PIANO-FORTE, a keyed musical instrument, variously formed and under different denominations, such as grand, semi-grand, square, cabinet, cottage, &e. The first notion of the square piano-forte was taken from tho clavichord by a German mechanic of the name of Yiator, mere than a hundred years ago ; but, for want of friends or funds, he never became known as a maker. The invention, how ever, was followed up by other musical instrument makers of the same nation, who all ceased to produce clavichords and harpsichords, and directed their attention to the new instrument, the piano forte. Thus we have Zumpe, Tabel, Sehudi, Kirkman, Stodart, Schoene, Buntebart, Pohlman, Pether, Beck, Garcha, Ganer, and a host of others.
The grand piano-forte is supposed to be of earlier date than the square piano-forte, and is said to have been the invention of a German mu-ician of the name of Sehrtkler, or, as others say, of Christofali, a harpsichord-maker of Padua. he first maker at all known in this country was Backers ; but we are not aware that success attended his exertions with the solid advantages which were enjoyed by his contemporary Zumpe, who realised an ample fortune and retired. The grand piano-forte retains the shape of the instrument from which it was taken, the harpsichord ; and although that shape has been much condemned, it is the natural outline of the instrument; and we do not think that a better form for it will ever be devised.
The square piano-forte, we have said, was taken from the clavichord, but it retains only its shape, with the same disposition of the strings and keys; their actions have no similarity. We must here explain that the action of all such instruments is a technical name for all the mechanism which intervenes between the outer ends of the keys on which the fingers press, and the strings which emit the sounds ; to describe the action, therefore, is to describe the essential parts of the instrument. The action of the clavichord was simply a piece of brass pin wire, which was placed vertically at a point where it could be struck or pressed against its proper strings. Each note had two strings. The right-hand string was free to vibrate; whilst that on the left-hand was muffled by a piece of cloth, the object of which was to damp or stop the string the instant the finger was taken off the key. The touch of the clavichord was peculiar, partaking both of the harpsichord and the organ ; in other words, both struck and pressed, and the pressure could be so varied as to produce a kind of tremblant effect. The tones were feeble, soft, and melancholy, and better suited to the student, the composer, or the solitary, than any purposes of social amusement. A vertical
section of this action is shown in fig. I.
Tho action of the square piano-forte, on its first introduction, con sisted of a key, a lifter, a hammer, and a damper. The key was the same as that of the clavichord. The lifter was a brass wire, with a piece of hide leather as a head, which was covered with a piece of soft leather as a finish. This lifter, when in motion, struck the hammer against the string, and thus produced the tone of the instrument. The damper followed, and stopped the vibrations as quickly as tho finger was removed from the key. (Pig. 2.) The tone of this piano forte was thin and wiry, the hammer having only one slight covering of leather upon it.
This rude idea of a piano-forte continued in use many years. The first improvement upon it was introduced by Longman and Broderip, who brought out a patented invention having two additional parts in the action, namely, the hopper and the under-hammer, as they were called (fig. 3.) This patent was followed by another introduced by Clementi & Co., the burden of which simply. was an improvement on the damper. It was called the Irish patent, from its having been tho invention of an Irishman of the name of Southwell ; but it had simplicity only to recommend it, was found inconvenient, and shortly afterwards was superseded by what is now called the crank damper. We cannot give the name of the inventor of this improvement ; it became so instantaneously general, that the inventor was lost sight of in the crowd of makers who adopted his invention. It is still in use, and is acknowledged to be a good and sufficient plan. The damper used by Messrs. Broadwood previously to the introduction of the crank damper was made in brass (fig. 2), but by whom invented we do not know. We now come to the last addition which has been made to the action of the square piano-forte, the check. This member was borrowed from the grand piano-forte, and is so acknowledged by the name given to those square piano-fortes which have it; for they are always called, par excellence, grand-square piano-fortes. The check certainly is a most important part of a piano-forte, and the best of actions is nothing without it. The check is placed behind the hammer, nearly at the end of the key ; where, after the blow has been given, it catches the tail of the hammer, and holds it till another is required (If 3). For further Information as to the square plano-forte, we refer to the diagrams. The square piano-forte has neither the touch, the tone, nor the appearance of either the grand or the upright.