The Pianoforte of Jane Austen’s day
What was the pianoforte and how did it feature in Austen’s works?
The pianoforte so often featured in Jane Austen’s works was essentially the same instrument we know today as the piano. The instrument first came into being about 1700, by Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua who cared for the harpsichords of the Florentine court. He developed an instrument similar to a harpsichord that allowed the instrument to be played both soft and loud (the meaning of pianoforte) depending on the force of the player’s hands.
While the two instruments look very similar with keyboards and interior strings, harpsichords and pianos have one significant difference. Harpsichords strings are plucked where piano strings are struck by a hammer. (Which makes a hammer dulcimer an early forerunner of the piano, but I digress.)
The sound produced by the two instruments is very different. By altering the force on the keys, a piano player can vary the dynamics of piano music from loud to soft in ways a harpsichord cannot. The most significant difference between the instruments, and the one that eventually led to the wholesale replacement of the harpsichord by the piano is that piano music can carry through and fill a large concert hall. Music from the harpsichord cannot.
Austen and the Pianoforte
Jane Austen herself was an avid piano player and played and practiced every day. Many of her heroines were as well. In her works, she uses pianos as a symbol of wealth and status. Consider Mrs. Collins who has no piano compared to the generous Lady Catherine who encourages Elizabeth to play the piano in Mrs. Jenkinson’s rooms (implying that there are others which could be played.) She owns several, despite both her and her daughter being unable to play any of them.
Genteel ( and accomplished) young ladies of Austen’s day were expected to be able to play and sing to entertain friends and family as Anne Elliot often played for the Musgroves so that they might dance in the evening while she herself had no share in the entertainment. Being able to play the piano (which required a significant amount of leisure time to devote to the practice) suggested something about the wealth and status of a family. When a girl whose family could afford for her to play the piano well did not excel in the accomplishment, it implied something about her character and that of her family.
Georgiana Darcy is praised as an extremely accomplished young lady for her musical skill. In contrast, Mary Bennet’s performances are considered accomplished but without feeling. One is left with the general feeling that somehow Mary Bennet is not the kind of woman Georgiana Darcy is on the basis of her musicianship alone. Similarly, Miss Bingley is happy to show off her refined skills, while Elizabeth Bennet humbly tries to defer playing, knowing the limitations of her own abilities. Both these women reveal something of their true selves as they sit down to play. In this way, Austen elevates the piano from the role of mere set dressing to a vital tool is exposing the true nature of her characters.
Want to read more about these topics?
We had an old upright piano. Alas, my family sold it due to my lack of practice. I, like Elizabeth Bennet, preferred to be outside than chained to my practice. My father wanted me to be able to play at church and so ‘I fudged my way through the difficult passages’ [**snicker**]. My music teacher said there was a big difference between church music and the classical that I preferred. I, apparently, couldn’t do both and had to choose between them. Oh well. This was a delightful post.
I have long regretted not being more interested in the piano as a child. I am often sad that I do not play as an adult.
I took lots of lessons as a kid but never excelled. So unfortunately I don’t play well enough to be of any use to anybody else, only for my own amusement.
Thank you for the post, Maria, especially the interpretation of how JA used the pianoforte as more than “mere set dressing. Interesting.
Pingback:New History posts from 2019 ~ Random Bits of Fascination