Technology

One new technology was created because there was a need for an instrument that would be more expressive and combine the power of the harpsichord with the range of the clavichord. Barolomeo Cristofori created the fortepiano, which eventually became the keyboard we see today. Here’s a picture http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/images/h2/h2_89.4.1219.jpg.

Another new technology was the ability to produce instruments so that the middle class could afford and play them. This was also true of literature, and Elizabeth Gaskell wrote about instruments and the 1800’s. Here’s an article about her http://www.online-literature.com/elizabeth_gaskell/

Salvation Army bands brought religious music onto the streets of Great Britain. Here’s a picture. http://www.northdevongazette.co.uk/northdevongazette/flatfiles/features/2006/ilfvictorian/band.gif

The biggest technological advances in music came in the end of the nineteenth century with recording, radio, and eventually TV. The first jazz musician to demonstrate the importance of recording was Louis Armstrong, with his Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings. Here’s a clip of Hot Five - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmGt2U-xTE

The next big thing was TV and NBC transmitted Toscanini’s famous concerts with the New York Philharmonic in 1948. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt7pPKXDhPc