Documenting Noise
When the piano was first created, it was called the pianoforte because of its ability to play dynamically in ways that had previously not been available to a keyboard instrument. The harpsichord could play louder and softer, but only in a limited capacity. For example, performers could change volume by steps or by changing the number of notes that were played simultaneously. J.S. Bach wrote compositions that used this property of the harpsichord in his works as a dynamic tool. By writing fuller chords, he could produce more sound, and conversely, bring the volume down by playing sparsely.
The notation of dynamics was not new. The ancient Greeks were known to use markings for loudness; however, it was not focus on nearly as much as other properties. There was far more attention to pitch and rhythm. The increased frequency and prevalence of dynamic notation comes from the advancement of compositional tools like the piano and its greater ranges in capability. Once composers had access to technology that allowed for more complex dynamics, there is an increase in its function in European music.
Bartolomeo Cristofori (1655–1731) invented the piano. He is known for changing out the plucking mechanisms that were common for keyboard instruments of the day to a hammer system. This allowed for a more diverse range of timbre and volume. He originally called the instrument the “clavicembalo col piano e forte”, which literally means harpsichord that can play loud and soft noises. This was later shortened to pianoforte, then just piano. (Piano is “soft” in Italian, and forte, “loud”. The qualities are notated as the lower case ‘p’ and ‘f’ respectively in a music composition). The piano was not the first instrument to use hammers to strike a string. The dulcimer is an early 14th century invention that consisted of a closed, shallow box over which stretched wires were struck with two wooden hammers. The dulcimer is an early predecessor to the clavichord, which also appeared in the 14th century. Other examples that weren’t far behind were the spinet, virginal, gravicembalo, and the harpsichord by the 15th century. What makes the piano so unique was its capabilities for compositions in addition to its voicing capacity for emotive expression through the use of volume. The earlier keyboard instruments allowed for musicians to create depth and range in their writings, while the piano opened up the possibilities to add meaning through its use of dynamics.
Music was not without dynamics prior to the piano. The piano simply expanded the creative process for notating the composer’s intentions for loudness. The use of volume is a characteristic of communication that is necessary to imbue interest and impact. Our ideas have dramatically different meaning when they are shouted instead of spoken softly. With a tool capable of creating broader changes in level, composers found themselves writing music that reflected this instrument’s range. The piano was popular to most composers by the mid to late 1700s, and it is by this time period that people like Mozart and Haydn begin to broaden the dynamic range of their compositions, indicating six levels of expression, (pp to ff). By Beethoven’s years, we start to see eight levels, as he writes music with markings from ppp to fff. As the piano’s capabilities expand through inventors like Johannes Cristoph Zumpe (1726–1790), John Broadwood (1732–1812), and Johann Andreas Stein (1728–1792) who improved upon the piano’s design, so did the complexity and diversity of European classical music.
Musicians made music that was soft and loud prior to the piano. The piano allowed composers to transmit their ideas more effectively about what their music should sound like, creating a whole new form of punctuation that expressed the emotive qualities of a person’s music. It is a wholly unique form of communication in this way. Dynamic notation and the expansion of its use in correlation with technological advances in instruments like the piano has helped shape the landscape of expression that we experience today. By the time Hector Berlioz (1803–1869) premiers his “Symphonie Fantastique” in 1830, the dynamic intensity is so high, people are prone to walk out of the performance because it is just too loud for them to enjoy.
Dynamics is a fascinating aspect of music that seems so simple yet is intensely critical to is power and ability to connect with audiences. The notation and use of dynamics and its correlation with technological advances is a fascinating subject. I’ll explore this topic more deeply this week, but for now, enjoy the listening example of Concerto for Cello and Orchestra, by György Ligeti written in 1966.