The sounds of 18th century piano music flooded Shippensburg University’s Old Main Chapel on Saturday afternoon during keyboard performer Carol lei Breckenridge’s lecture on the origins of the piano.
Breckenridge educated SU students on how the instrument came to be and the major influencers of the piano’s success.
The audience was led back through time, beginning with the piano’s inventor Bartolomeo Cristofori. Cristofori’s first edition of the piano was a harpsichord with keys that struck little hammers to produce loud and soft sounds.
Breckenridge went above and beyond to demonstrate the sounds of the first piano by bringing her own replica of a 1730s Cristofori-Ferrini harpsichord piano. Cristofori’s piano is known today as the Italian piano.
Breckenridge transported the audience back to the 1700s by playing several pieces on the Italian piano from composers such as Domenico Scarlatti, Johann Sebastian Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Breckenridge’s 50 years of training on the classical instrument was evident as her fingers flew across the keyboard, striking fast and with accuracy to produce upbeat tunes as well as ominous sonatas.
Along with the Italian piano, Breckenridge also brought a replica of a 1789 Dulcken “Viennese” piano. The Viennese piano is the piano most of us are familiar with today that was made popular by composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn. Breckenridge concluded her lecture by playing one final sonata by Haydn on the Viennese piano.
The Slate welcomes thoughtful discussion on all of our stories, but please keep comments civil and on-topic. Read our full guidelines here.