Overview

As the ""social anchor"" in middle-class homes of the nineteenth century, the piano was simultaneously an elegant piece of drawing-room furniture, a sign of bourgeois prosperity, and a means of introducing the young to music. In this admirably balanced and leisurely account of the popular instrument, the late, internationally known concert pianist Arthur Loesser takes a ""piano's-eye view"" of the recent social history of Western Europe and the United States. Drawing on newspapers, music manuscripts, popular accounts, and other sources, Loesser traces the history of the piano from its predecessors, the clavichord and the harpsichord, to the modern spinet and concert grand. Chapter headings such as ""Clavichords Make Weeping Easier,"" ""The Harpsichord Grows Feet,"" ""The More Pianos the Merrier,"" and ""The Keyboards Go West"" suggest the author's lighthearted approach to topics ranging from the piano's European origins and its introduction in the United States to the decline of piano manufacturing in the early twentieth century and the ""victory of airborne music"" by mid-century. A preface by historian Jacques Barzun and a new foreword by music critic Edward Rothstein enhance a volume rich in wit and knowledge -- one that will delight any reader with an interest in the piano and on Western cultural history.

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9780486265438

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Reviews

The evolution and employment of the piano in the light of social history is the subject of a blithe but sturdy volume. In Germany, where preoccupation with feeling and the culture-vulturing on gemutlich terms led to Silbermann and singing families; in Austria, where Beethoven battled the boundaries of the Vienna keyboard; in England, where the moneyed and the noble played and the Industrial Revolution produced bigger and better pianos; in France, where Chopin played a Pleyel and Liszt an and Erard; in United States, where Steinways and virtuosi and pianolas flourished- the piano had its day as sacred symbol, furniture, husband allurer, and once in a while musical instrument. The techniques of piano making mingle delightfully with the ways of the folks who displayed and sometimes played the piano, with commentaries social and musical by Jane Austen, Thackeray, Mozart. Today the piano, no longer a symbol of respectability, has settled into its place as a musical instrument - in maturity it can look back on the growing years, the youthful sallies and flirtations in society. Anyone interested in music and manners will enjoy looking back too. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

American classical pianist and author Arthur Loesser (1894-1969) served on the faculty of the Cleveland Institute of Music from 1926 to 1969. He wrote program notes for the Cleveland Orchestra and liner notes for Vladimir Horowitz and other internationally famed musicians.

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