These three instruments were thus developed into the accepted forms that were in general use during the seventeenth century and later; becoming respectively the clavichord, harpsichord and spinet. It is from these that the pianoforte is directly sprung. The harpsichord, as its name implies, resembled a harp laid on its back and enclosed in a case, while the strings were plucked, by quills set on jacks, mounted on the keys. The natural shape of the harpsichord, therefore, was similar to that of the modern grand pianoforte and it derived this form from its direct relationship to the early keyed forms of the triangular psaltery. The harpsichord had been a favorite for a long time when Bartolomeo Cristofori, a maker of Florence, completed in 1709 the invention of a hammer action to replace the quilled jack at the end of the harpsichord key. Thus was made possible the production of dynamic effects, of which the harpsichord action had never been capable except through the employment of various mechanical devices, such as swells and double or triple banks of keys with jacks and quills to match. The hammer-action of Cristofori as completed by him in 1726 shows a remarkable similarity to the mechanisms that are still to be found in certain forms of square pianofortes. He succeeded in producing an acceptable form of escapement and a damping device as well, although as the date shows, not until after several years of experimenting and improving upon the original design. Examination shows that Cristofori’s action differs in no essential respect from the square pianoforte actions that we have mentioned. There is the upper and under hammer, the jack working on a groove in the key, the escapement device to determine the travel of the jack, the back-check, and the damper. Every feature that is essential to provide escapement, repetition and damping is found here. Cristofori was, however, obliged to make many changes in the construction of his “gravicembalo col piano e forte” to provide the increased stiffness necessitated by the different manner of exciting the strings. His work, curiously enough, was not taken up after his death by any other Italian harpsichord maker, and it remained for a German to continue his experiments and bring them to a practical and commercial success. Only two pianofortes by Cristofori are known to exist, and one of these is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Gottfried Silbermann, who took up the work of Cristofori, built several grand pianofortes towards the end of the first half of the eighteenth century, and there still exist at Potsdam some of these that were sold by him to Frederick the Great. These instruments appear to be essentially founded upon the work of Cristofori, and the superior workmanship and better adjustment of them do not serve to disguise the evident fact that Silbermann, while improving in details, did not discover any new principles either in action or otherwise.
Somewhat later we hear of Zumpe, who was apparently struck with the idea of adapting the pianoforte hammer to the square-shaped clavichord, which was not deep enough to take the Silbermann action, thus producing a veritable square pianoforte. Zumpe’s device contained no provision for escapement, which fault was afterwards corrected by the celebrated inventor Stein. Mozart speaks of the merits of Stein and joyfully describes how his mechanism prevented the blocking of the hammers. Mozart used one of Stein’s pianofortes during the rest of his life.
The name of Stein is justly famous among the early pianoforte makers. He was responsible, with the able assistance of his daughter Nanette, for the Viennese type of pianoforte, which was for long such a favorite over the heavier and more solid English style on account of its surprising delicacy and lightness of touch. After her marriage, Nanette Stein, in partnership with her husband Streicher, made many other improvements, and her pianofortes were used by Beethoven and others. The firm of Streicher still existed in Vienna a few years ago.
At this point, namely at the beginning of the nineteenth century, we begin to hear of three revolutionary figures; a Frenchman, an Englishman and an American. These are Erard, Broadwood and Hawkins.
Pierre Sebastian Erard settled in Paris during the latter part of the eighteenth century as a maker of harps and harpsichords. Shortly before the breaking out of the French revolution, Erard came to London and began to make harps and pianofortes. In the meantime he was continually working to improve his instruments and was responsible for many useful inventions, such as the up-bearing to the strings by means of the “agraffe.” His chief claim to the consideration of pianoforte makers is due, however, to his invention of the “double repetition” action which was perfected by him in 1821, after many years of unsuccessful experiment. This action, with slight modification, is used at the present day in all grand pianofortes, and its manifold excellences have never been yet surpassed. Erard took out a large number of patents, which were put into use by his successors, and the house founded by him is still in existence and one of the most famous in France or indeed in the world.
