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HARPS BY ERARD, Sec .—BOW AND BRASS INSTRUMENTS.
[Class Xa.
1. In the mode of stringing pianofortes, by passing thewire round a single pin, in ali classes of pianofortes, thussuperseding the use of the noose or eye, before in generaluse. Patent of 1827. This mode of stringing has be-come almost universal since the expiration of the patent.
2. Applying a check to the under-hammer, to preventthe rebound of the hammer against the string. Patent of1829.
3. A new construction of the action in horizontal grandand square pianofortes, the escapement being placed uponthe key, and coming into contact with a lever or crank,and thus regulating the rise and fall of the hammer.Patent of 1835.
4. The introduction of a new class of square piano-forte, entitled “the square semi-grand pianoforte;” inwhich a closer approximation to the peculiarities of thehorizontal grand pianoforte was attained. Patent of 1838.
5. The introduction of the traversing escapement fixedupon the hammer-rail, thereby admitting of a firmer blowand greater resistance, as also the introduction of a repe-tition movement. Patent of 1841.
G. The application of the repetition movement to squareand to vertical, or upright pianofortes. Patent of 1843.
7. A new design for the shape of a square pianoforte,entitled “ the Symmetrical Grand Square,” by whichgreater beauty of form was secured, the key-board beingplaced in the centre of the instrument. Registered in1847.
Several other makers of the pianoforte have contributedto the success of the musical department of the Exhibi-tion, to whom the Jury have awarded the Prize Medal:their names will appear in the Award List.
Harps.
Mr. P. Erard has exhibited eleven harps in the BritishDepartment, and two in the French Department.
In the manufacture of harps several highly-successfuland important improvements have been made by thishouse, particularly in the invention of the double-actionharp; and there cannot be a doubt that, from the perfec-tion of their mechanism and the excellent quality of theirtone, their harps are unsurpassed by any other maker.
In awarding the Council Medal to Mr. P. Erard, withreference to his pianofortes, the Jury took into consider-ation the great merits of his harps, and have, therefore,included them in that award.
In this class of instruments Honourable Mention hasbeen made of Messrs. B. Jones, for an improved triple-strung Welsh harp, United Kingdom ; and Domeny(France ).
A beautiful and very ingenious specimen of the harpguitar (called a “ guittarra harpa”) has also been exhi-bited, and for which the Jury have awarded a PrizeMedal to the inventor, J. Gallegos (Spain ).
In this department the Jury have awarded the CouncilMedal to Mons. J. B. Vuillacme, of Paris , for the ex-cellence of his violins and other bow instruments, and forhis invention of the Octo-Basse.
M. Vuillaumc is entitled to pre-eminent rank amongthose modern manufacturers who have more or less con-tributed to restore that peculiar art, which, at the com-mencement of the last century, had been brought to suchperfection by the far-famed Italian makers of violins andinstruments of that class, but which for a long time ap-peared to have been entirely lost. His instruments, and,it must not be forgotten, those of other modern makers,will bear comparison with some of the best productionsof the great Italian masters, whether as to perfection ofform or quality of tone; while, from their moderate cost,compared with the enormous prices, to which, from timeto time, those of the ancient makers have risen, a veryessential service has been rendered to the musical art.
Some highlv-meritorious specimens of violins, violas,violoncellos, and double basses, have also been exhibited,particularly those by the following makers, to whom theJury have awarded Prize Medals:—
United Kingdom . —Messrs. A. Betts, S. A. Forster,Purdy, and Fendt .
United States.— G. Gemuxder.
Honourable mention has likewise been made of Messrs.J. K. Heaps, United Kingdom; P. Higgins, Canada ;J. Tonna, Malta; G. and A. Klemjis, Zollverein .
Brass Instruments.
The following remarks have been contributed by aJuror:—
“ Among the musical instruments exhibited in the Ex-hibition, the number of brass instruments, 4 instrumentsde cuivrc,’ is considerable.
“England, France, and the German States are thecountries which have contributed largely and nearly ex-clusively ; whilst America, Hamburgh, Canada, Denmark ,and even Russia , swelling the list of instruments withfixed tones, such as pianofortes and organs—or instru-ments of wood, such as flutes and clarionets, &c.,—do notappear as manufacturers of brass instruments.
“ As in all other instruments of music (machines pro-ducing isochronous vibrations of not fewer than 1G, ormore than 8,192, vibrations in a second), so in wind in-struments three things are distinguishable, viz., the4 striking body,’ the 4 regulating medium,’ and the ‘sound-ing-mass.’ In the pianoforte the 4 hammer’ is the sound-ing-body, the string the ‘regulating medium,’ and the4 sounding-board,’ the 4 resonant-mass.’ In wind instru-ments, the ‘ air-blast’ from the mouth, taking the place ofthe hammer on the string, is the sounding body, which actson the air in the tube of the instrument; the latter is theregulating medium, controlling the number of vibrations,and the pitch of the sound, and this air acting by frictionon the body of the instrument, the 4 resonant-mass,’ bringsthe whole into resonance, and a musical sound is produced.
“ That instruments of this class might, in the earlyages of the world, have been more perfect than othersseems likely; for our forefathers well understood, foracoustical purposes, the use and power of the lungs to acton the ‘sounding-body’ of wind instruments. Greatmechanical ingenuity was not required in the constructionof the latter, nature having endowed them with a powerwhich no human mechanical contrivance has ever equalled,or is ever likely to equal; for though in machines com-posed of wind instruments or pipes, such as organs, 4 thebellows’ (which are artificial lungs) are employed andpreferred ; from the great bulk of agitated air required, itis at the expense of nearly all force, sharpness, and power ofmodulation of tone, rendering the organ and its imitations,in spite of the encomiums of the unlearned in musicalsounds, one of the least perfect of all musical instruments.
“That the organ is the king of instruments, or bestcollection of wind-instruments, in itself more perfect thanany other, and capable of producing most effect on themind of the hearer, is an illusion which may be referredto the circumstance that it is generally placed in a build-ing such as a cathedral, whose reverberations and ‘ re-sonant mass ’ produce most of the effect attributed to theorgan itself; an illusion which would be destroyed, werethe organ removed to a different kind of edifice, for in-stance, to the Crystal Palace , and if a number of wind-instruments acted upon by the 4 human lungs,’ whosevoluminous expansion of sound were equal to that of theorgan, to take its place in the cathedral.
“The injury to the effect of the organ, by change ofsituation, may be appreciated by hearing those already inthe Crystal Palace ; and yet two of them are very finespecimens, one by Messrs. Gray and Davison, the otherby Willis.
“ Listen to their tones ; where is the grandeur attributedto the organ in the cathedral?—it is not discovered in the‘ Palace of Glass.’ To counterbalance this loss, where isits power of expression and power of modulation of tonecombined with sonorousness ?—it has neither. Thesequalities are not possessed by instruments making use of4 artificial lungs,’ to act on the sounding mass. So, then,deprived of a building, to whose column of air it acts asthe sounding body to bring it into resonance, as a smallpipe is used to bring the large diapason into resonance, itis eclipsed by an insignificant-looking 4 Sax or euphonic