Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/723

PIANOFORTE. The reader will observe the smallness of the hammer-head and the absence of what is called a 'check,' to arrest the hammer in its rebound; and also of any control but springs over the forward movement, or escapement, of the hopper. To admit of this machinery—so much more complicated than the simple action of the harpsichord—being taken out, Cristofori inverted the tuning-pin block (technically the 'wrestplank'), and attached the wires to the tuning-pins ('wrestpins'), at their lower ends, as in the harp. Being obliged to use heavier strings, which exerted a greater pulling force or tension, to withstand the impact of his hammers, he found it necessary to remove the pins to which the further ends of the strings were attached (the 'hitchpins'), from their old place on the soundboard of the harpsichord, to a stiff rail of wood ('stringblock') built round the angle-side and narrow end of the case. Without this alteration his instruments could not have stood in tune and would soon have collapsed.

Two pianofortes of Cristofori's make are fortunately still existing. The earlier one, dated 1720, belongs to Signora Ernesta Mocenni Martelli of Florence, and is described by Leto Puliti, with illustrations of the action, in the essay referred to in footnote 3. The second, dated 1726, is in the museum of the eminent collectors and musicologists, the Signori Kraus of Florence. The writer, when making the biographical notice of in the present work (vol. i. p. 417) was unaware of the existence of this instrument, or of its having been exhibited with Signora Martelli's, when the commemoration of Cristofori took place in Florence. But in 1878 the Signori Kraus showed the instrument at the Trocadero in Paris, and the writer then had the opportunity of examining and playing upon it, and found it light, prompt, and agreeable in touch, with a tone not at all to be despised. The instrument happens to be more perfect than that of Signora Martelli, because the hammerheads remain in their original condition, as may be seen by comparing Fig. 1 with Fig. 2, which represents the action of the latter.

Both instruments, the 1720 and the 1726, have the overdampers and check, the latter the mechanical completion of the action. That of 1720 has been restored by Sig. Ponsicchi, a pianoforte maker, who has himself given, in 'Il Pianoforte, sua origine e sviluppo (con tavole),' Florence, 1876, a valuable contribution to the literature of the instrument. Both pianofortes are bichord and have white natural keys, but the compass differs, the earlier having 4½ octaves, C to F, and the later only 4 octaves, C to C, the old normal compass equivalent to the human voice.

Cristofori died in 1731, aged 80, and in 1730, the year before his death, his assistant, Giovanni Ferrini, made a pianoforte which has become famous through Burney's reference to it. It was bought by Elisabetta Farnese, Queen of Spain; and by her bequeathed to the singer Farinelli, who inscribed upon it in letters of gold, 'Raffaello d'Urbino,' and esteemed it more highly than any other in his collection of keyed instruments. Burney played upon it in 1771. There were other pupils or followers of Cristofori; we hear of Geronimo of Florence, and Gherardi of Padua, but an end soon came to pianoforte making in Italy; possibly, as suggested by Puliti, from the difficulty felt by clavicembalists of acquiring the touch, and which made them decry the new instrument—or from the imperfection of the means for escapement. Be this as it may, the fruits of the invention were to be gathered and garnered elsewhere; but the invention itself remains with Italy.