Synopses & Reviews
An internationally renowned pianist presents a delightful "piano's-eye view" of Western European and American social history from the 16th through 20th centuries. With wit and erudition, Loesser traces the history of the instrument's design and manufacture and its music, from the clavichord and harpsichord to the modern spinet and concert grand.
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
Delightfully written account by the late concert pianist traces instrument's design, manufacture, music written for it, more. The result is a "piano's eye-view" of the social history of western Europe and the United States.
Synopsis
An internationally renowned pianist presents a delightful piano's-eye view of Western European and American social history from the 16th through 20th centuries. With wit and erudition, Loesser traces the history of the instrument's design and manufacture and its music, from the clavichord and harpsichord to the modern spinet and concert grand.
Synopsis
A renowned concert pianist traces the instrument's design, manufacture, and music in a delightful "piano's eye-view" of the social history of Western Europe and the United States from the 16th to the 20th centuries.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 614-624) and index.