As the «social anchor» in middle-class homes of the nineteenth century, the piano was simultaneously an elegant piece of drawing-room furniture, a sign of bourgeois prosperity, and a means of introducing the young to music. In this admirably balanced and leisurely account of the popular instrument, the late, internationally known concert pianist Arthur Loesser takes a «piano's-eye view» of the recent social history of Western Europe and the United States.Drawing on newspapers, music...
