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An Evening with Laurence Libin
Wednesday, April 9th
6:00 PM
VanTrease Performing Arts Center for Education (PACE).
Tulsa Community College
10300 E. 81st Street
81st St. & Hwy. 169
Keynotes: Three Centuries of Piano Design
Based on a spectacular exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this lavishly
illustrated talk explores the piano’s evolution from its invention in Italy about 1700 to
today’s Steinway, the world standard of excellence. Laurence Libin explains the main
paths of the piano’s technological development in Europe and America up to the present
day and shows how composers and performers have responded to innovations in piano
design, focusing on the effects of increasing range, tonal variation, improved sensitivity
and durability, and national styles. Overturning the myth of compositional imperatives,
Mr. Libin shows how creative piano makers open new vistas for musicians to explore.
A Social History of the Piano
From its experimental origin in the Florentine court, the piano gradually spread to public
concert venues and middle-class homes, becoming in the Victorian era virtually an icon
of elevated taste. Aesthetic fashions as well as economic, industrial, even political trends
affected the piano’s fascinating image as a symbol of harmony and its function as an
instrument of social control, especially over young women. Laurence Libin traces the
growth of piano culture in Europe, America, and Asia and shows how the piano’s
changing social significance parallels developments in musical and furniture styles and
domestic life. The presentation concludes with a look at possible future directions.
Pianos in Art/Pianos as Art
Painters of the stature of Renoir have portrayed pianos in a multitude of situations and
styles, showing how these imposing furnishings lend themselves to expressive visual
representation. At the same time, artists and artisans of extraordinary skill and taste have
crafted pianos themselves into a stunning variety of sculptural shapes and decorative
schemes that amplify the instrument’s musical function or sometimes disguise it.
Drawing on examples in museum collections, Laurence Libin shows how today’s elegant
art-case Steinways carry on a long tradition of imaginative interpretation involving such
great designers as Robert Adam, Thomas Chippendale, and the Tiffany firm.
Pianos in America
When Henry Steinway arrived in New York in 1850, he stepped into an already thriving
arena of American piano manufacture that had its roots in colonial Pennsylvania. Aided
by import tariffs and patent protection, American piano makers turned away from
European models to solve fundamental problems of stability and reliability. As new
marketing techniques led people of all classes to aspire to piano ownership, American
manufacturers used improving transport and production methods to make pianos more
widely available than ever before. Laurence Libin reveals how Steinway & Sons soon led
the field, becoming world-famous long before American musicians earned equal respect.
