Missouri Classical Music News and Notes

"It's all about the sound," Wenger said. "It teaches you how the music of Mozart and Hayden was articulated."

Wenger played the school's new piano — an exact reproduction of the 1802 Viennese instrument at a recent recital in Columbia.

Compared to the two grand pianos in Wenger's second-floor office in the University's Fine Arts Building, the fortepiano looks like a pint-size replica. During a private demonstration, Wenger's fingers danced across the cow-bone keys, her knees activated hidden effect levers and the fortepiano produced cheery notes.

"He's playing with it," Wenger said while performing one of Beethoven's songs to demonstrate the instrument's range. "He's having fun with it."

An ancestor of the modern piano, the fortepiano features a wooden frame, hammers canvassed in leather and 68 keys for a 51/2-octave range. Today's pianos feature iron frames, hammers covered in felt and 88 keys for a 71/2-octave range.