Piano Roles; Three Hundred Years of Life with the Piano

by James Parakilas; Foreword by Noah Adams

• ISBN13: 9780300080551
• ISBN10: 0300080557
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2000-02-09
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

The piano puts whole worlds of musical sound at the fingertips of one player, evoking the singing of a solo voice, the textural richness of an orchestra, & the rhythmic impetus of a dance band. It has been background or center stage in concertgoing, parlor singing, choir rehearsals, theatrical tryouts, & many other activities, forging a common bond among people of very different social spheres. This delightfully written & copiously illustrated book examines the place of the piano in classical & popular musical cultures & the piano's changing cultural roles over the past three centuries. Eminent authorities discuss the impetus for the invention of the piano; the innovations in its design, manufacturing, & marketing that promoted its growing significance in concert life & domestic life; & the importance of the piano lesson in the upbringing of the young--especially of girls. They explore the relationship between the piano on the public stage & the piano in the parlor; the spread of the piano to all parts of the world; & the images formed around the piano in literature, art, & movies. & they eloquently describe what the piano has meant to different eras, as it evolved from the plaything of European aristocrats to companion of people of all classes & cultures.

Author Biography

James Parakilas is professor of music and chair of the Humanities Division at Bates College. A performing pianist, he also helped organize the Piano 300 exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution marking the tercentenary of the invention of the piano

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Noah Adams
Introduction	1	(8)
James Parakilas
1700 to 1770s: The Need for the Piano	9	(22)
James Parakilas
Designing, Making, and Selling Pianos	31	(46)
Edwin M. Good
Cynthia Adams Hoover
The Player Piano	72	(5)
Michael Chanan
1770s to 1820s: The Piano Revolution in the Age of Revolutions	77	(56)
James Parakilas
Gretchen A. Wheelock
The Piano Lesson	133	(48)
E. Douglas Bomberger
Martha Dennis Burns
James Parakilas
Judith Tick
Marina Tsvetaeva
Mark Tucker
The Metronome	143	(10)
Marina Tsvetaeva
Le Tabouret (The Piano Stool)	153	(28)
Marina Tsvetaeva
1820s to 1870s: The Piano Calls the Tune	181	(56)
Charlotte N. Eyerman
James Parakilas
The Piano Tuner	187	(25)
James Parakilas
The Image of the Composer at the Piano	212	(25)
James Parakilas
The Concert and the Virtuoso	237	(46)
Richard Leppert
Stephen Zank
1870s to 1920s: The World's the Limit	283	(46)
Atsuko Hirai
James Parakilas
Preview: Silent Movies with Piano	324	(5)
Michael Chanan
Hollywood's Embattled Icon	329	(30)
Ivan Raykoff
1920s to 2000: New Voices from the Old Impersonator	359	(50)
Michael Chanan
James Parakilas
Mark Tucker
Afterword: Making the Piano Historical	403	(6)
James Parakilas
Notes	409	(24)
Recommended Readings	433	(4)
Contributors	437	(4)
Acknowledgments	441	(2)
Illustration Credits	443	(4)
Index	447