Why does a 97 / 92 key piano exist by Bösendorfer?Why don't pianos use multiples of 12 for the number of keys?Did any player pianos use card decks?playing softly - full grand pianoWhy is the lowest note on the piano an A?Why are the black keys on some ancient fortepianos now white on modern pianos?Second hand piano is out of tune by a whole toneDigital vs Acoustic PianoPiano key sounded like a guitar string on top of regular piano timbre?The Method of Arm weight in Playing the PianoInstruments simultaneous playing in a different key
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Why does a 97 / 92 key piano exist by Bösendorfer?
Why don't pianos use multiples of 12 for the number of keys?Did any player pianos use card decks?playing softly - full grand pianoWhy is the lowest note on the piano an A?Why are the black keys on some ancient fortepianos now white on modern pianos?Second hand piano is out of tune by a whole toneDigital vs Acoustic PianoPiano key sounded like a guitar string on top of regular piano timbre?The Method of Arm weight in Playing the PianoInstruments simultaneous playing in a different key
Pianos normally have 88 keys, ranging from A0 to C8. One of Bösendorfer's pianos go down to F below the low A. The other model goes down to C. How did this happen?
piano history
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
add a comment |
Pianos normally have 88 keys, ranging from A0 to C8. One of Bösendorfer's pianos go down to F below the low A. The other model goes down to C. How did this happen?
piano history
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
3
Personally, I'd ask the opposite question - why did everybody else stop at 88? I mean, I very rarely see any music which uses the top or bottom octave on a standard 88, but that's no reason to not give people the option. Also, if you're looking at any music, say, before mid-Beethoven, they only had a 5-octave range anyhow, so composers faced the same limitations as players. Who knows what they would've written had they the range to do so? You can even see in some early Beethoven where he was struggling to fit certain motifs within the range of the smaller pianos that existed at the time.
– Darrel Hoffman
9 hours ago
1
@DarrelHoffman - I've seen the bottom octave of the piano used often enough in classical music. In several of those cases, I've even seen those notes notated with ledger lines but no ottava lines.
– Dekkadeci
8 hours ago
add a comment |
Pianos normally have 88 keys, ranging from A0 to C8. One of Bösendorfer's pianos go down to F below the low A. The other model goes down to C. How did this happen?
piano history
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
Pianos normally have 88 keys, ranging from A0 to C8. One of Bösendorfer's pianos go down to F below the low A. The other model goes down to C. How did this happen?
piano history
piano history
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
edited 9 hours ago
Richard
43.4k6100186
43.4k6100186
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
asked yesterday
Maika SakuranomiyaMaika Sakuranomiya
8371428
8371428
3
Personally, I'd ask the opposite question - why did everybody else stop at 88? I mean, I very rarely see any music which uses the top or bottom octave on a standard 88, but that's no reason to not give people the option. Also, if you're looking at any music, say, before mid-Beethoven, they only had a 5-octave range anyhow, so composers faced the same limitations as players. Who knows what they would've written had they the range to do so? You can even see in some early Beethoven where he was struggling to fit certain motifs within the range of the smaller pianos that existed at the time.
– Darrel Hoffman
9 hours ago
1
@DarrelHoffman - I've seen the bottom octave of the piano used often enough in classical music. In several of those cases, I've even seen those notes notated with ledger lines but no ottava lines.
– Dekkadeci
8 hours ago
add a comment |
3
Personally, I'd ask the opposite question - why did everybody else stop at 88? I mean, I very rarely see any music which uses the top or bottom octave on a standard 88, but that's no reason to not give people the option. Also, if you're looking at any music, say, before mid-Beethoven, they only had a 5-octave range anyhow, so composers faced the same limitations as players. Who knows what they would've written had they the range to do so? You can even see in some early Beethoven where he was struggling to fit certain motifs within the range of the smaller pianos that existed at the time.
– Darrel Hoffman
9 hours ago
1
@DarrelHoffman - I've seen the bottom octave of the piano used often enough in classical music. In several of those cases, I've even seen those notes notated with ledger lines but no ottava lines.
