Das Buch vom Klavier

As defined by the title, this book is an introduction to the bewitching world of pianos, and the viewing and exploring of the individual instruments is meant to be a joyful and relaxing experience for the reader. The numerous, four-colour printings tell the story of how the manifold varieties of this instrument developed.

The book contains more than 100 variations – square pianos, fortepianos, tangent pianos and concert grand pianos as well as a few non-stringed keyboard instruments – all examined with admirable expertise by Andreas Beurmann. The analysis is based on a range of instruments from the author’s extensive collection (at present partly exhibited at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg). The descriptions are arranged in chronological order. Each one of them consists of the sections signature, equipment, structure, action, keyboard, scaling, stringing and measurements. The book depicts a general view and many details of each instrument.

No other family of musical instruments has such a fascinating history like pianos and provides such a variety of sound-generating mechanisms and sound variations. No other instrument has influenced and characterized the history of music to such an extent as keyboard instruments.