Though crafted for the first time in the early 1700′s, the piano-forte was, by Jane Austen’s era, the most widely played
instrument in the growing middle class. In a time before recordings of any kind, live performance was they only way to
enjoy music. Proficiency on an instrument was equally essential for entertainment and as a marketable skill, whether in
the job market (as a governess, perhaps) or the marriage market, as yet another accomplishment to add to one’s list.
Public performance at parties gave young ladies added exposure on an already crowded field.
More of Jane Austen’s heroines play the piano (in her books, known as the piano, pianoforte and piano-forte) than any
other instrument. In fact, as in life, the majority play to some extent and it is, rather, those who do not that we may
look to for character observation.
Catherine Morland and Fanny Price, models of modest simplicity, have no desire to learn (and perhaps an inferred desire
to avoid performance) Practical Elinor Dashwood leaves the playing to her younger sister Marianne, who excels at both the
emotional side of musical interpretation and the art of performing. Anne Du Bourgh is, her mother thinks, too ill to
learn (or is it her mother, who similarly never learnt, trying to control her daughter in this area as well?) (See Grace and Manner for an in depth look at Jane
Austen’s Heroines and how their musical abilities reflect on their character.)
Jane Austen, herself, owned a small piano at various times
during her life and, when this was not an option, rented one. She played for her own enjoyment and would rise an hour
before the rest of the family in order to get her practicing done. This determination made her a delightful player and no
doubt in demand for entertainment and impromptu dancing when her nieces and nephews came for visits.
Sheet music was expensive at that time and friends would often loan their copies to each other to be copied into private
notebooks. Jane Austen penned several such books, eight of which are held by the Jane Austen Memorial Trust in Chawton.
Some of the tunes from these books have been recorded on to a CD, entitled Jane’s Hand: The Jane Austen
Songbooks. A sample of the CD, along with MP3 downloads is available from Amazon.com.
Learning to play the piano posed its own problems. Most young ladies would have been taught by a governess or traveling
master, though Jane, studied with the respected composer and organist, William Chard well into her twenties, long after
most girls would have given up their lessons. After that point, it was up to the student to progress if she wished, on
her own.
The fortepiano was created around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Florence, Italy. invented the first fortepiano. He
called it a gravicèmbalo con piano e forte, but built only about twenty pianofortes before he died in 1731; the three
that survive today date from the 1720s.
Like many other inventions, the pianoforte was founded on earlier technological innovations. In particular, it benefited
from centuries of work on the harpsichord, which had shown the most effective ways to construct the case, the soundboard,
the bridge, and the keyboard. Cristofori, himself a harpsichord maker, was well acquainted with this body of knowledge.
Cristofori’s new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei, wrote an enthusiastic
article about it (1711), including a diagram of the mechanism. This article was widely distributed, and most of the next
generation of piano builders started their work as a result of reading it.
Piano-making flourished during the late 18th century in the work of the Viennese school, which included Johann Andreas
Stein (who worked in Augsburg, Germany) and the Viennese makers Nannette Stein (daughter of Johann Andreas) and Anton
Walter. The Viennese-style pianos were built with wooden frames, two strings per note, and had leather-covered hammers.
It was for such instruments that Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas, and replicas of them are built today for use
in authentic-instrument performance. The piano of Mozart’s day had a softer, clearer tone than today’s pianos, with less
sustaining power. The term fortepiano is nowadays often used to distinguish the 18th-century style of instrument from
later pianos.
In the lengthy period lasting from about 1790 to 1890, the Mozart-era piano underwent tremendous changes which led to the
modern form of the instrument. This evolution was in response to a consistent preference by composers and pianists for a
more powerful, sustained piano sound. It was also a response to the ongoing Industrial Revolution, which made available
technological resources like high-quality steel for strings and precision casting for the production of
iron frames.
In the first part of this era, technological progress owed much to the English firm of Broadwood, which already had a
strong reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of its harpsichords. Over time, the Broadwood instruments grew
progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed. The Broadwood firm, which sent pianos to both Haydn and
Beethoven, was the first to build pianos with a range of more than five octaves: five octaves and a fifth during the
1790s, six octaves by 1810 (in time for Beethoven to use the extra notes in his later works), and seven octaves by 1820.
The Viennese makers followed these trends. The two schools, however, used different piano actions: the Broadwood one more
robust, the Viennese more sensitive.
Broadwood and Sons (The maker of Jane Fairfax’s Valentine Piano) is one of the most prestigious piano companies in the
world, named after its founder John Broadwood. The instruments have been played by musicians including Mozart, Haydn,
Chopin, Beethoven and Liszt. The company holds the Royal Warrant as manufacturer of pianos to Queen Elizabeth II. John
Broadwood (1732 – 1812) founder of the firm began his career working for the harpsichord maker Barkat Shudi. He proceeded
to marry Shudi’s daughter. Shudi died in 1773, and Broadwood took control of the company from his brother-in-law in 1783.
Broadwood and his acquaintances William Stodart and Americus Backers are credited with devising the English Grand Action,
an early piano action, and of taking piano design from the box piano to a prototype grand piano. In time his sales of
pianos exceeded those of harpsichords, to the point that he ceased to manufacture harpsichords in 1793.
As a company, Broadwood and Sons prospered, and was passed into the hands of his sons, James Shudi Broadwood and Thomas
Broadwood. It is the oldest extant piano manufacturer in the world.
Information found on Wikipedia, the Online
Encyclopedia.
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