Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos: A Technological History from Cristofori to the Modern Concert Grand, Second Edition

399 Pages·2001·26.192 MB·English

by  Good, Edwin M.

Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos
BLANK PAGE
EDWIN M. GOOD
Pianos
Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other
A Technological History
from Cristofori to the Modern
Concert Grand
SECOND EDITION
STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA
Stanford University Press
Stanford, California
© 200I by the Board of Trustees of the
Leland Stanford Junior University
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free, archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Good, Edwin M. (Edwin Marshall)
Giraffes, black dragons, and other pianos : a
technological history from Cristofori to the modern
concert grand I Edwin M. Good.-[20d ed.]
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN o-8047-33I6-3 (alk. paper)
ISBN 0-8047-4549-8 (pbk.)
I. Piano-History. 2. Piano-Construction.
I. Title.
ML652.G6 200I
786.2'I9'09-dc2I oo-o6I24I
Designed by Janet Wood
Typeset by G & S Typesetters, Inc.
in 10.75 I I4 A Garamond
Original printing 200I
Last figure below indicates year of this printing:
IO 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
To Walter G. Vincenti
Friend, Colleague, and Patient Mentor
BIANKPAGE
Acknowledgments
For the Second Edition
My debts for this edition of the book are many. Some of the persons mentioned
in connection with the first edition were also gracious many years later. In ad
dition to those, I thank the following:
Dr. Frank Bar, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg; Dr. Otto
Biba, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna; Professor Martha Novak Clink
scale, Dallas, Tex.; Donald W Dillon, Piano Manufacturers Association In
ternational, Los Angeles; Professor Cyril Ehrlich, Oxford, Eng.; Darrell and
Heather Fandrich, Seattle, Wash.; Dr. Eszter Fontana, Musikinstrumenten
Museum, Leipzig University, Leipzig; Martin Heckscher, London; Robert
Hickerson, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence; Dr.
Rudolf Hopfner, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna; Dennis Houlihan, Ro
land Corporation of America, Los Angeles; Professor John Koster, Shrine to
Music Museum, University of South Dakota, Vermillion; Darcy Kuronen,
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; David Lamoreaux, Takoma Park, Md.; Terry
Lewis and Ray Reuter, Yamaha Corporation of America, Buena Park, Calif.;
Frank Mazurco and Michael Mohr, Steinway & Sons, New York; Kenneth
Mobbs, Bristol, Eng.; Professor James Parakilas, Bates College, Lewiston,
Maine; Cecil Ramirez, Mason & Hamlin Company, Haverhill, Mass.; Chris
tiana L. Ratcliffe, San Luis Obispo, Calif.; R. J. Regier, Freeport, Maine; Chris Vil
tiane Rieche, Handel-Haus, Halle, Germany; Nicholas Renouf and Susan
Thompson, Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments, New Haven,
Conn.; Sandra Rosenblum, Belmont, Mass.; Patrick Rucker and Gary Sturm,
vm Acknowledgments
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Gabriella and Nikolaus Schim
mel, Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik, Braunschweig, Germany; Frank
Seta, Baldwin Piano and Organ Company, Cincinnati, Ohio; Henry Z. Stein
way, Steinway & Sons, New York; Barbara and Thomas Wolf, The Plains, Va.
For the First Edition
A book like this cannot be completed without the help of many people in pro
viding information, material, and encouragement. I am happy to acknowledge
the aid of the following:
Professor Malcolm Bilson, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Q. David Bow
ers, Wolfe burg, N.H.; Susan T. Brombaugh, Yale University Collection of Mu
sical Instruments, New Haven, Conn.; Bruce Carlson, The Schubert Club,
Saint Paul, Minn.; Professor Albert Cohen, Stanford University, Calif.; Bjarne
B. Dahl, Sunnyvale, Calif.; Dr. Rudolf Distelberger, Kunsthistorisches Mu
seum, Vienna; Dr. and Mrs. G. Norman Eddy, Cambridge, Mass.; LaRoy Ed
wards, Yamaha International, Buena Park, Calif.; Edmund Michael Fredericks,
Walhonding, Ohio; William E. Garlick, Boston; Joe Green, Yamaha Interna
tional, Buena Park, Calif.; Alberto Hashimoto, Nippon Gakki Company, Ltd.,
Hamamatsu, Japan; Dr. Hubert Henkel, Musikinstrumenten-Museum, Karl
Marx-Universitat, Leipzig; Professor William E. Hettrick, Hofstra University,
Hempstead, Long Island, N.Y.; Thomas Higgins, St. Louis, Mo.; Sally Hoff
mann, Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Law
rence; Helen Rice Hollis, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Cynthia
Adams Hoover, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Professor Eric
Hutchinson, Stanford University, Calif.; John H. Jervis, Sohmer & Company,
New York; Barbara Lambert, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Dr. Laurence Li
bin, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tom O'Donnell, CBS Musical
Instruments, Fullerton, Calif.; Dr. Jerry Person, Music Library, Stanford Uni
versity, Calif.; Stewart Pollens, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Pro
fessor Ronald V. Ratcliffe, California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo;
Dr. Richard Rephann, Yale University Collection of Musical Instruments,
New Haven, Conn.; Harvey Roehl, The Vestal Press, Vestal, N.Y.; Dr. Konrad
Sasse, Handel-Haus, Halle, GDR; Eugene Schachter, Long Beach, Calif.; Dr.
J.
Howard Schott, Tenafly, N.J.; Sally Silberman, Kimball Piano and Organ
Acknowledgments
tx
Company, Jasper, Ind.; Willard Sims, Baldwiri Piano and Organ Company,
J.
Cincinnati, Ohio; Robert Smith, Somerville, Mass.; Harvey Sohmer, Sohmer
& Company, New York; Gretchen Steffy-Bond, Palo Alto, Calif.; John H.
Steinway, Steinway & Sons, New York; Dr. John Henry van der Meer, Ger
manisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg; Anne Voglewede, The Schubert
Club, Saint Paul, Minn.; Dr. Kurt Wegerer, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vi
enna; Roger Weisensteiner, Kimball Piano and Organ Company, French Lick,
Ind.; Professor Robert Winter, University of California, Los Angeles.