John Broadwood, the great English inventor and manufacturer, who also has his name perpetuated in the continued and flourishing career of the firm that he founded, was originally a workman in the shop of Tschudi or Shudi, a London harpsichord maker. He rose from an apprenticeship to the head of the house of Shudi and finally turned his attention to the improvement of the pianoforte. He had early been the recipient of the knowledge of Backers, the inventor of the so-called English action, and when he came to build pianofortes on his own account, this experience was made to bear practical fruit. Broadwood’s first achievement was in the re-designing of the square piano of Zumpe. About the year 1780 he entirely altered its construction, set the tuning pins at the back of the case, and added dampers and pedals. He next set about the improvement of the grand, and divided the bridge, giving a separate bass bridge and permitting the striking point of the hammers on the strings to be adjusted with correctness, something that had never been done before. This completed the divorce of the pianoforte from the harpsichord. With the addition of the action invented by Backers, Broadwood’s pianofortes became at once a standard of quality and excellence and until the introduction of iron framing stood alone.
We now come to Hawkins. This remarkable man was an engineer of Philadelphia, English by birth but American by adoption. In the year 1800 he produced an upright pianoforte, the first of its kind. This instrument, though it was not a commercial success, was remarkable for the fact that Hawkins in it anticipated so many of the ideas that have since become essential to modern instruments. He had an independent iron frame supporting the sound-board, a mechanical tuning device, and metal action frames. His action, too, had many features that have since been adopted. Unfortunately, the tone was so poor that the instrument was a failure from the start. His ideas in regard to upright pianoforte construction were not allowed to languish, however, and the labors of Wornum, who followed Southwell, were at last successful in producing, in 1826, a practical action which at once settled the destiny of the upright. This action had as its peculiar feature the “bridle tape,” which is now such a necessary element of the upright pianoforte. He also introduced the centre pin and flange.
At this point we begin to come to the great dividing line between the early and the modern pianoforte. The introduction of metal framing marks this division and it is from here that the American instrument begins its independent and extraordinarily successful career. Indeed, the development of American instruments is bound up with the almost concurrent progress of ideas as to metal framing.
Although the first application of metal to pianofortes, not considering the unfortunately abortive invention of Hawkins, may be credited to William Allen, an Englishman, yet we must look to the United States for the pioneer in the modern conception of metal bracing. The man in question, Alpheus Babcock, was a Boston maker and had been originally an apprentice of Crehore, who appears to have made the first American pianoforte. Babcock applied his invention in Boston in the form of a cast metal plate for a square pianoforte about the year 1822 and this date is most memorable in that it marks the epoch of the strictly modern conception of the instrument. Continuing the consideration of this National school of design, we find that the celebrated Jonas Chickering produced, in 1840, a cast-iron plate for grand pianofortes, having the string-plate, agraffe-bridge and resistance-bars cast solid in one piece. This revolutionary invention unquestionably paved the way for the wonderful American productions of later years and at once placed the American pianoforte upon a plane of excellence that has never been altogether reached by its competitors in other parts of the world. European makers were at first slow to appreciate the eminently valuable nature of the invention of Chickering, and until lately the solid cast plate was not extensively used in Europe outside of Germany. The house of Collard and Collard, which had the services of Stewart, the assistant of Chickering for many years, was, however, most progressive in this respect and for long was the only London firm which made grand pianofortes with the iron plate cast in one piece. The celebrated house of Broadwood, after much experimenting, produced a form of iron plate for grands that was somewhat different in principle from that of Chickering. In this type, the body of the structure was cast complete, but instead of the multiplicity of braces, we find only two. One of these runs parallel with the line of the vertically-strung bass strings at the extreme bass end of the instrument, while the other crosses the plate in a diagonal direction from near the middle of the agraffe-bridge to the point of greatest tension. Both of these bars are cast separate from the body of the plate and secured to it by means of bolts and nuts. Such a method has usually been characteristic of European as opposed to American methods, but the Broadwoods, about fifteen years ago, brought out a decided novelty in their “Barless Grand.” This remarkable instrument has a plate of cast steel and is entirely without braces or bars of any kind, the necessary stiffness being gained through the tensile strength of the metal employed and the use of a number of turned up flanges along the sides of the structure, these being screwed into the case of the pianoforte at equal intervals on its periphery.