Square piano
Maker
John Broadwood
Maker
Broadwood
Date1791
Place MadeLondon, England, Europe
Serial No.1499
SignedIn ink on nameboard: Johannes Broadwood London Fecit 1791 Patent / Great Pulteney Street Golden SquareMarkingsIn ink at treble end of wrestplank: N 1499
DescriptionCompass: Five octaves; FF-f3; 61 keys
Stringing: Bichord throughout
FF-F: Yellow brass with open copper windings
F-sharp-G: Yellow brass
G-sharp: iron
A-d-sharp: Yellow brass
e-f3: iron
No stops or pedals
Construction:
The case is made of solid mahogany with ebony and fruitwood stringing. The sides are 19 mm thick, back is 20 mm thcik. The bottom is 49 mm thick and is surrounded by a mahogany molding. The keywell is veneered in satinwood with ebony stringing, and the nameboard contains the maker's signature in ornate script. The case sits on a mahogany stand, which has a music shelf nailed to the four squared, tapered legs. The legs, with castors, are attached to the stand with large horizontal screws. Metal medallions cover the screws and also adorn the front of the legs. The front legs have satinwood and ebony stringing on each side, the back legs on two sides. There is a tool compartment left of the keyboard. The soundboard is cantilevered about 60 mm over the two extreme treble keys. The soundboard frame on this side is a heavy bar 65 mm thick, which is deeply undercut. Soundboard grain runs left to right. The one-piece bridge is beveled, single pinned, and is cut to its curve. The bass end is 20 mm high and 15.5 mm thick; the treble end is 16 mm high and 12 mm thick. It is nailed in place from beneath the soundboard. The treble end terminates in a scroll and the bass end is cantilevered, the latter increasing the flexibility of the soundboard. There is one rib visible, right of the bridge and running roughly parallel to it. The mahogany hitchpin rail is 51 mm wide and is flush with the right side of the case. It is covered with felt, and the hitch pins were driven through the felt. There is a metal pin driven into the hitchpin rail which supports the dust cover (missing). The rectangular tuning pins are unpierced. They are in pairs in the back of the case, except for six rows of four on the left side of the case. There are letter names for each couplet.
Action:
English single action with under dampers. With the exception of the damper mechanism, the action is very similar to the action of the Zumpe piano. A crude feature of this action is the head of the jack. It consists of two moldings: a small one glued on top of a larger one. Both moldings are made of wooding moldings which have one thin sliver of red cloth on top, covered with one layer of leather. The larger molding lifts the damper lever, while the small molding contacts the hammer shank. The hammer shanks are of mahogany, 3 mm thick, and are tapered from front to back. The hammer moldings are glued to the shank and are similar to Zumpe's, but they are not so crude. They are trapezoidal; the increased mass gives the hammers greater momentum. Hammers FF through b-flat have two layers of sheepskin, skin side out, with an outer layer of sheepskin, flesh side out. Hammers b through f3 have only one underlayer. The total thickness of the leather of the lowest hammer is 5 mm. The trapezoidal hammer shanks are guided by vertical guide pins. They are 3 mm thick, and their length decreases from bass to treble.
Dampers:
Under dampers. Damper compass FF-a1. In this action the damper levers are metal and are pinned to the metal fulcrums. The jack pushes up the front of the damper lever, thereby lowering the other end away from the string. The dampers themselves are made of very thin slips of cloth inserted into the damper levers. The damper cloths are the same size throughout (about 5 square mm).
Keyboard:
Naturals covered in ivory (two score lines); sharps of solid ebony. There is a straight-line molding on the key fronts.The keys are guided by front rail pins. The key levers are weighted at the back.
