47-476: Steinweg is a German surname that may refer to Henry E. Steinway (born Steinweg; 1797–1871), German-American piano maker Grotrian-Steinweg , a German manufacturer of luxury pianos C.F. Theodore Steinway (born Steinweg; 1825–1889, in Brunswick), German-American piano maker, son of Henry Klara Steinweg (1903–1972), German art historian, specializing in
94-543: A board, which is rectangular or trapezoidal or in some other shape, and which is glued onto a shallow box. The strings may be open or stopped , it may be a psaltery or a dulcimer. This includes such diverse instruments as the hammered dulcimer , psaltery , Appalachian dulcimer , guqin , guzheng , tromba marina , koto , gusli , kanun , kanklės , kantele , kannel , kokles , valiha , gayageum , đàn tranh , autoharp , santoor , yangqin , santur , swarmandal , and others. Pedal steel guitars , lap guitars (where
141-401: A descending chromatic scale . Late 19th and early 20th century versions of the instrument were often called 'harp zithers' – so-named because the pillar extension seemed a miniature version of the harp's pillar. The extra contrabass strings ran parallel to the other strings on these earlier instruments, the diagonal arrangement illustrated developed later to assist the right hand in reaching
188-421: A few rare bowed instruments like the bowed psaltery , bowed dulcimer , and streichmelodion . Like an acoustic guitar or lute , a zither's body serves as a resonating chamber ( sound box ), but, unlike guitars and lutes, a zither lacks a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty. In modern usage the term "zither" usually refers to three specific instruments:
235-839: A fretless instrument, found in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng , dating from 433 BC. Similar instruments along this design were developed over the following centuries, for example, the Japanese silk-strung koto ; the siter of Indonesian gamelans ; the qānūn (or kanun) of Greece and the Middle East; the valiha , a tube zither of Madagascar; and many others. Increasing interest in " world music " has brought wider recognition to these other zither family members, both ancient and modern. Many of these instruments have been sampled electronically and are available in instrument banks for music synthesizers . In Europe and other more northern and western regions, early zithers were more similar to
282-539: A man working outside a guild, Steinweg decided to leave the country. He emigrated from Braunschweig to New York City in 1850 with five of his sons, but before leaving he gave the company to his son, Christian Friedrich Theodor Steinweg . Later in New York, he anglicized his name to Henry E. Steinway upon advice from friends, who concluded that the German surname Steinweg would be disadvantageous for doing business. In
329-476: A new zither based on Weigel's design. At this point the zither had reached something very close to its modern concert form. Within a relatively short time the new design had largely replaced the old Volkszither (though still called by the same name among folk musicians) throughout central Europe, particularly in the Alpine countries . As the 'concert zither' it also began to attract the attention of serious composers,
376-528: A number of whom, themselves, became concert zither virtuosi. These composers, called the " Altmeister ", flourished between 1870 and 1910. And no less a composer than Johann Strauss II gave the instrument a prominent solo in one of his most famous waltzes, " Tales from the Vienna Woods ". The zither went through two periods of great popularity in the United States. The first of these was in
423-415: A particularly distinctive tone to the contrabass strings. The resulting lower string tension also enabled Karas to perform an expressive vibrato on the fingerboard melody strings. Film director Carol Reed , (on whose oak kitchen table the music was performed), described the sound as "gritty and dirty", perfectly reflecting the atmospheric mood of the film. The Alpine zither has 42 strings, and differs from
470-474: A relatively small number of contemporary musicians from various global regions and musical genres, either out of interest in traditional musical styles for the instrument, or from a desire to seek new sounds for their music. New variations on the concert zither have also been employed, including the electric zither—and recent instruments that share zither characteristics, such as the Chapman stick . While use of
517-1071: A similar success at the Universal exposition in Paris. According to pianistic giants such as Franz Liszt , Anton Rubinstein , and other high authorities, the Steinways have done more to advance the durability, action, and tone-quality of their instruments than any other makers of Europe or America. He married Juliane Thiemer, daughter of Martin Helwig Gottlieb Thiemer, a master glove maker, and Dorothea Julianne von Bierkamp, on May 15, 1825, in Seesen, Germany. He and his wife, Juliane, had ten children: Henry Engelhard Steinway died in New York City, United States, on February 7, 1871. Zither Zither ( / ˈ z ɪ ð ər , ˈ z ɪ θ -/ ; German: [ˈtsɪtɐ] , from
