Synopsis
in the duden dictionary of origins, the keyword "piano" is found between "klausur" and "kleben". "klausur" means the "completed life of pleasure" to which the diligent student of pianistic technique had to surrender on the "gradus ad parnassum": practising, practising, practising every day, and always "sticking" with his fingers to the keys.the word "piano" comes from the latin "clavis", which initially means "key" and refers to the keys on the corresponding instruments, on the "clavated instruments", as the organ, harpsichord, clavicord etc. were still grouped together until the end of the 18th century.
a modern piano has 88 keys. let's start.
in the middle is the key-c. it's not called that because the keys used to be called keys, but because this is where the device for locking the piano lid is usually found.
(sound "unlock", tone c')
in its own way, this c is also the key to the european system of musical order, paradigmatically set in motion in the seventeenth century by johann sebastian bach in his "well-tempered piano", the collection of preludes and fugues that is still used today for practising musical rules.
"Well-tempered" means tuning the notes so that all keys are playable.
to achieve this, minor detunings of the previously purely intonated intervals were accepted, which were, however, distributed quite evenly over the entire range of notes. the small differences between notes and between the various harmonics result in slight suspensions. the tuning is therefore called "equal temperament".
from now on, all major and minor keys could house preludes and fugues, without those houses with the many keys preventing the inhabitants of the other houses from entering. from now on, any piece of music could be transposed from its original key into any other key. C major is everywhere.
before the introduction of the phonograph record, the pianoforte at home was the most important instrument for the cultivation of musical literature. the music played in the concert hall was generally available quite quickly in piano editions, in various arrangements for the home musical dissemination of musical gems of all genres and genres. current compositions were also to be found in the music cabinet at home, and so the excerpts also served to prepare for the visit to the concert. their production kept large numbers of arrangers in wages and bread.
In their educational and appropriation function, piano excerpts could not compete with the technology of sound reproduction that emerged in the 20th century; the active preparation and reproduction of musical literature was replaced by the passive consumption of canned sounds.