- Cataloging by Rodger Kelly, 1991
DimensionsLength: 1572 mm (5' 1-7/8")
Width: 520 mm (1' 8-1/2")
Height: 847 mm (2' 9-5/16")
Height of case: 226 mm (8-7/8")
Keyboard:
Three-octave measure: 488 mm
Length of heads: 42 mm
Width of heads: 22 mm
Stringing and scaling:
FF: Length 1372 mm; Strike point 125 mm
C: Length 1166 mm; Strike point 110 mm
c: Length 847 mm; Strike point 92 mm
c1: Length 552 mm; Strike point 71 mm
c2: Length 305 mm; Strike point 45 mm
c3: Length 144 mm; Strike point 32 mm
f3: Length 105 mm; Strike point 19 mm
String gauges:
FF: First string: missing; Winding: missing; Second string: missing; Winding: missing
FF-sharp: First string: 1.6 mm; Winding: .69 mm; Second string: missing; Winding: .46 mm
GG: First string: 1.6 mm; Winding: .69 mm; Second string: 1.6 mm; Winding: .46 mm
GG-sharp: First string: missing; Winding: .61 mm; Second string: 1.4 mm; Winding: .38 mm
AA: First string: 1.45 mm; Winding: .61 mm; Second string: missing; Winding: .38 mm
AA-sharp: First string: 1.4 mm; Winding: .61 mm; Second string: missing; Winding: .38 mm
BB: First string: 1.45 mm; Winding: .61 mm; Second string: 1.45 mm; Winding: .38 mm
C: First string: missing; Winding: .56 mm; Second string: 1.35 mm; Winding: .36 mm
C-sharp: First string: 1.3 mm; Winding: .56 mm; Second string: 1.3 mm; Winding: .36 mm
D: First string: missing; Winding: .56 mm; Second string: 1.25 mm; Winding: .36 mm
D-sharp: missing
F: First string: 1.15 mm; Winding: .56 mm; Second string: missing; Winding: .28 mm
F-sharp: First string: .75 mm; Second string: missing
G: First string: missing; Second string: .70 mm
G-sharp: First string: missing; Second string: .55 mm
A: missing
A-sharp: First string: missing; Second string: .60 mm
B: First string: missing; Second string: .60 mm
c: First string: .60 mm; Second string: missing
c-sharp: : First string: .60 mm; Second string: missing
d: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .60 mm
d-sharp: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
e: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
f: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
f-sharp: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
g: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
g-sharp: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
a: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
a-sharp: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .50 mm
b: First string: .30 mm; Second string: .45 mm
c1: First string: .45 mm; Second string: .45 mm
c-sharp1: First string: .45 mm; Second string: .45 mm
d1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
d-sharp1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
f1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
f-sharp1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
g1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
g-sharp1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
a1: First string: .45 mm; Second string: .40 mm
a-sharp1: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
b1: First string: .45 mm; Second string: .40 mm
c2: First string: .45 mm; Second string: .40 mm
c-sharp2: First string: .55 mm; Second string: .45 mm
d2: First string: .50 mm; Second string: .45 mm
d-sharp2: First string: .45 mm; Second string: .40 mm
e2: First string: .30 mm; Second string: .40 mm
f2: First string: .25 mm; Second string: .40 mm
f-sharp2: First string: .30 mm; Second string: .40 mm
g2: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
g-sharp2: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
a2: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
a-sharp2: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
b2: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
c3: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .50 mm
c-sharp3: First string: missing; Second string: .40 mm
d3: First string: .40 mm; Second string: .40 mm
d-sharp3: First string: .35 mm; Second string: missing
e3: First string: .35 mm; Second string: missing
f3: First string: .35 mm; Second string: missing
ProvenanceArne B. Larson Collection, Vermillion, South Dakota, 1979.
This instrument once belonged to the celebrated English painter, Joseph Edward Southall (1861-1944). After the artist's death, the Southall family sold the piano to the noted British violin dealer/collector, Ralph P. Powell of Smethwick, England. Powell subsequently sold it after W.W. II to Arne B. Larson, who was then living in Brookings, South Dakota.
Published ReferencesClinkscale, Martha Novak. Makers of the Piano 1700-1820 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 32. John Koster, "Foreign Influences in 18th-c. French Piano Making," Early Keyboard Journal 1993. Detail photo.
"Galleries II & III To Open November 15," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc. Newsletter 3, No. 1 (October 1975), pp. 1-2.
Kelly, Rodger S. A Catalog of European Pianos in The Shrine to Music Museum, M.M. Thesis (University of South Dakota: 1991), pp. 76-84.
Koster, John. "The Divided Bridge, Due Tension, and Rational Striking Point in Early English Grand Pianos," Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society, Vol. XXIII (1997), pp. 26-27.
Kuronen, Darcy. "Keyboard Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, Vol. VI, No. 1 (October 1991), p. 10.
Larson, André P. The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), pp. 19, 42.
Rose, Malcolm, and David Law, A Handbook of Historical Stringing Practice for Keyboard Instruments 1671-1856 (Lewes, England: Malcolm Rose and David Law, 1991), pp. 66 and 179.
Credit LineArne B. Larson Collection, 1979
Object number01217
On View
Not on view