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#1732772885366564-457: A truism that most zithers seen today are either 60 or 110 years old. Currently (2019) only a few independent luthiers and mid-European makers are producing new instruments. A concert zither may have from 29 to 38 strings, with 34 or 35 being most typical. These are arranged as follows: four or five fretted melody strings, placed above a guitar-like fretboard; 12 unfretted "accompaniment" strings; followed by 12 unfretted "bass" strings; followed by
611-513: A varying number of "contrabass" strings, with five or six being the most common number. On some older zithers, one may find "half-frets" above the 12th fret, which extend only under the first two or three strings. This results in the lower fretted strings having no pitches (or no chromatic pitches) available above the 12th fret, while the higher fretted strings still have higher chromatic pitches available at these half-frets. Nearly all instruments made after 1960, however, have full-length frets all
658-416: Is played by plucking the strings while it lies flat on a table (which acts as a resonator to amplify the sound), or it can be held on the lap. On concert and Alpine zithers, the melody strings are pressed to the fingerboard ("fretted") with the fingers of the left hand, and plucked with a plectrum on the right thumb. The first and second fingers of the right hand pluck the accompaniment and bass strings, and
705-683: The Salzburg zither (with a rounded side away from the player), and the Mittenwald zither (with both sides rounded). Both styles are still found in concert zithers today, although the Salzburg style has become by far the most common. The zither became a popular folk music instrument in Bavaria and Austria and, at the beginning of the 19th century, was known as a Volkszither . Viennese zitherist Johann Petzmayer (1803–1884) became one of
752-537: The Italian Renaissance . Marcus Steinweg (born 1971), German philosopher Stefan Steinweg (born 1969), German racing cyclist William Steinway (born Steinweg; 1835–1896), German-American businessman and civic leader, son of Henry [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with the surname Steinweg . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding
799-602: The concert zither (German: Konzertzither ), its variant the Alpine zither (each of which uses a fretted fingerboard ), and the chord zither (more recently described as a fretless zither or "guitar zither"). Concert and Alpine zithers are traditionally found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, France, north-western Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, Alpine Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Emigration from these areas during
846-563: The 'cittern' – from the Greek word kithara , an instrument used in Ancient Greece . The German scholar Michael Praetorius mentions an Englishman who came to Germany with a small cittern, einem kleinen Citterlein , in his treatise Syntagma Musicum , published during the early 17th century. It is not fully understood how "zitter" or "zither" came to be applied to the instruments in this article as well as German varieties of
893-534: The 19th century introduced the concert and Alpine zither to North and South America. Chord zithers similar to the instrument in the photograph also became popular in North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These variants all use metal strings, similar to the cittern . The word "zither" is derived from Latin cythara , which was used in this form for the title covers on many 16th- and 17th-century German-printed manuscript books originally for
940-482: The Greek cithara ) is a class of stringed instruments . The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum . In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, the term refers to a larger family of similarly shaped instruments that also includes the hammered dulcimer family and piano and
987-535: The audience "in a dither with his zither". This new popularity for the zither lasted until well into the 1960s with many successful albums during the period from performers such as Karas, Ruth Welcome , and Shirley Abicair . German-born American Ruth Welcome released a number of very popular theme-based zither albums between 1958 and 1965 (e.g., Romantic Zither ; Zither South of the Border ; Zither Goes to Hollywood ). Australian-born singer Shirley Abicair popularised
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#17327728853661034-500: The chord zither when she used it for accompaniment in her TV shows, live performances and recordings in Britain in the 1950s and '60s. Zither music also featured in a Twilight Zone episode – Mr Bevis in 1960. Although interest in the zither had once more begun to wane by the late 1960s, owing to the two American vogues there are still many used instruments to be found, in various states of disrepair. It has become something of
1081-453: The church. He started building instruments, though hidden in the kitchen of his house because of the strong rules of the guild. In Braunschweig , he started by building guitars and zithers , and then graduated to pianos, of small proportions initially and gradually increasing in size. In 1835 he made his first square piano , which he presented to his bride Juliane at their wedding. In 1836 he built his first grand piano in his kitchen in
