PIARISTS 



PICCOLOMINI 



165 



anil the same solemn and majestic effect may be 

 produced upon the pianoforte which has hereto- 

 fore heen confined exclusively to the organ. The 

 latest development to which the pianoforte has 

 been carried is that introduced by an Austrian 

 of the name of Janko. A great numlier of his 

 pianos are now being made. Recognising the 

 complete change which has passed over piano- 

 forte music since the days when Mozart and 

 Haydn wrote and, so to speak, created the 

 lite'rature of the instrument, Herr Janko has 

 endeavoured to adapt the piano to the long 

 stretches, chords, and difficult arpeggios which are 

 the characteristics of modern playing, anil were 

 utterly unknown, or rather unemployed, in the 

 days of the classical writers. Accordingly, he con- 

 structs his pianos with six keyboards, winch rise in 

 tiers aliove one another in the manner of an organ. 

 The notes are so grasped that tenths and twelfths 

 '.in be easily spanned by reaching a linger to a 

 keyboard above or Ix-lnw that on which the hand 

 i> travelling ; and, with a sweep of the wrist, which 

 would scarcely cover more than two octaves on the 

 old keyboard, an arpeggio can ! executed through 

 the whole compass o? the piano's notes. The 

 objections to Herr Janko's improvement come 

 mainly not from the public but from the music 

 publishers; for, while to a beginner on the instru- 

 ment it is immaterial what system of lingering be 

 adopted, publishers are naturally jealous of a new 

 pianoforte which would render useless ami compel 

 complete remodelling not only of all the lingering, 

 but perhaps of tin- staff. 



Music for the pianoforte is written in two staves, 

 ami with the treble and bass clefs. Many of the 

 most eminent musicians have devoted themselves 

 to coni|M>sing for the pianoforte, and some com- 

 posers of note, as Hummel, Chopin, Thalberg, and 

 Heller, have almost entirely routined themselves 

 to that instrument. Amongst the greatest modern 

 pianist- have l>een Madame Schumann, Liszt, and 

 Kul.iiisi.Mii. See Rimbaiilt, The Pianoforte ( 1860) ; 

 drove's Dictionary of Music anil Musicians; and 

 the histories of music and of musical instruments 

 (such as Hopkins's Musiml Instruments, 1887). 



Piarists, or ' Fathers of the Pious Schools,' a 

 religions congregation for the education of the 

 poor, founded at Home in 1617 by a Spanish priest, 

 .ln-e|ih of Calasanza, and continued in 1621 by 

 Gregory XVI. They were chiefly active in Poland 

 and Austria. 



IMassava. See FIBROUS SUBSTANCES. 



Piastre (Gr. and Lat. emplastron, 'a plaster;' 

 in the Romance languages, anything spread out 

 or flattened, 'a plate,' 'a coin ), an old Spanish 



Piastre. 



silver coin worth about 4s. It was divided into 8 

 mlver reals, and hence was termed a piece of eight, 

 Jie name invariably applied to it on the Spanish 

 'lain (see DOLLAR). The Italian piastre, or sutdo, 

 as an imitation of the Spanish coin, and was 

 rly c<nial to it in value. The Turkish piastre is 



a silver coin worth about 2d. in English reckoning 

 and 4 cents in United States currency. Usually 

 125 piastres = 1 sterling and 100 = 20 francs. 

 The lira contains 100 piastres. Pieces of 1, 2, 5, 

 10, and 20 piastres are struck in silver. 



Piaf iuorsk. a town in Russian Caucasia, at 

 the southern foot of Mount Beshtau (4587 feet), 

 focing'Mount Elburz and the Caucasus Mountains, 

 and 124 miles by rail NW. of Vladikavkaz, is 

 celebrated for its sulphur-springs. Ranging from 

 837 to 117 '5 F. in temperature, they are use- 

 ful for abdominal and rheumatic affections. Pop. 

 13,'665. 



IMatra. a town of Moldavia, 60 miles W. by S. 

 of Jaggy, romantically situated on the Bistritza, at 

 the (eastern) foot of the Carpathians, has a trade 

 in timber and a pop. of 13,890. 



l'ia//.a (more fully Piazza Armerina), an epis- 

 copal town of Sicily, 16 miles SE. of Caltanisetta. 

 Pop. 17,038. 



I'ia/./.i. GIUSEPPE, Italian astronomer, was born 

 at Ponte in the Valtelline, July 16, 1746, and 

 entered the order of the Theatins at Milan in 1764. 

 After holding professorial chairs of Philosophy, 

 Mathematics, and Theology at Genoa, Malta, 

 Ravenna, and Rome, he was appointed in 1780 to 

 the chair of Mathematics in Palermo ; and there, 

 with the aid of go%ernment, he established an 

 observatory in 1789. The first task he set himself 

 to was to make a catalogue of the stars, published 

 in 1803, and again extended in 1814. On the night 

 of the 1st January 1801 he discovered a new planet, 

 the first of the group of planetoids between Mars 

 and Jupiter, and named it Ceres. He died, 22d 

 July 1826, at Naples. 



Pibroch (Gaelic, Piobaireachd, 'a pipe tune'), 

 a form of bagpipe music, generally of a warlike 

 character, including marches, dirges, &c_ Accord- 

 ing to Sir Walter Scott, connoisseurs in pipe-music 

 aftect to discover in a well-composed pibroch the 

 imitative sounds of march, conflict, Uight, pursuit, 

 and all the current of a heady light. The rhythm 

 is very irregular and difficult for a stranger to 

 follow, but when played by a good piper it has a 

 very |K.wciful effect. The earliest mention of the 

 military music of the bagpipe is in 1594 at the 

 battle of Glenlivet, but the various pibrochs be- 

 longing to the different clans are mostly of modern 

 composition. 



See Macdonald, Ancient Martial Music of Caledonia 

 (about 1805); Mackay, Collection of Ancient Piobair- 

 eactul, or Hvihland Pipe Music ( 1838) ; and Glen's Col- 

 lection of Piobaireachd. 



PIcardy (Picardie), an ancient province in the 

 north of France, was bounded on the AV. by the 

 Knglish Channel, and on the E. by Champagne. 

 The capital of this province was Amiens. The 

 territory now forms the department of Somme, and 

 portions of the departments of Aisne and Pas-tie- 



('ill II i.t. 



Picaresque. See NOVELS. 



Picayune, a name derived from the Carib 

 language, and used in Louisiana for a small coin 

 worth 6J cents, current in the United States before 

 1857, and known in different states by various 

 names (fourpence, fippence, lip, sixpence, &c.). 



Piccolo. See FLUTE. 



I'ic.-olo in ini. an old and distinguished family 

 of Italy, settled at Siena, who subsequently ob- 

 tained possession of the duchy of Amalfi. It pro- 

 duced numerous celebrated littfrateurs and war- 

 riors, one pope (see Pius II.), and several cardinals. 

 One of the most illustrious members of this family 

 was OTTAVIO, Duke of Amalfi, born in 1599. He 

 entered the Spanish military service, and, being 



