The luthéal is a kind of hybrid

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

which extended the "register" possibilities of a piano by producing

cimbalom The cimbalom, cimbal (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by József Schunda, V. ...

-like sounds in some registers, exploiting

harmonics In physics, acoustics, and telecommunications, a harmonic is a sinusoidal wave with a frequency that is a positive integer multiple of the ''fundamental frequency'' of a periodic signal. The fundamental frequency is also called the ''1st harm ...

of the strings when pulling other register-stops, and also some registers making other objects, which were lowered just above the strings, resound. The instrument became obsolete partly because most of its mechanics were too sensitive, needing constant adjustment. The only pieces in the general repertoire to feature the luthéal are ''

L'enfant et les sortilèges ''L'enfant et les sortilèges: Fantaisie lyrique en deux parties'' (''The Child and the Spells: A Lyric Fantasy in Two Parts'') is an opera in one act, with music by Maurice Ravel to a libretto by Colette. It is Ravel's second opera, his first b ...

'' (1920–25) and ''

Tzigane ''Tzigane'' is a rhapsodic composition by the French composer Maurice Ravel featuring a virtuosic violin part. The original instrumentation was for violin and piano (with optional luthéal attachment). The first performance took place in Londo ...

'' (1924), by

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

History

The attachment was created by the Belgian organ builder

Georges Cloetens Georges Cloetens (born Josse Léopold Cloetens, March 7, 1871, in Brussels – August 13, 1949, in Ixelles) was a Belgian organ builder and inventor, mainly known for the invention of the orphéal (1908) and the luthéal (1919). Biography Geo ...

, who first patented it on 28 January 1919 and named it the "Jeu de harpe tirée". Cotte, Roger J. V. 2001. "Luthéal iano-Luthéal. ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by

Stanley Sadie Stanley John Sadie (; 30 October 1930 – 21 March 2005) was a British musicologist, music critic, and editor. He was editor of the sixth edition of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1980), which was published as the first edition ...

and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

used it in ''Tzigane'' for violin and piano, and in the opera ''L'Enfant et les sortilèges''. It generates a range of

colours Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

by adding two treble and two bass stops to a normal grand piano. These enable it to produce, in addition to the normal piano sound, additional timbres resembling

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

, and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

(or

lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck (music), neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lu ...

Ravel and the luthéal

The luthéal was, in Ravel's day, a comparatively new piano attachment that had several registrations that could be engaged by pulling stops above the keyboard. One of these registrations had a

-like sound, which fitted well with the gypsy-esque idea of ''Tzigane''. The printed version of the original scores of that piece and ''L'Enfant et les sortilèges'' contained instructions for these register-changes during execution. The Luthéal, however, did not survive: by the end of the 20th century the first print of the luthéal version of the accompaniment was still at the publishers, but the chamber version of the piece had long been performed in Ravel's alternative specification for the ordinary piano.

The luthéal in modern times

A surviving original luthéal was discovered in storage in the museum of the Brussels Conservatory and has been restored by Evert Snel from The Netherlands to playing condition. This instrument was sampled in 2011 so that its sounds are also available for music productions. Evert Snel made a copy of the lutheal in a Fazioli grand piano. A new instrument was commissioned in 1987 by the French government on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Ravel's death, and is now in the Musée de la Musique, Paris.

Revivals

Violinist Daniel Hope recorded in 2004 a performance of Ravel's ''Tzigane'' that features a reconstructed luthéal, which Hope describes in a

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

interview as "a cross between a typewriter and an organ that attaches to the strings of a piano" and produces "an amazing sound world." Violinist

Chantal Juillet Chantal Juillet, (born December 19, 1960) is a Canadian violinist. Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, Juillet won all the major Canadian music competitions in her category by the age of 16 and was launched into international renown when she recei ...

also made a recording with

Pascal Rogé Pascal Rogé (born 6 April 1951) is a French pianist. His playing includes the works of compatriot composers Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Debussy, Ravel, Satie, and Poulenc, among others. However, his repertoire also covers the German and Austrian ...

on piano luthéal, found on ''Ravel: The Complete Editions'' on Decca Records. Violinist

Sarah Nemtanu Sarah Nemtanu (born 1981) is a Franco-Romanian classical violinist. Biography Nemtanu started studying the violin with her father, Vladimir Nemtanu, solo concertmaster of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine. She then studied at the Conse ...

also recorded Ravel's ''

'' with Romain Descharmes on piano luthéal on Naïve Records., as did violinist with Pierre Goy on Challenge Records.2022 album ''À Moune''
www.challengerecords.com

References

External links

*
Pleyel Grand Piano with 'Luthéal' Mechanism
. Musical Instruments Museum website (Accessed 17 June 2010).

www.pianotopics.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Lutheal Piano Experimental musical instruments Belgian inventions