1128-476: The cittern. Other types of zither also existed in Germany, mostly drone zithers like the scheitholt (which was mentioned by Praetorius) or hummel , but these generally have their own individual regional names and may have been in use before the introduction into the lexicon of 'cythara' and its German derivative cognate . The Hornbostel–Sachs system, an academic instrument classification method, also uses
1175-399: The concert zither itself has declined, zither music and technique continue to influence contemporary musicians. For example: Canadian musician Jeff Healey , featured in the film thriller Road House in 1989, used a zither technique to play electric guitar. Blind from the age of one, Healey began playing when he was three with the instrument flat on his lap, left hand above the fingerboard in
1222-406: The concert zither primarily in requiring the addition of an extension to the body of the instrument to support both the longer additional contrabass strings and their tuners. Alpine zithers are tuned in a similar manner to the concert zither, with the accompaniment and bass strings each providing a full set of 12 chromatic pitches also arranged in a cycle of fifths. Contrabass strings are arranged in
1269-669: The early 1850s, Steinway and his sons worked for other piano companies until they could establish their own production under the name of Steinway & Sons. The overstrung scale in a square piano earned the Steinway Piano first prize at the New York Industrial Fair of 1855. In 1862 they gained the first prize in London in competition with the most eminent makers in Europe; and this victory was followed in 1867 by
1316-404: The fingerboard and open strings. The accompaniment strings G and F ♯ were tuned an octave higher, while contrabass strings tuned E ♭ , F, D, E, C ♯ replaced the regular cycle of fifths bass strings. This brought the contrabasses closer to the fingerboard where the player could reach them more easily. For The Third Man , Karas tuned the zither a semi-tone lower, giving
1363-417: The gospel singer Washington Phillips , who used two instruments simultaneously, have revealed the virtuosic capability of the chord zither to modern musicians seeking to revive it. By the 1920s, this popularity had begun to wane, as other string instruments (notably guitars) increased in popularity along with the new fashion for jazz music . In the 1950s, interest in zithers resurfaced due in great measure to
1410-443: The instrument itself, in the form of a chart painted or glued under the strings. Since the zither requires advanced technique to play anything more than simple tunes, the vast majority of the concert zithers sold never attained more than amateur or (mostly) ornamental use; the playing of Washington Phillips was a rare exception. As a result, manufacturers attempted to simplify the instrument with various keyboard devices attached to
1457-458: The late 19th through early 20th century, when it was greatly in vogue as a parlour instrument in many homes. During that period, a number of U.S.-based instrument manufacturers, many of them founded by, or staffed with, European (and especially German and Austrian) luthiers, were producing concert zithers. Chord zithers were often marketed under confusing brand names like ' guitar zither ' or 'mandoline zither'. The recently rediscovered recordings of
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1504-475: The melody strings ( Marxophone , dolceola , celestaphone , tremoloa , etc.). The invention of the autoharp , which uses bars with felt pads attached underneath placed across and above the strings, is probably the most successful adaptation. However, the absence of a fretboard makes the autoharp a closer relative of the chord zither than the concert zither. Presence of the concert zither in classical music remains sparse. Concert and Alpine zithers remain in use by
1551-442: The modern mountain dulcimer , having long, usually rectangular, sound boxes, with one or more melody strings and several unfretted drone strings. Some of these employed movable bridges similar to the Japanese koto, used for retuning the drone strings. The Alpine Scheitholt furnishes an example of this older type of European zither. By the late 18th century, two principal varieties of European concert zither had developed, known as
1598-414: The neck serves no separate function other than to extend the string length), and keyboard instruments like the clavichord , harpsichord and piano also fall within this broad categorical use. The word has also been used in conjunction with brand varieties of other string instruments, for example, the zither banjo . The earliest known surviving instrument of the zither family is a Chinese guqin ,
1645-492: The outstanding virtuosi on these early instruments and is credited with making the zither a household instrument. In 1838, Nikolaus Weigel of Munich conceived the idea of adopting fixed bridges, adding additional strings, tuning them in the cycle of fifths, and chromatically fretting the fingerboard – effectively converting a rather crude folk instrument into the concert zither. His ideas were not, however, widely accepted until 1862, when luthier Max Amberger of Munich fabricated
1692-488: The person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Steinweg&oldid=1035071140 " Categories : Surnames German-language surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description is different from Wikidata All set index articles Henry E. Steinway Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg , anglicized name Henry Engelhard Steinway , (February 22, 1797 – February 7, 1871)
