, cabinet pianos, table pianos, giraffe pianos, lyre pianos), but the design that won the day was Robert Wornum’s cottage piano. Its small size was not created at the expense of tone quality, and its pleasant shape made it a satisfying piece of furniture. Wornum had been working on his cottage design [45/46] since 1811.
The action on an upright piano is unavoidably more complex than the grand, where the strings lie in the horizontal plane, and he continued to make improvements in the late 1830s: for example, his ‘tape-check’ action, which formed the basis of the upright action used in pianos today. Further improvements were made to upright design in the 1840s, and henceforth the softer-toned square piano began to lose favour. The grand piano, however, continued to be the first choice for the concert platform; the upright was considered a domestic instrument.
As today, pianos back then did not come cheap, although despite there being more pianos in the home in the 19th century than today, electronic keyboards and pianos can be bought fairly cheaply ( such as second hand) and require little to no maintenance.
Pianos cost around 25 and 40 guineas in 1856: a lot of money!
The piano became the pre-eminent bourgeois instrument for a variety of reasons. At first, it was a luxury instrument; therefore, its possession indicated worldly success. It was, as already remarked, a pleasing piece of furniture, gleaming in its mahogany or rosewood case. A fondness for excessive ornament emphasized this purely visual appeal; indeed, the decorative parts of pianos were the first to be mass produced: in the second decade of the nineteenth century Broadwood bought cast-brass moulding by the foot and stamped brass ornaments by the dozen. The extremes to which this decorative interest could stretch may be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where there is a satinwood piano decorated with Gothic ornament, inlaid and gilded, with three silk panels at the front (probably the design of Charles Bevan). The piano had established itself as a luxury item of furniture in the 1830s.
The beauty of 19th century pianos still inspire our admiration today, with their beautiful carvings and adornments. They appeal to our sense of nostalgia and romance.
As public playing was not considered as seemly for women, despite there being concert pianists and composers like Clara Schumann, it tended to be women who were the main home musicians. Domestic music making was often to accompany singing and a lot of sheet music was published ( ballads especially) for home entertainment. In fact, some of the composers of these pieces were women. I attended a Victorian song concert around 4 years ago where a tenor sang Victorian songs/ballads written by women, accompanied by a pianist. He was even dressed in 19th century style.
You can find a fascinating article on women ballad composers on “The Victorian Webb” entitled “The Rise of the Woman Ballad Composer“:
http://www.victorianweb.org/mt/dbscott/3.html
The piano too, featured in literature of the time, and women especially could express themselves through piano playing as it was considered an accomplishment for young ladies to be able to play at family gatherings and parties.
Inspired by my interest in the Victorian era and love of antique pianos I created a circa 1860s Victorian room, complete with hand made miniature piano and paper Victorian doll. Here she is stood by her stool looking in her sheet music book, deciding what she wants to play:
Perusing the sheet music book. “The Victorian Piano room,” made by EdwardianPiano.
And now she sits playing:
The Victorian Piano Room, hand made by EdwardianPiano.
You can see more photos of “The Victorian Piano Room” on my Etsy store:
Chopin: 12 Études Op. 25 – Martha Goldstein (Erard Piano, 1851)
10 Thursday May 2018
Posted in Frederic Chopin, Historically informed performance, Music
