The giraffe piano is a type of an
upright piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
that has a "long-necked" appearance due to a narrow, but tall, upright case, essentially a
grand piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
set up vertically.
The design had been invented in Austria around 1805 and was manufactured throughout the first half of the 19th century. This "monstrosity" eventually evolved into the modern
upright piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
("pianino"). Two closely related instruments, similar in construction, but different in shape, are called the pyramid piano and the lyre piano.
Invention
Modern sources credit the invention of the Giraffe piano to ,
[ although a dispute about the authorship was already ongoing in 1811, with Seuffert accused of falsely representing himself as an inventor:
Seuffert himself at the time acknowledged collaboration with Wachtl and Bleyer, although denied Bleyer's claims:][Martin Seuffert: ''Rechtfertigung''. in: ''Intelligenz-Blatt zur Allgemeinen Musikalischen Zeitung'' May 1812, Nº. V, Sp. 21–22 ]
Design
The narrow end of the instrument was frequently capped by a large scroll
A scroll (from the Old French ''escroe'' or ''escroue''), also known as a roll, is a roll of papyrus, parchment, or paper containing writing.
Structure
A scroll is usually partitioned into pages, which are sometimes separate sheets of papyrus ...
imitating giraffe's head, space next to it was frequently used for the display shelves. The pianos mostly used the German action with hammers below the keys and typically had four pedals. Until the turn of the 19th century, the pin block was placed above the keyboard, so the cases had to be quite tall. Moving the pin block to the top of the frame and sloping the string plane cleared the path to the modern upright piano design – and eventually ended the era of the 19th century upright grand pianos.
History
The development of the upright grand versions of pianos in the 18th-19th centuries was spurred by the need to reduce the space taken by the grand piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
s, at the time about 2.5 by 1.5 meters; the size of more compact square piano
The square piano is a type of piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously ...
s was also increasing.[ Vertical design, with the soundboard oriented toward audience, allowed to produce full sound in а smaller-sized instrument. The idea of a vertical placement of strings is very old: ]clavicytherium
A clavicytherium is a harpsichord in which the soundboard and strings are mounted vertically facing the player. The primary purpose of making a harpsichord vertical is the same as in the later upright piano, namely to save floor space. In a clavicy ...
, an upright version of the harpsichord
A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
, was known as early as 1480.
File:Bareschel, Amsterdam, ca. 1815 - Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels - IMG 3857.JPG, Pyramid piano, ca. 1815
File:Lyraflügel um 1820.jpg, Lyre piano by Schleip, 1820
The first upright hammer-action grand piano was constructed in Italy by in 1739. The development then shifted to Vienna
en, Viennese
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, timezone_DST ...
, with creating the first ''pyramid piano'' in 1745. After a hiatus, the uprights experienced a renaissance in Austria in the early 19th century (Seuffert, Wachtl, Bleyer) with significant contributions by Christoph Ehrlich in Germany. The instruments featured two to six pedals, controlling the piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
, sustaining, bassoon-register, and sometimes "janissary
A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orhan ( ...
" (drum and bells) functions (Friederici also used hand stops). The ''lyre piano'', made popular by in 1820s was the last iteration of the upright grand piano design.
See also
* Euphonicon
References
Sources
*
* ''Giraffenklavier.'' In: Curt Sachs: ''Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente.'' Julius Bard, Berlin 1913, S. 158 b ()
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{{musical-instrument-stub
Piano
Austrian inventions