Reproduction piano
The reproduction piano is an automatic piano that is able to reproduce, as authentically as possible, pieces of music recorded by a pianist in a special recording studio, including the touch dynamics .
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These instruments , which were initially pneumatically controlled, use paper tape, the so-called " piano roll " or " piano roll " , as a sound carrier . The first reproduction piano came onto the market in 1905 with the instrument called Welte-Mignon from M. Welte & Sons . Other manufacturers of reproduction pianos in Germany were the Leipzig-based Ludwig Hupfeld AG in 1908 with an instrument called DEA , which was later replaced by the improved Triphonola model . Also in 1908, JD Philipps AG presented the “DUCA” model in Frankfurt am Main for the Leipzig trade fair. In the United States, the Aeolian Company in New York City developed the Duo-Art piano, which was sold from 1913, and the American Piano Company also in New York City, in 1913 a Stoddart-Ampico model named after its developer Charles F. Stoddart .
The art play piano required a person to operate it to begin with, the pianolist , the electric piano or the pianola is not able to do so without a pianolist.
From 1986 the piano manufacturer Bösendorfer in Vienna produced the "Computer Grand " Bösendorfer SE290 . This could record and reproduce the playing of a pianist through an electronic recording device. The recordings could then be edited electronically.
Admission procedure
The recording procedures used are different and only partially documented, in the case of the Welte-Mignon not at all, as it was kept secret. In the Museum for Music Automatons in Seewen (Switzerland), part of the recording technology for Welte organs is preserved and exhibited - experts assume that the piano recording equipment must have been very similar. A detailed documentation of the admission procedure is available for the AMPICO technology. Numerous descriptions of the pianists in diaries and references that have recorded on the various systems give impressions of the process of recording and post-processing.
Designs
The reproduction piano was offered in four different designs, as a push-up device for use on an existing piano, as a pure reproduction instrument cabinet without keyboard, built into pianos and built into grand pianos. The reproduction could be done fully automatically at the push of a button, or by the pianolist using the information on the piano rolls regarding pedaling and accentuation.
Disklavier
In 1987, the Yamaha company brought the Disklavier onto the market, which enabled the recording and playback of all playing parameters via floppy disks. The instrument can also be connected to appropriate peripherals via MIDI . Today, Bösendorfer instruments are also offered with this system.
Spirio
Steinway & Sons has been selling the grand piano models O, B and D with the " Spirio " reproduction system for an additional charge since 2017 . This mechanically plays data from an electronic Steinway library that was created in special studios in Hamburg and New York. Everyone who purchases a Spirio grand piano has access to the library. With over 1000 dynamic levels, the resolution is more detailed than the MIDI standard with 127 volume levels. According to the manufacturer, the time resolution reaches up to 800 signals per second, the damper lift-off is modulated in 256 steps. The system must be built in when the sash is built; retrofitting is not offered.
literature
- Jürgen Hocker: Fascination Player Piano - The self-playing piano from the beginning to the present . Bergkirchen 2009. ISBN 978-3-937841-80-9
- Gerhard Dangel and Hans-W. Schmitz: Welte-Mignon piano rolls: complete catalog of the European recordings 1904 - 1932 for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano / Welte-Mignon piano rolls: complete library of the European recordings 1904 - 1932 for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano . Stuttgart 2006. ISBN 3-00-017110-X
- Automatic musical instruments from Freiburg into the world - 100 years of Welte-Mignon : Augustinermuseum, exhibition from September 17, 2005 to January 8, 2006 / [publisher: Augustinermuseum]. With contributions from Durward R. Center, Gerhard Dangel, ... [Red .: Gerhard Dangel]. Freiburg: Augustinermuseum, 2005.
- Hermann Gottschewski: The interpretation as a work of art : musical organization of time and its analysis using the example of Welte Mignon piano recordings from 1905. Laaber: Laaber-Verlag 1996. ISBN 3-89007-309-3
- Gerhard Dangel: History of the company M. Welte & Sons Freiburg i. B. and New York . Freiburg: Augustinermuseum 1991.
- Quirin David Bowers: Encyclopedia of automatic musical instruments : Cylinder music boxes, disc music boxes, piano players and player pianos ... Incl. a dictionary of automatic musical instrument terms. Vestal, NY: The Vestal Press, 1988
- Peter Hagmann: The Welte Mignon piano, the Welte Philharmonie organ and the beginnings of music reproduction . Bern [u. a.]: Lang, 1984. Online version 2002
- Christine Mange: Le Piano reproducteur Welte-Mignon: son histoire, sa conception, son répertoire . Strasbourg, 1982
- William Braid White: The player-piano up-to-date: a comprehensive treatise ... New York 1914.
- Sigfrid Karg-Elert : The movable mouse and Paul Harms in: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 31 (1910/11), p. 1107f
See also
The Pianola Museum in Amsterdam with more than 20,000 piano rolls and around 50 musical instruments.
Web links
- Interesting facts about pianola , website of FaszinationPianola with details on all reproduction piano types and music rolls
Individual evidence
- ↑ Steinway Spirio: As if by magic. Keyboard World , March 10, 2017, accessed April 12, 2020 .