Chopin's piano

[Israel Stein]

At 11:31 PM 3/17/2007, pianotech-request at ptg.org wrote:
>Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
>
>One thing about these types of things amaze me though. The article's 
>author implies that by playing this 150-year-old piano of Chopin, 
>you can new hear the music exactly as Chopin heard it. So like this 
>piano hasn't deteriorated at all in 150 years? The piano was two 
>years old when Chopin was playing it. I wouldn't be surprised is a 
>new Yamaha sounds more like the two-year-old Playel that a 
>150-year-old Playel does. Seems pretty kooky to me.
>
>I mean really. Think about it. We've all seen original 1880s 
>Steinway A1s - multiple owners, neglected, worn out, moth eaten, 
>hammers of swiss cheese, etc. Now what piano would sound more like a 
>new Steinway A - the worn out 1880 A1 or a new Yamaha C3? I would 
>argue the C3 - 'cause it sounds like a new decent piano.
>
>Flame Suit all zipped up tight!

Dear Terry,

Before making such over-broad categorical statements, you could at 
least examine the design and construction of Chopin's Pleyel and 
compare it to a new Yamaha. That Yamaha - like 99.9% of pianos today 
- is based on the "Steinway system" ideas of single piece bent rim 
construction, overstrung bass,  fairly light cast plate. This mode of 
piano construction pretty much pushed out all others by the turn of 
the 20th century (notable exception - Bosendorfer still retains some 
older features). Furthermore, that Yamaha has a modern 
double-escapement action, felt covered hammers with rather dense 
felt, high tension string scale.  I am not familiar with the 
particular instrument, but I would conjecture - from my knowledge of 
historical pianos - Chopin's Pleyel would be a straight-srung bass, 
most likely a composite 3/4 plate butted into the pinblock, 
three-piece rim jointed at the corners, much lower tension scale than 
used today, a single-escapement English action, leather-covered 
fairly soft felt hammers, need I continue? I can tell you from my 
work with pianos of the same era - some quite nicely restored with an 
eye to historical accuracy  - and from work with recently built 
replicas of older pianos that:

1. Mid 19th century pianos do not now and did never sound or behave 
much like modern pianos - Yamahas, Steinways, or whatever. The 
success of the "Steinway system" at the Paris Expo in 1862 was  a 
watershed in piano construction that greatly changed the nature of 
the instrument over the next several decades (some European makers 
stuck with the older models through the 19-teens -but not later).
2. While a 150 year old piano will not sound exactly like it when it 
was new, much can be learned from how it sounds today about its 
original character in terms of tone, sustain, repetition, 
articulation, power, touchweight, etc. etc. Especially if some 
historically sensitive restoration work has been done on it. While 
the claims that "this is what Chopin heard" are probably exaggerated, 
much of the basic character remains - and it ain't nothin' like a 
modern Yamaha or anything else...

So keep your flame suit zipped, because you are way off here...

Israel Stein
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/20070318/881ea0f4/attachment.html