The development of the modern American pianoforte presents a most interesting study to the practical member of the musical industries as well as to the pianist. For it is possible to view the subject with equal facility from the standpoints of both. Descended through a clearly defined line of ancestry from the ancient psaltery, and showing traces of the various steps in its evolution throughout its entire modern form, the pianoforte of to-day is essentially the product of all the ages. There have not been wanting a sufficient number of writers upon the history and ancestry of the instrument; but an exposition of the correct principles of design has not hitherto appeared in the English language, at least in a form that possesses permanent value to the American manufacturer. The once classic work of Rimbault is obsolete to-day, even in Europe; while, on the other hand, the various German treatises have been difficult to obtain and necessarily limited in their appeal to an English speaking people, nor have any satisfactory translations of any of them yet been put forth.

Furthermore, the evolution of pianoforte building in this country has proceeded along characteristically American lines and has resulted in the existence to-day of a peculiarly national, advanced and complex type. American pianofortes are universally acknowledged to stand among the highest developments of applied musical craftsmanship, and artists of every degree have willingly given their assent to every claim that has been made for the instruments.

While, however, these facts are easily demonstrable, it would be by no means correct to suppose that the development of the American types of pianoforte has been materially assisted by even a respectable minority of those who have been engaged in constructing them. On the contrary, the magnificent examples of the musical instrument maker’s art that grace the homes of musicians and people of culture throughout the United States owe their present high excellence to the labors and skill of a small band of enthusiastic and clever workers. The names of William Hawkins, Jonas Chickering, and Henry Engelhard Steinway should be written in letters of gold above the doors of all institutions devoted to the creation of artistic pianofortes. For it is to the earnest labor and untiring enthusiasm of these men and a few others, working alone and unassisted, that the modern American instrument owes its present proud position.

And this state of affairs has continued to exist until the present day. There are, as there have always been, a few talented and skilful men who have never been content to rest upon their laurels or to desist from continual labor along the lines of musical and mechanical betterment; but such as they stand, and have always stood, alone. The great majority have been glad to accept the improvements of their preceding or contemporaneous masters after the commercial value of the innovations has been demonstrated; but they have always lacked the audacity or capability to strike out into new fields and untrodden pathways.

We may, however, discern a sufficient reason for this timidity on the part of pianoforte makers. The principles that underly the design of the instrument are primarily acoustical. They have never been very easily digested, either by the mechanic or by the man of affairs. And since a knowledge of acoustics has been profoundly developed only within the last sixty years or so, it follows that its application to the design of musical instruments has naturally lagged behind the progress of the science itself. Pianoforte makers are not usually professing scientists or practical musicians; and they have discerned little profit in attempting to keep up with the trend of modern acoustical research, even so far as this has directly affected the principles of musical instrument construction.

The development of the pianoforte has, in fact, proceeded empirically, and has been prosecuted inductively rather than from any a priori notions. And while we cannot withhold our admiration from the splendid success that has attended so much of this empirical research, we cannot be blind to the fact that very many modern pianofortes exhibit clearly the inherent defects of such methods. The practical musical mechanician, if he possess the requisite knowledge, is often able to remedy existing faults in tone quality and tone-production. And while studying ways and means for doing this, he cannot but observe innumerable cases of neglected opportunities, or even of positive mistakes. The pure empirical method must always produce a large number of failures. Yet the application of even the elementary principles of Applied Acoustics would frequently prevent the commission of serious sins in design. It is not necessary, of course, that every scale draughtsman or designer should have the results of modern acoustical discovery at his fingers’ ends; but it is here insisted that such knowledge, in so far as it relates to musical instruments, is essential to the correct construction of pianofortes.

Tone-production, otherwise than by the human voice, implies both scientific and mechanical problems. Especially is this true of the pianoforte, which, with the exception of the pipe organ, may properly be considered the most complex of artificial devices for the performance of music.

Recognition of this truth and a general improvement in the knowledge of the acoustical and musical principles involved cannot fail to exercise a most beneficial influence upon the future of the American pianoforte.

As has already been remarked, there is a dearth of convenient treatises in the English language that can be said to possess a present value to the earnest student of pianoforte design. The present book is an attempt in the direction of supplying the deficiency. The author has aimed at presenting the various problems pertaining to the art of pianoforte construction with due regard both to their acoustical and mechanical features. No attempt has been made to delve profoundly into the mysteries of sound; but the elementary and basic principles of tone-production have been stated, and their true application to the various stages of pianoforte construction explained. Each step in the making of a pianoforte from beginning to completion has been subjected to analysis, and the correct principles pointed out.

The author believes that the book may be read and comprehended, even by one to whom the very term acoustics has hitherto been unfamiliar. While he does not expect that a study of this book can make the novice a full-fledged scale draughtsman, as it were, overnight, he does expect, on the other hand, to assist those who have already investigated, or who intend to investigate the whole problem, to a clearer and broader comprehension of a beautiful art. If this hope be gratified, much will have been achieved, and no one who has at heart the future of musical industry in America can fail to be encouraged, if nothing else, by the appearance of this condensed work.

The general outline of the book can be explained with little detail. Recognizing, as has already been suggested, the dependence of all right pianoforte making upon the observance of the established principles of acoustics, the author has thought it well, after a short historical sketch of the pianoforte, to make a general statement of the laws that govern the propagation and transmission of sound. It is but a step from this to a concise explanation of the peculiarities of stretched strings and their behavior under varying conditions of excitation, and differing phases of tension, etc. This leads us directly to the discussion of pianoforte strings, their dimensions, and the manner in which they become the agents of sound-production in the instrument.

Continuing our investigations, we pass to the subject of resonance and come naturally to a discussion of the resonating apparatus of the pianoforte.

The framing that holds together these two vital elements is next subjected to analysis and explanation, and finally the mechanisms of percussion and touch are brought under our inquiry and their peculiarities noted and expounded. The remarks upon the draughting of pianoforte scales, that conclude the volume, are necessarily broad and general, since it is quite impossible to indicate with exactitude the actual method to be employed in making mechanical drawings, at least within the limits that the relative importance of the subject imposes on us. Attention has been drawn more particularly to the calculations for shrinkage that are rendered necessary by the vagaries of cast iron, such as is used in the manufacture of metal frames, and to the details of hammer-stroke points and string dimensions, the principles of which have been explained in their proper places within the body of the work.