Pianos and Their Makers: A Comprehensive History of the Development of the Piano Fro the Monochord to the Concert Grand Player Piano

by Alfred Dolge

The late Alfred Dolge was one of the most remarkable figures in the history of the piano. First trained in the German piano industry of the 1860s, he continued to work and study under the great Mathushek upon coming to the United States. He went into business for himself, manufacturing hammers and other components (eventually founding the piano town of Dolgeville, New York), and achieved an international reputation as a manufacturer, designer, and inventor of piano-making machinery. In addition to being one of the top technicians in the world, he had a unique circle of business and personal acquaintance with everyone of importance in the piano world of both Europe and America, on a level that no outsider could ever attain. All this culminated in the 1911 publication of Pianos and Their Makers.
To prepare the reader for more technical exposition, Dolge first gives a brief history of stringed keyboard instruments, from the early pianoforte up through the square piano, the development of the upright, and the modern grand. After this, he explains the development of individual the full iron frame, the keyboard, various types of action, hammer, soundboard, as well as woods, felts, and wires.
The heart of this book, however is a close history of the development of the nineteenth-century piano, with full credit to the great designers and manufacturers. More than 100 pages are devoted to American advances alone, all highly specific. There are also profiles of important personalities. In addition to covering the standard piano, this volume is also one of the few sources to cover in some detail automatic instruments, including player pianos, reproducing pianos, transposers, and cabinet piano players.
The result of this incredible amount of data is a book that is both necessary and fascinating to anyone seriously interested in the piano of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, whether in historical developments, background for an instrument that the reader may happen to own, restoration and repairs for unusual devices, and overall background. The diagrams and illustrations alone make this book indispensable, providing — as Grove's has noted — "invaluable data about American piano making."

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

478 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1972

Reviews

[Darin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first half had lots of detail providing some interesting historical perspective. Obviously, having been written in 1911 this history was primarily 19th century, however, and therefore of somewhat limited value at least for someone like myself will essentially only work with newer instruments. The second half (details about founders of various piano manufacturers) was SO detailed that it was quite difficult to get through - especially as many of those companies have long since vanished along with virtually all of their pianos.

As a random side note, it was fascinating to see how quickly prognostication from this time period runs afoul of the 20th century technology explosion! Can hardly blame him, but nearly all of his speculations about the future turned out to be wrong in a shockingly short period of time.

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I read almost all the book (some chapters are so detailed, that I just didn't have time to read them completely. But I wish I had...). Anyway, I read it almost entirely and since it was written in 1911 by an author who knew the European and American piano industry from first hand, it is a very valuable document. I was surprised by the lack of distortion of this book (most of the books and articles on music history written in the first decades of the XX century that I have read are certainly "stained" by a nationalistic and too romantic approach... But it seems that Dolge's mind was very practical and down-to-earth. Maybe that was always typical in US. Who knows?).