– Dekkadeci
8 hours ago
3
3
Personally, I'd ask the opposite question - why did everybody else stop at 88? I mean, I very rarely see any music which uses the top or bottom octave on a standard 88, but that's no reason to not give people the option. Also, if you're looking at any music, say, before mid-Beethoven, they only had a 5-octave range anyhow, so composers faced the same limitations as players. Who knows what they would've written had they the range to do so? You can even see in some early Beethoven where he was struggling to fit certain motifs within the range of the smaller pianos that existed at the time.
– Darrel Hoffman
9 hours ago
Personally, I'd ask the opposite question - why did everybody else stop at 88? I mean, I very rarely see any music which uses the top or bottom octave on a standard 88, but that's no reason to not give people the option. Also, if you're looking at any music, say, before mid-Beethoven, they only had a 5-octave range anyhow, so composers faced the same limitations as players. Who knows what they would've written had they the range to do so? You can even see in some early Beethoven where he was struggling to fit certain motifs within the range of the smaller pianos that existed at the time.
– Darrel Hoffman
9 hours ago
1
1
@DarrelHoffman - I've seen the bottom octave of the piano used often enough in classical music. In several of those cases, I've even seen those notes notated with ledger lines but no ottava lines.
– Dekkadeci
8 hours ago
@DarrelHoffman - I've seen the bottom octave of the piano used often enough in classical music. In several of those cases, I've even seen those notes notated with ledger lines but no ottava lines.
– Dekkadeci
8 hours ago
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
These extended Bösendorfer ranges go back to Busoni's day. He wanted to match the range of pipe organs, as he was making transcriptions of J. S. Bach's organ works at the time.
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
4
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
add a comment |
replete's answer is correct that the original reason was to have a bigger range, as needed for some organ music. However, I don't think that's the reason those Imperial models are so sought-for over all these years – actually playing the lowest notest is scarcely musically useful.
The reason why people want Bösendorfer Imperial is that they sound awesome, even when the low strings aren't played. This probably has two main reasons:
- The big sound frame is better at transmitting all frequencies, in particular those on the low end of the regular range. These strings aren't already at the very limit of what the resonator can do, like they are on many other pianos, but still in the range of what it can comfortably do, so thundering octaves actually thunder and don't just “clank”.
- The low strings give a denser sympathetic-resonance spectrum, when the pedal is pushed. As a result, a Bösendorfer has a richer sound even in high, soft, legato passages.
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
3
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
add a comment |
Yep. There's of course another reason than cannot be underestimated: bling.
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
3
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
add a comment |
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3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
These extended Bösendorfer ranges go back to Busoni's day. He wanted to match the range of pipe organs, as he was making transcriptions of J. S. Bach's organ works at the time.
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
4
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
add a comment |
These extended Bösendorfer ranges go back to Busoni's day. He wanted to match the range of pipe organs, as he was making transcriptions of J. S. Bach's organ works at the time.
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
4
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
add a comment |
These extended Bösendorfer ranges go back to Busoni's day. He wanted to match the range of pipe organs, as he was making transcriptions of J. S. Bach's organ works at the time.
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
These extended Bösendorfer ranges go back to Busoni's day. He wanted to match the range of pipe organs, as he was making transcriptions of J. S. Bach's organ works at the time.
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
edited 21 hours ago
Russell Borogove
1336
1336
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
answered yesterday
repletereplete
3,018621
3,018621
4
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
add a comment |
4
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
4
4
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
@CarlWitthoft It only makes sense that they continue to make them because people buy them.
– Mohair
8 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
And then somebody built an organ with a 64' stop...
– Hobbes
6 hours ago
add a comment |
replete's answer is correct that the original reason was to have a bigger range, as needed for some organ music. However, I don't think that's the reason those Imperial models are so sought-for over all these years – actually playing the lowest notest is scarcely musically useful.
The reason why people want Bösendorfer Imperial is that they sound awesome, even when the low strings aren't played. This probably has two main reasons:
- The big sound frame is better at transmitting all frequencies, in particular those on the low end of the regular range. These strings aren't already at the very limit of what the resonator can do, like they are on many other pianos, but still in the range of what it can comfortably do, so thundering octaves actually thunder and don't just “clank”.
