OCR Text |
Show PIANO DATES FROM 17H Crlstoforlr Retainer "of- the DUko of Tuscanyt Made tho First. It as a harpsichord maker. Cristo-fori, Cristo-fori, In tho employ of (tho Duke of Tuscany," Tus-cany," who in '1711 mallo flie first successful suc-cessful plano As cflratdY of Ferdinand Ferdi-nand do Medici ho had a splendid collection col-lection of Belgian, French, and Italian Instruments to look nftcrnnd this undoubtedly un-doubtedly alde'd him, though tho modol was so crude that tho inventor could novor havo dreamed, a , monument would over bo iir6cled In his memory. Thero aro only two grand pianofortes of Crlstoforl In exlstenco, says a writer writ-er In tho Housekeeper. One decorated decorat-ed In gold nnd Chlneso figures Is In Florence, nnd tho other Is In tho Crosby-Brown collection In tho New York Art Metropolitan Museum Tlireo documents ntjeat h,e authenticity of this Inst instrument, which was purchased pur-chased from Slgnor Diego Martelll. From thla fceblo beginning comes a long list of names of mon who holped perfect tho plnno. But factories nlono cbuld never havo achieved without royalty to oncourngo nnd virtuosi to play. Fredd"rfckiUlb drent ordered flvo pianos for his palace, where they can bo seen nt tho present dny. Mario Antolnetto was a patron of tho art, and Clement! In England and Mozart Mo-zart In Germany Introduced tho Instrument Instru-ment so it becamd a part of llfo. It was jn Pleyel's concert room that Chopin playod and our later Arms havo brought out a long list of artists, Josoffy, Pndcrowskl, nnd othors. |