Piano Music In Classical Period

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3. Piano and music in Classical Period Classical Period is the music from middle 18th Century to early 19th Century. In late 18th Century, Europe experienced the industrial revolution and many important changes in cultural field and science field. Like the enlightenment of France and German sturm und drang, that have promoted the revolution of western world about the way of thinking. The spirit of Humanism is the main theme of Classical Era. It advocated “liberty, equality, and fraternity”, nature respecting and pursue human’s self-worth and emotional experience. By musicians’ vigorously pursued, music and music printing became more active and more close to people’s life. On account of the booming piano manufacturing industry, piano music…show more content…
Instrument builders have improved the appearance and the structure of action constantly. Silbermann and “twelve apostles” who are a group of Silbermann’s pupils are made a great contribution to the piano revolution. They made two different styles of piano which are ‘English action’ and ‘Viennese action’. And they called ‘Stossmechanik’ and ‘Prellmechanik’ respectively. Because they have different mechanical functions and acoustics that makes two different piano making genres. The two genres have affected musician’s composing directly (Huber, 2002). The piano made by Silbermann which is used double lever action, then one of Silbermann’s pupil Johannes Zumpe (1726-1790) has developed the action into English action. Zumpe arrived in England in 1760 and made the shape of piano into rectangle, called square piano. The winding adds the majority of the string without increasing its stiffness and hence makes a richer tone (Good, 2002:47). In 1768, Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) used the square piano which is made by Zumpe in London concert. The recital has well illustrated the function of square piano. Cause the simple structure of the piano, it not only save space but also can reduce the cost of production. Furthermore, it plays an important role in the process of piano instead of harpsichord, reported by Burnett and Dow…show more content…
The piano is wing-shaped, use metal framework to instead of wooden framework. For this reason, the tension of the strings is greatly enhanced. Around 1789-1794, 'extra keys' were added, the keyboard developed from five to five and a half octaves, then to the six octaves (John Broadwood & Sons). In 1817, Ludwig van Beethoven(1770-1827) got a pianoforte from Thomas Broadwood, Beethoven gratefully thanked the gift:" I will regard it as an altar on which I will offer to god Apollo my most beautiful sacrifices of spirit" (Beethoven-Haus Bonn). Beethoven thought that his music is full of passion and tension and the piano can perform in an appropriate way. John Broadwood & Sons is the oldest piano brand at

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