- The low strings give a denser sympathetic-resonance spectrum, when the pedal is pushed. As a result, a Bösendorfer has a richer sound even in high, soft, legato passages.
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
3
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
add a comment |
replete's answer is correct that the original reason was to have a bigger range, as needed for some organ music. However, I don't think that's the reason those Imperial models are so sought-for over all these years – actually playing the lowest notest is scarcely musically useful.
The reason why people want Bösendorfer Imperial is that they sound awesome, even when the low strings aren't played. This probably has two main reasons:
- The big sound frame is better at transmitting all frequencies, in particular those on the low end of the regular range. These strings aren't already at the very limit of what the resonator can do, like they are on many other pianos, but still in the range of what it can comfortably do, so thundering octaves actually thunder and don't just “clank”.
- The low strings give a denser sympathetic-resonance spectrum, when the pedal is pushed. As a result, a Bösendorfer has a richer sound even in high, soft, legato passages.
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
3
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
add a comment |
replete's answer is correct that the original reason was to have a bigger range, as needed for some organ music. However, I don't think that's the reason those Imperial models are so sought-for over all these years – actually playing the lowest notest is scarcely musically useful.
The reason why people want Bösendorfer Imperial is that they sound awesome, even when the low strings aren't played. This probably has two main reasons:
- The big sound frame is better at transmitting all frequencies, in particular those on the low end of the regular range. These strings aren't already at the very limit of what the resonator can do, like they are on many other pianos, but still in the range of what it can comfortably do, so thundering octaves actually thunder and don't just “clank”.
- The low strings give a denser sympathetic-resonance spectrum, when the pedal is pushed. As a result, a Bösendorfer has a richer sound even in high, soft, legato passages.
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
replete's answer is correct that the original reason was to have a bigger range, as needed for some organ music. However, I don't think that's the reason those Imperial models are so sought-for over all these years – actually playing the lowest notest is scarcely musically useful.
The reason why people want Bösendorfer Imperial is that they sound awesome, even when the low strings aren't played. This probably has two main reasons:
- The big sound frame is better at transmitting all frequencies, in particular those on the low end of the regular range. These strings aren't already at the very limit of what the resonator can do, like they are on many other pianos, but still in the range of what it can comfortably do, so thundering octaves actually thunder and don't just “clank”.
- The low strings give a denser sympathetic-resonance spectrum, when the pedal is pushed. As a result, a Bösendorfer has a richer sound even in high, soft, legato passages.
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
answered 18 hours ago
leftaroundaboutleftaroundabout
20.3k3590
20.3k3590
3
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
add a comment |
3
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
3
3
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
Plus to a pianist, a Bosendorfer is like a 2-ton pickup to a Texan :-)
– Carl Witthoft
9 hours ago
add a comment |
Yep. There's of course another reason than cannot be underestimated: bling.
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
3
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
add a comment |
Yep. There's of course another reason than cannot be underestimated: bling.
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
3
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
add a comment |
Yep. There's of course another reason than cannot be underestimated: bling.
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
Yep. There's of course another reason than cannot be underestimated: bling.
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
answered 14 hours ago
Scott WallaceScott Wallace
4,4111017
4,4111017
3
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
add a comment |
3
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
3
3
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
Hey, I live in Bösendorfer's home town. You can't tell me that they don't sell their image.
– Scott Wallace
12 hours ago
add a comment |
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3
Personally, I'd ask the opposite question - why did everybody else stop at 88? I mean, I very rarely see any music which uses the top or bottom octave on a standard 88, but that's no reason to not give people the option. Also, if you're looking at any music, say, before mid-Beethoven, they only had a 5-octave range anyhow, so composers faced the same limitations as players. Who knows what they would've written had they the range to do so? You can even see in some early Beethoven where he was struggling to fit certain motifs within the range of the smaller pianos that existed at the time.
– Darrel Hoffman
9 hours ago
1
@DarrelHoffman - I've seen the bottom octave of the piano used often enough in classical music. In several of those cases, I've even seen those notes notated with ledger lines but no ottava lines.
– Dekkadeci
8 hours ago