Then came Sebastian Érard, born in Strassburg in 1752, but who went to Paris and became a famous maker of pianos. During the Revolution he fled to London, but in 1796 returned to Paris, where he died in 1831. His improvements in the harp date from about 1786 and were at first confined to single action. He made his first double-action harp in 1801; and in 1810 produced the perfect model that has never been surpassed.
Handel introduced the harp into his orchestral scores. In the oratorio of Esther, produced at Cannons for the Duke of Chandos in 1720 and performed in London in 1732 he used it in combination with the theorbo in “Breathe soft, ye winds”; Mozart wrote a Concerto for the Flute and Harp for the Duc de Guisnes and his daughter. Spohr wrote much for the instrument (his wife was a harpist). Meyerbeer, the first to use the double-action harp, called for two in Robert le Diable. Berlioz introduced a lovely trio for two flutes and a harp in L’Enfance du Christ.
Liszt treats the harp most poetically; and it occurs in almost all of his works. Wagner makes it conspicuous in Das Rhinegold and Die Walküre. It is strikingly used by Richard Strauss and Debussy. The modern school of Russian and French composers treat the harp as an orchestral instrument rather than as a solo instrument, making its voice a part of the woven web of melody and harmony.
CHAPTER XI
THE PIANOFORTE
The dulcimer and the psaltery or psaltérion; ancestors of the pianoforte; the jacks; the spinet; the virginal, the gravicembalo or harpsichord; the Ruckers of Antwerp; the pianoforte; Cristofori; Liszt; the pianoforte a hundred years ago.
The piano, or harpsichord, ceased to belong to the Orchestra in the days of Haydn; but it is often called upon to play a Concerto with the Orchestra and of late composers have again been experimenting with it as an orchestral instrument.
A description of its mechanism would be dull. Like every other instrument, the piano was a development of older instruments; and as it developed composers changed their style of writing for it. We can follow the development of the piano by following a chronological list of compositions, from the preludes and fugues of Bach; the suites for the clavecin and clavier of Handel, Couperin, and Rameau; and the early sonatas of Mozart and Beethoven to the big sonata of Beethoven, written for the “hammer clavier,” op. 111, and the elaborate Hungarian Rhapsodies of Liszt, and so on. With the development of the piano came the development of touch. In the days of the harpsichords and clavichords there was practically no such thing as touch. There was brilliant execution, of course, and effects were produced; but touch developed after the piano had been equipped with its softly padded hammers and its improved action.
The modern piano is a miniature orchestra; and since the days of Liszt pianists have sought to get orchestral effects from it. More literature has been written for the piano than for any other instrument.
To find the origin of the pianoforte we must go back to the dulcimer and the psaltery, or psaltérion. These two instruments are much alike, differing only in the way they were played. The strings of the dulcimer were set in vibration by hammers held in the hands of the performer, and the strings of the psaltery were plucked with an ivory, metal, or quill, plectrum, or even by the fingers. The psaltery was smaller than the dulcimer and had fewer strings. Perhaps the name dulcimer was derived from the words dulce melos, sweet melody; but it was only one of the names for the instrument. The French called it tympanon; the Italians cembalo and salterio tedesco (German psaltery); and the Germans hackbrett, a board for chopping sausage-meat. The Hungarian, or Magyar, name for it is cimbelom. It is played in Hungarian bands.