Dr. Krause

Biography

Dr. Krause of Eisenberg constructed a keyboard in 1811 in which the semitones were not raised above the level of the full tones and all keys were of the same color, an experiment in what Dolge calls the "chromatic" keyboard. Krause maintained that a performer could play more easily in all the different keys using such a keyboard than with the conventional design, where semitones are elevated and colored differently. Dolge reports that although this innovation was generally rejected at the time, various attempts have since been made to revive the idea, without any lasting result. Krause's keyboard is presented as one of several unsuccessful but recurring efforts to rethink the standard piano keyboard layout, a lineage Dolge also connects to Neuhaus's concave keyboard and its later revival by Cludsam.

Highlights

• Constructed a keyboard in Eisenberg, 1811, with unraised semitones and all keys the same color
• Argued the design let performers play more easily in all keys

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 78.

Public domain.