1739-400: The strings are played open, in the manner of a harp. The strings on the left are arranged in groups of three or four, which form various chords to be played by the left hand. The strings to the right are single (or pairs of) strings intended for the right hand to pick out the melody. Tuning can vary widely from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from model to model, but is usually indicated on
1786-512: The strings. There are two popular tunings for the modern zither: Munich and Viennese. The zither tuning chart below gives tuning details, including pitches and octaves. Munich tuning is on top, and Vienna tuning below. Some players have used Vienna tuning only for the fretted strings, and Munich tuning for the unfretted strings. Full Viennese tuning is normally used only on instruments with 38 or fewer strings. However Optima makes Strings to allow for "Extended Viennese Tuning" w/ 42 Strings going all
1833-790: The success of the 1949 British film noir The Third Man . The soundtrack music for the film, which featured only a concert zither (no other instruments) – was performed by the Viennese musician Anton Karas . His " The Third Man Theme " was released as a single in 1949–50 and became a best-seller in the UK. Following its release in the U.S. in 1950, it spent eleven weeks at number one on Billboard 's U.S. Best Sellers in Stores Chart from 29 April to 8 July. The exposure made Karas an international star. A Time magazine film preview stated that "the famous musical score by Anton Karas" would have
1880-549: The term zither to classify all stringed instruments in which the strings do not extend beyond the sounding box . Categories include Bar zithers (made up of musical bows and stick zithers ), tube zithers , raft zithers , board zithers (includes box zithers , ground zithers and harp zithers ), trough zithers and frame zithers . According to Sachs , Board-zithers form the most important category from an occidental point of view because they include our stringed keyboard instruments. The strings are stretched out over
1927-495: The third finger of the right hand plucks the contrabass strings (there are variants on this technique), some musicians use Plectrums on the other 4 fingers too so they can strike the Accompaniment Strings more easily & get a sharper attack. The concept of the chord zither is different from that of the concert and alpine zithers. These instruments may have from 12 to 50 (or more) strings, depending on design. All
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1974-633: The town of Seesen . This piano was later named the "kitchen piano", and is now on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art with a Steinweg 1836 square piano. In 1839, he exhibited three pianos at the state trade exhibition in Braunschweig, Germany and was awarded a gold medal. Because of the unstable political climate following the revolutions of 1848 in the German states and the limited economic opportunities for
2021-581: The volunteer corps of Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in the war against Napoleon 's occupation of parts of Germany but remained in the garrison throughout the Napoleonic War campaign of the Hundred Days in 1815. He left service on June 23, 1822, and began to work as a carpenter, and later he became an apprentice to an organ builder in the town of Goslar . He soon discovered his love for music and became an organ player in
2068-717: The way down to C#1 (the same note on the 2nd Fret of the 5th string on a 5 string Electric Bass). Tuning chart for concert and Alpine zithers: Note that the C#, F, & A Strings of the Unfretted String section on the Fretted Zither are Colored Red because like the Red C Strings & Blue/Black F Strings of a Harp , they act as "Separator Strings" to give the Musician useful reference points when playing. The zither
2115-435: The way up the fretboard. Anton Karas and Ruth Welcome used instruments of similar design to the one illustrated. After World War II, Karas (according to zither scholar Günter Wittenstein, who was acquainted with him) performed on an instrument of larger dimensions than normal – with a 43 cm standard scale length for the fingerboard strings. He used Viennese tuning (see below), but with an altered chromatic sequence for
2162-667: Was a German-American piano maker who made pianos in both Germany and the United States . He was the founder of the piano company Steinway & Sons . Steinway was born Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg of Heinrich Zacharias Steinweg and Rosine Elisabeth Bauaerochse in Wolfshagen im Harz , Duchy of Brunswick in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (modern Lower Saxony, Germany). His childhood
2209-535: Was marked by many tragedies and twists of fate. He attended public school in his home town. At the age of 8, he was an orphan and thrown upon his own resources, until his father and brothers, once thought to have been killed in action, returned and claimed him once more. Then, at 15, he was orphaned once again, and it was at this time that he joined the German Army. In 1814, he joined the Schwarze Schar ,
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