Pantalon

The Pantaleon (also Pantalon ) is a historic, beaten with mallets stringed instrument.

History

The German musician Pantaleon Hebenstreit (1668-1750) led his self-developed large-scale shape of the hammered dulcimer with at a trip to France in 1705. When Johann Mattheson states: "King Louis XIV in Franckreich to getauffet the instrument, and Pantaloon have genennet. " From this point on, the instrument was then called only Pantal ( e) on or at least (as in Telemann ) pantalonisches cymbal.

A Pantaleon was about four times as large as a contemporary dulcimer. Over the two soundboards each about 90 pairs of strings were stretched, with intestinal and ran across the one over the other wire strings made of steel and brass. In the depth of the instrument to contra E. was handed the Beaten Pantaleon with mallets, which were coated on one side with no coating and on the other side with leather. Hebenstreit had built these instruments of Gottfried Silbermann. With these changes, the instrument was also suitable for art music, which explains its great popularity in the 18th century. Johann Kuhnau spoke at length about the new invention ( reprinted in Johann Mattheson, Critica musica, Vol 2, Hamburg 1722).

Georg Philipp Telemann prided Hebenstreit and his virtuosity in his autobiography, where he talks about his collaboration in Eisenach:

The Pantaleon- Clavier

The earliest square pianos were called " Pantaleon " by Pantaleon Hebenstreit, who with his instrument was the model of a dynamic " hammer attack ". After the invention of the pianoforte or fortepiano, inspired by Pantaleon Hebenstreit's dynamic style of play, his instrument disappeared, which was not easy to play, from the music practice.