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The English fortepiano had a humble origin in the work of Johannes Zumpe, a maker who had immigrated from Germany and worked for a while in the workshop of the great harpsichord maker Burkat Shudi. Starting in the middle to late 1760s, Zumpe made inexpensive square pianos that had a very simple action, lacking an escapement, (sometimes known as ...
Fortepiano by Paul McNulty after Walter & Sohn, ca. 1805 The earliest pianos by Cristofori (ca. 1700) were lightweight objects, hardly sturdier in framing than a contemporary harpsichord , with thin strings of low tensile strength iron and brass and small, lightweight hammers.
Unlike the harpsichord, the fortepiano is capable of changes in dynamic volume, giving it its name. [4] By the late 18th century the harpsichord was supplanted by the piano and almost disappeared from view for most of the 19th century: an exception was its continued use in opera for accompanying recitative , but the piano sometimes displaced it ...
The creation of the tangent piano, and the fortepiano, were the results of attempts to remedy the lack of dynamics in harpsichord sound. Both the tangent piano and fortepiano offered a variety of sound that was appealing to the changes in classical music, which featured more expressiveness and intensity than the harpsichord could offer.
The collection consisted mainly of pianos (forte-pianos), but also included harpsichords [4] [5] and a few clavichords. The Colt Collection contained the largest single accumulation of Broadwood pianos. [6] The oldest specimen dated to 1775, with the most recent instrument dating to the late 19th century.
Harpsichord. Clavicymbalum; Lautenwerck; Hurdy-gurdy; Marxophone; Piano. Fortepiano; Tangent piano; Xenorphica; Additionally, members of the harpsichord and piano families may also use alternative setups to make the instruments more compact: Portable Folding harpsichord; Orphica; Spinets. Oval spinet; Square Square piano; Virginals; Uprights ...
The New Grove musical dictionary summarizes the earliest historical traces of the harpsichord: "The earliest known reference to a harpsichord dates from 1397, when a jurist in Padua wrote that a certain Hermann Poll claimed to have invented an instrument called the 'clavicembalum'; [1] and the earliest known representation of a harpsichord is a sculpture (see below) in an altarpiece of 1425 ...
Philip Ralph Belt (2 January 1927 - 11 May 2015) was a pioneering builder of pianos in historical style, in particular the 18th century instruments commonly called fortepianos.