The Reproducing Piano
In 1904 the reproducing piano captured a composer's touch on paper rolls and played it back.
Related
Time and place
Freiburg, 1904. Welte turned its roll recorder into a reproducing piano and demonstrated it in Leipzig; Grieg recorded his playing there in 1906.
What happened
As the pianist played, keys and pedals punched holes in a moving paper roll, recording how deep and how long each key was held. On playback the roll drove the keys, with dynamics and pedalling from the holes. The rolls kept the touch of both hands, along with crescendos, diminuendos and small tempo changes. Debussy recorded rolls in 1913 and Scriabin in 1910.
What changed
A performance could repeat without a performer, and what survived was touch, not notes. Composers became witnesses to their works, giving later research evidence on tempo, dynamics and ornament. Reproducing pianos entered middle-class parlours.
Listen to the turn
Grieg's Arietta from Op. 12 and To the Spring from Op. 43 were both recorded in the 1906 sessions; hear the closing ritardando and the depth of pedalling. Debussy's La plus que lente comes from a 1913 roll, its free tempo fixed on paper. These are the composers' own rolls, heard as MIDI.
Related
The turn belongs to Modern; its repertoire comes from Romantic, and the instrument is the Piano.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- Grove Music Online, entry "Reproducing piano"（Oxford University Press），用于核对 Welte-Mignon 的年代与原理
- Charles David Smith and Richard J. Howe, The Welte-Mignon（Vestal Press, 1994），用于核对纸卷记录与回放方式
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.