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Luthéal
The luthéal is a kind of hybrid piano which extended the "register" possibilities of a piano by producing cimbalom-like sounds in some registers, exploiting harmonics of the strings when pulling other register-stops, and also some registers making other objects, which were lowered just above the strings, resound. The instrument became obsolete partly because most of its mechanics were too sensitive, needing constant adjustment. The only pieces in the general repertoire to feature the luthéal are ''L'enfant et les sortilèges'' (1920–25) and ''Tzigane'' (1924), by Maurice Ravel. History The attachment was created by the Belgian organ builder Georges Cloetens, who first patented it on 28 January 1919 and named it the "Jeu de harpe tirée".Roger Cotte, Cotte, Roger J. V. 2001. "Luthéal [Piano-Luthéal]". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (professor of music), John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tzigane
''Tzigane'' is a rhapsodic composition by the French composer Maurice Ravel featuring a virtuosic violin part. The original instrumentation was for violin and piano (with optional luthéal attachment). The first performance took place in London on 26 April 1924 with the dedicatee, Jelly d'Arányi, on the violin and Henri Gil-Marchex at the piano. In his biographical sketch of 1928 Ravel termed it a ''rapsodie de concert'', as "a virtuoso piece in the style of a Hungarian rhapsody". It consists of "a string of successive variations juxtaposed without development".Jankélévitch, Vladimir. ''Ravel'' (translated by Margaret Crosland, Evergreen Profile Book 3. Grove Press, New York & John Calder, London, 1959, p61. Background In the early 1920s, Ravel had been planning a piece for violin and piano for his closest female friend, Hélène Jourdan-Morhange. Around the same time Ravel became acquainted with Hungarian violinist d'Arányi when she played his Sonata for Violin and Cel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |