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Grand piano
Maker: Joaquim José Antunes
Date: 1767
Place Made:Lisbon, Portugal, Europe
Serial No: none
SignedHandwritten in ink on key 51: 1767 Antunes
MarkingsGauge markings on spruce-veneered wrestplank
DescriptionThe Antunes family held an enviable position in the 1760s, having received a royal writ in 1760 which granted them the sole privilege of piano manufacture and commerce in Portugal for a period of ten years.
The interior of this remarkably preserved piano is veneered in Brazilian tulipwood. The piano has a Cristofori-type action and a hand-operated una corda.
Compass: C-d3 (4+ octaves, 51 notes).
Boxwood naturals, ebony over rosewood accidentals.
Spruce soundboard with grain parallel to spine; unvarnished.
Stringing: bichord throughout.
The interior of this remarkably preserved piano is veneered in Brazilian tulipwood. The piano has a Cristofori-type action and a hand-operated una corda.
Compass: C-d3 (4+ octaves, 51 notes).
Boxwood naturals, ebony over rosewood accidentals.
Spruce soundboard with grain parallel to spine; unvarnished.
Stringing: bichord throughout.
DimensionsLength including molding: 2305 mm
Width: 858 mm
Overall height : 857 mm
Height of case: 223mm
Spine thickness: 18mm
Bentside thickness: 16.5mm
Tail length: 232mm
Angle of tail with spine: 88 degrees
Bridge at treble: 12mm high, 10mm thick
Hitchpin rail width: 40mm (except at the tail, where the left side of the hitchpin rail follows the curve of the bridge)
Keyboard span: 490 mm
Three-octave measure: 488mm
Length of heads: 44mm
Width of heads: 22mm
String lengths:
C: 1777mm
c: 1048mm
c1: 530mm
c2: 271 mm
c3: 133mm
d3: 118mm
Striking points:
C: 138mm
c: 102mm
c1: 72mm
c2: 44mm
c3: 23mm
d3: 21mm
Gauge markings on wrestplank:
00 C
0 D
0 D#
1 e
2 f
2 d2
3 d#2
3 c#2
4 d2
Jacks:
Total height: 33mm
Height of capsel: 25mm
Thickness of intermediate levers: 4mm
Width of intermediate levers: 9.5mm
Hammer shank thickness: 4mm
Length of hammer heads: 39mm
Thickness of hammer heads: 2mm at center
Width of hammer heads: 6mm (center), 12mm (head)
Thickness of damper levers: 1.5mm
Width: 858 mm
Overall height : 857 mm
Height of case: 223mm
Spine thickness: 18mm
Bentside thickness: 16.5mm
Tail length: 232mm
Angle of tail with spine: 88 degrees
Bridge at treble: 12mm high, 10mm thick
Hitchpin rail width: 40mm (except at the tail, where the left side of the hitchpin rail follows the curve of the bridge)
Keyboard span: 490 mm
Three-octave measure: 488mm
Length of heads: 44mm
Width of heads: 22mm
String lengths:
C: 1777mm
c: 1048mm
c1: 530mm
c2: 271 mm
c3: 133mm
d3: 118mm
Striking points:
C: 138mm
c: 102mm
c1: 72mm
c2: 44mm
c3: 23mm
d3: 21mm
Gauge markings on wrestplank:
00 C
0 D
0 D#
1 e
2 f
2 d2
3 d#2
3 c#2
4 d2
Jacks:
Total height: 33mm
Height of capsel: 25mm
Thickness of intermediate levers: 4mm
Width of intermediate levers: 9.5mm
Hammer shank thickness: 4mm
Length of hammer heads: 39mm
Thickness of hammer heads: 2mm at center
Width of hammer heads: 6mm (center), 12mm (head)
Thickness of damper levers: 1.5mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1990 at Sotheby’s Auction House, London, England.
Previously owned by António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, Lisbon, Portugal.
Previously owned by António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro, Lisbon, Portugal.
Terms
Credit Line: Rawlins Fund, 1990
Not on view
Published ReferencesNMM catalog: _As Good as Gold: The First 50 Years (1973-2023)_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2023. (pp. 37, 46-47)
Ana Benavides. El Piano: Instrumento, Historia y Protagonistas. (Madrid: Bassus Ediciones, 2022) pp. 88-89.
Tudela, Ana Paula. _Os Antunes, Mestres Portugueses de Fazer Cravos, Pianofortes e Pianos. Séculos XVIII e XIX_. Lisboa: INCM – Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 2019.
"1990 Marked by More Incredible Acquisitions," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XVIII, No. 2 (January 1991), p. 1.
Cole, Michael. The Pianoforte in the Classical Era (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. 17.
“Instrumental Innovations,” Wall Street Journal (December 7, 2007), p. W4.
Kelly, Rodger S. A Catalog of European Pianos in The Shrine to Music Museum, M.M. Thesis (University of South Dakota: 1991), pp. 3-12.
Koster, John. "Foreign Influences in Eighteenth-Century French Piano Making," Early Keyboard Journal, Vol. 11 (1993), pp. 23-25.
-------. "The 'Godoy' Broadwood Grand Pianoforte with Wedgwood and Tassie Mounts," The Heritage of Wedgwood, edited by Keith A. McLeod and James R. Boyle (Wedgwood International Seminars, 1998), pp. 212-228.
-------. "Three Grand Pianos in the Florentine Tradition," Musique- Images-Instruments, Vol. 4 (1998), pp. 95-103.
-------. “Towards an optimal instrument: Domenico Scarlatti and the new wave of Iberian Harpsichord making,” Early Music, Vol. XXXV, No. 4 (November 2007), p. 588.
-------. "Grand Piano, Manuel Antunes, Portugal, 1767," South Dakota Musician, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Winter 1993), cover and p. 24.
-------. “Pre-classical Piano . . . Museum to Host International Piano Conference May 5-8,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, 27, No. 1 (February 2000), pp. 1-2.
Muenster, Ted. “South Dakota’s Shrine to Musica,” Prairie Fire, Vol. 3, Number 4 (April 2009), pages 12-15.
Musical Instruments, London, November 22, 1990 (London: Sotheby's, 1990), pp. 104-105.
Piano Technicians Journal, Vol. 49, No. 12 (December 2006), cover, pp. 5 and 15.
Pollens, Stewart. The Early Pianoforte (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 137-156.
Larson, Andre P. "Grand Piano, Manuel Antunes, Portugal, 1767," South Dakota Musician 27, no. 2 (Winter 1993), cover and p.24
Prideaux, Sally, ed. Sotheby's Art at Auction 1990-91 (London: Sotheby's, 1991), p. 319
"Rare Piano Makes Its Debut… Many Important Instruments Acquired Again in 1992," The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 20, No. 2 (January 1993), pp. 1-4.
"Rare Piano Makes Debut," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XVIII, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 3-4.
Skyrm, Susanne, ed., with assistance from Calvert Johnston and John Koster,. Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Spanish Keyboard Music for Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, or Clavichord (Colfax, North Carolina: Wayne Leupold Editions, 2010), p. 23.
“Special Recording Makes a Unique Holiday Gift,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 25, No. 1 (October 1997), p. 3.
Sutherland, David. "Domenico Scarlatti and the Florentine Piano," Early Music, Vol. 23, No. 2 (May 1995), pp. 245.
CDs
Parmentier, Edward. The Portuguese Fortepiano: 18th-Century Iberian Keyboard Music (Berkeley, California: Wildboar, 1999).
Skyrm, Susanne. Treasures of Iberian Keyboard Music on the Antunes Fortepiano (1767) (Berkeley, California: Music and Arts Program of America, Inc., 1997).
Fernandes, Cremilde Rosado. Ludovico Giustini di Pistoia, Sonate da Cimbalo di Piano, e Forte (Firenze, 1732) (Pacos de Brandao Codex, Portugal: Numerica Editora Discografica, 1996).
Ana Benavides. El Piano: Instrumento, Historia y Protagonistas. (Madrid: Bassus Ediciones, 2022) pp. 88-89.
Tudela, Ana Paula. _Os Antunes, Mestres Portugueses de Fazer Cravos, Pianofortes e Pianos. Séculos XVIII e XIX_. Lisboa: INCM – Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, 2019.
"1990 Marked by More Incredible Acquisitions," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XVIII, No. 2 (January 1991), p. 1.
Cole, Michael. The Pianoforte in the Classical Era (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998), p. 17.
“Instrumental Innovations,” Wall Street Journal (December 7, 2007), p. W4.
Kelly, Rodger S. A Catalog of European Pianos in The Shrine to Music Museum, M.M. Thesis (University of South Dakota: 1991), pp. 3-12.
Koster, John. "Foreign Influences in Eighteenth-Century French Piano Making," Early Keyboard Journal, Vol. 11 (1993), pp. 23-25.
-------. "The 'Godoy' Broadwood Grand Pianoforte with Wedgwood and Tassie Mounts," The Heritage of Wedgwood, edited by Keith A. McLeod and James R. Boyle (Wedgwood International Seminars, 1998), pp. 212-228.
-------. "Three Grand Pianos in the Florentine Tradition," Musique- Images-Instruments, Vol. 4 (1998), pp. 95-103.
-------. “Towards an optimal instrument: Domenico Scarlatti and the new wave of Iberian Harpsichord making,” Early Music, Vol. XXXV, No. 4 (November 2007), p. 588.
-------. "Grand Piano, Manuel Antunes, Portugal, 1767," South Dakota Musician, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Winter 1993), cover and p. 24.
-------. “Pre-classical Piano . . . Museum to Host International Piano Conference May 5-8,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, 27, No. 1 (February 2000), pp. 1-2.
Muenster, Ted. “South Dakota’s Shrine to Musica,” Prairie Fire, Vol. 3, Number 4 (April 2009), pages 12-15.
Musical Instruments, London, November 22, 1990 (London: Sotheby's, 1990), pp. 104-105.
Piano Technicians Journal, Vol. 49, No. 12 (December 2006), cover, pp. 5 and 15.
Pollens, Stewart. The Early Pianoforte (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995), pp. 137-156.
Larson, Andre P. "Grand Piano, Manuel Antunes, Portugal, 1767," South Dakota Musician 27, no. 2 (Winter 1993), cover and p.24
Prideaux, Sally, ed. Sotheby's Art at Auction 1990-91 (London: Sotheby's, 1991), p. 319
"Rare Piano Makes Its Debut… Many Important Instruments Acquired Again in 1992," The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 20, No. 2 (January 1993), pp. 1-4.
"Rare Piano Makes Debut," Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XVIII, No. 3 (April 1991), pp. 3-4.
Skyrm, Susanne, ed., with assistance from Calvert Johnston and John Koster,. Anthology of Eighteenth-Century Spanish Keyboard Music for Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, or Clavichord (Colfax, North Carolina: Wayne Leupold Editions, 2010), p. 23.
“Special Recording Makes a Unique Holiday Gift,” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 25, No. 1 (October 1997), p. 3.
Sutherland, David. "Domenico Scarlatti and the Florentine Piano," Early Music, Vol. 23, No. 2 (May 1995), pp. 245.
CDs
Parmentier, Edward. The Portuguese Fortepiano: 18th-Century Iberian Keyboard Music (Berkeley, California: Wildboar, 1999).
Skyrm, Susanne. Treasures of Iberian Keyboard Music on the Antunes Fortepiano (1767) (Berkeley, California: Music and Arts Program of America, Inc., 1997).
Fernandes, Cremilde Rosado. Ludovico Giustini di Pistoia, Sonate da Cimbalo di Piano, e Forte (Firenze, 1732) (Pacos de Brandao Codex, Portugal: Numerica Editora Discografica, 1996).
Object number: 05055