The square piano is a type of
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 ...
that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Mus ...
set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously attributed to
Silbermann and Frederici and was improved by
Petzold and
Babcock. The English and Viennese square pianos were built in many different designs, including within the action as well as general appearance, from roughly 1760. Because of the competitive industry and relative youth of the instrument design itself, experimentation ensued in the early years, creating a range of moderators (sound-altering effects) and other technical devices (knee levers; hand stops) not seen today.
In London, the explosion of the trade is generally attributed to the maker
Zumpe. The overwhelming popularity of his instruments was due to inexpensive construction and price.
Over time, square pianos were built in larger sizes with more keys and a wider range; by the 1830s, square grand pianos predominated, with changes to their internal mechanisms and construction that produced larger sounds and used higher string tensions. Square pianos were the most popular keyboard instrument of the late 18th century, and the later square grand pianos enjoyed great popularity through the mid- and late-19th century. They were gradually replaced by upright pianos, which had a smaller footprint and larger sound. Square pianos were owned by everyone from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to Marie Antoinette and Jane Austen.
In the 1860s, more extensive metal frames were developed for square
grand pianos, meaning that higher string tensions and therefore greater volumes were possible; however the size increases meant that the upright piano design was more economical, and so the upright replaced the square as the most common home instrument. Built in quantity through the 1890s in the United States,
Steinway's celebrated iron-framed, overstrung square grands were more than two and a half times the size of Zumpe's wood-framed instruments that were successful a century before. Whilst many view square pianos as a 'proto-piano', because they do not have the range, volume or delicacy of touch available on modern instruments, they have a sound and playability all their own, and should be treated as an altogether different instrument to the modern piano.
Gallery
File:Square Piano.jpg,
Image:Tafelklavier.jpg, Square grand piano (though this example is not exactly rectangular)
File:MIM Tafelklavier CN4828.jpg, Square grand piano with open lid
Image:Square piano.jpg, Swedish painting of woman playing a square piano.
Image:Broadwood grand square action.svg, English double action with check, c. 1830 (developed from Geib, 1786
Image:American french square action.svg, American single action with overdamper, c. 1870 (developed from Petzold, 1809)
Image:Zumpe english single square action.svg, Zumpe single action, 1766
Image:Erard double pilot action.svg, Erard double pilot action, 1790 "Zumpe's second action" c. 1788
Image:Tafelklavier Oehler Stuttgart, Square Piano Oehler Stuttgart.jpg, Square piano C. Oehler Stuttgart, 1870s
See also
*
Fortepiano
A fortepiano is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1700 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to ref ...
*
Clavichord
The clavichord is a stringed rectangular keyboard instrument that was used largely in the Late Middle Ages, through the Renaissance music, Renaissance, Baroque music, Baroque and Classical period (music), Classical eras.
Historically, it was most ...
, a similar structured keyboard.
*
Finchcocks, a collection of early
keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers that are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital piano ...
s in
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
which has many original square pianos.
References
*Goold, Madeline
''Mr. Langshaw's Square Piano'' BlueBridge, 280 pages
External links
The English PianoEarly Pianos OnlineA searchable, interactive database of over 9000 pianos built before 1860.
*
ttp://www.shafferpianos.com/squares/ Square piano examples and history*
ttp://www.squarepiano.co.uk/ Lucy Coad Square PianosWessex Square Pianos
{{Authority control
Piano
Keyboard instruments