Men, Women and Pianos

A Social History

Arthur Loesser

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486265438
• eBook ISBN: 9780486171616
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Classical Music

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.

INDEX

A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (Middleton)

A Day in Venice (Nevin)

A la bien-aimée (Schütt),

A New Keyboard (Jankó)

A Tempest in a Teapot (Strakosch)

“A Thousand Candles,”

Abdul-Hamid, Sultan of Turkey

Abdul-Medjid, Sultan of Turkey

Abel, Carl Friedrich

Académie Royale de Musique (see Opéra)

Academy of Ancient Music

“Ach, du lieber Augustin,” variations on

“Acrosonic,”

action; “drop action,”

action, English

action, German

action, repetition (see also double escapement)

action, Vienna

Adam, Charles

Adam, Louis

Adam, Robert

Adams, John

Adams, Thomas

Addison, Joseph

“additional keys,”

Adrian, Mich.

Adventures of Harlequin and Scaramouch (ballad opera)

Aeolian Co.

Aeolian Hall

aeolian harp

Aeolian-American Corporation

“Aeolodikon,”

d‘Agoult, Countess Marie

agraffe

“Air-o-Player,”

Akron, O.

Albanèse (French singer)

Albany, N. Y.

d’Albert, Eugen

Albert of Saxe-Coburg, Prince Consort of England

“Alberti bass,”

Alberti, Domenico

Albion

Albrecht, Charles

Albumleat (Grieg)

Alceste (opera)

Alexander I, Czar of Russia

“Alexander” March (Moscheles)

“Alexander’s Ragtime Band” (Berlin)

Alexandra, queen of England, as princess of Wales

Alexandria, Va.

Alfonso II, duke of Modena

“Aliquot,”

Allan a Roon (Air)

allemande

Allesandro nel Indie (opera)

Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung

Ally Croaker (Air)

Alpine Maid’s Dream (Labitzky)

Alsace

Altenstein, Baron

amateurism

Amelia Sedley (Vanity Fair)

“American humor,”

American Musical Journal

American Piano Co.

American Piano Corporation

“Amphion,”

“Ampico,”

Anacréon (Cherubini)

Anatomy of Melancholy (Burton)

Ancelet (French musician)

An das Clavier (Gatterer)

An das Clavier (Hermes)

An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Times (Brown)

Anders, G. E.

“Anemochord,”

“Angelus,”

d’Angers, Martin

Angibault (French minister)

d’Anglebert, Jean Henri

Anglicans

An Mein Clavier (Zachariae)

Anna Bolena (Donizetti)

Annapolis

Anne, queen of England

Annonces, Affiches et Avis divers

anonymous songs, American

Antwerp

“Apollo,”

Apollo Rooms

appearance vs. musical function

Appleton, Hayts and Babcock

d’Apponyi, Count

d’Apponyi, Countess

Apthorp, William F.

Arditi, Luigi

arias

Armida (opera)

Arne, Thomas Augustine

Arnold, Samuel

Arnstein

Arnstein, Fanny

Arnstein, Nathan Adam

Arnstein and Eskeles (banking firm)

arpeggios

“Arrayed in Clouds” (Shaw)

Artaria, Carlo

Artaria and Co.

Artaserse (Vento)

“Artistano,”

Ashwell, Mary

associations of virtuosos and manufacturers of pianos

Astarte (Giardini)

Aston, Anthony

Astor, John Jacob

Astor Place Opera House

Athridates (Tenducci)

Atlantic Monthly

attendance at concerts

Au Matin (Godard)

Auber, Daniel Francois Esprit

Auburn, N. Y.

Auenbrugger, Franziska von

Auersperg

Augsburg

Auld Robin Gray (Air)

Aurnhammer, Josephine

Aurora, Ill.

Aurora Borealis Polk...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Dedication
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• FOREWORD - by Edward Rothstein
• PREFACE - by Jacques Barzun
• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
• SECTION ONE - Germany
• SECTION TWO - Austria
• SECTION THREE - England
• SECTION FOUR - France
• SECTION FIVE - Interlude: The High Plateau
• SECTION SIX - United States of America
• SECTION SEVEN - General Developments
• BIBLIOGRAPHY
• INDEX