A Noble Art

"A Noble Art" is a book of a series of lectures available from Amazon, dealing with the development and construction of the piano.  In it the author, Miss Smith, leads up to the building of the Steinway piano which she eloquently holds forth as the epitome of piano making.  While this is an attempt to explain the "mysteries" of piano making, the work is here and there marked by observations laden with such views as to distort reality into something imaginary, or at least romanticizing the whole process of the manufacturing process.

It does, however, offer some interesting insights couched in heavenly prose.  Here's an example from the book of what I mean: "In the hour when I saw this (the piano factory), the walls of the factory wherein I stood stretched upward to the grandeur of God's temple; and the wrinkled face of the workman beside me, his eyes resting lovingly and proudly on the beauties of the action before us, became glorified in a priesthood whose majesty he knew not. It is the wonder and pathos of life that they who serve its deepest mysteries -- yes, even the holy of holies -- have no significant initiation, no outward badge.  Their badge is but toil's superscription in the lines of face and form; their initiation but the long discipline of faithful labor.  Theirs is but a matter of regulating a few springs and levers, but the levers are among those which lift humanity."

From her we learn that "the purity of a pianist's tone" depends on how the finger attacks the key.  There is no question that that is the case.  However the piano must be in excellent tune and voiced and regulated well for that to be true.

I applaud Miss Smith's remarkable and earnest study of the piano manufacturing process.  She is justified in holding up the Steinway as the pinnacle of piano design and construction.  Only a few other piano making firms could hold their own against a Steinway back in the late 19th century, which was when these lectures were written.