String Piano - History

History

According to Cowell biographer Michael Hicks, "The first 'serious' composer to write for piano strings was probably Percy Grainger: at the close of his In a Nutshell suite (1916), he directs the pianist to play on several bass strings with a yarn-covered mallet." Soon afterward, Cowell began using string piano techniques in his compositions. One of his first important works to employ the approach is the solo Piece for Piano with Strings (1923). Per the Lichtenwanger listings, Cowell's earliest piece calling for string piano techniques is The Sword of Oblivion (ca. 1920–22) for solo piano. Like A Composition (1925), for piano and string quartet, it combines traditional keyboard sounding with direct string playing. Aeolian Harp (ca. 1923) is Cowell's first composition exclusively for string piano—while keys are silently held down, as described above, all the sounding is done by direct address of the strings ( listen). Among his other works purely for string piano are The Banshee (1925 listen) and Sinister Resonance (ca. 1930). How Old Is Song? (1930–31) is for voice and string piano (the accompaniment is adapted from Aeolian Harp). John Cage, a student of Cowell's, was inspired by the string piano concept to pursue his explorations of the prepared piano.

Although few composers other than Cowell have used the term "string piano" to describe their use of the piano strings (George Crumb, for instance, refers to the "resources of the 'extended piano'"), such techniques were increasingly called upon during the second half of the 20th century, eventually becoming part of the general vocabulary of contemporary pianistic writing and performance. Many composers have used such "inside-the-piano" techniques sporadically, as special effects; a few have made more substantial use of them, such as Crumb (e.g., Makrokosmos, vols. 1 and 2 ), Halim El-Dabh, Sofia Gubaidulina (e.g., Dancer on a Tightrope ), Mauricio Kagel (e.g., Trio in drei Sätzen ), Carl Orff (e.g., Antigonæ ), Karlheinz Stockhausen (e.g., Klavierstücke XII–XIV ), Toru Takemitsu (e.g., Corona for Pianists ), and David Tudor. Stephen Scott uses string piano techniques exclusively.

In free improvised music circles, Keith Tippett is renowned for his inventive use of inside-the-piano techniques. Although, like Cage, he places objects inside the piano, Tippett states that he does not "prepare" the piano, as the objects he utilizes are allowed to move about, creating a greater unpredictability in his work.