Square piano
Maker
Juan del Mármol
Date1788
Place MadeSeville, Spain, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted paper label on right hand side of soundboard, partially torn: [JUA]N DEL MARMOL / EN SEVILLA / [ ] Sionado por el Rey / Nuestrō Señor. / Añade 17[88] / N..° [?]Markingsnone
DescriptionCompass: GG-g3 (5 octaves, 61 notes).
Case: solid mahogany with striped stringing. Molding at the bottom with geometrical stringing.
Simple Zumpe-style stossmechanik action without escapement.
Bone-covered naturals with molded fronts.
Sharps covered with ebony.
Three hand stops: dampers (bass), buff, dampers (treble).
Bichord throughout (strings missing).
DimensionsLength: 1495 mm
Width: 513 mm
Height of case: 190 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1991 from John Koster, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Published ReferencesClinkscale, Martha Novak. Makers of the Piano 1700-1820 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 195.
Kenyon de Pascual, Beryl. “Some Aspects of the Square Piano in Spain,” in Geschichte und Bauweise des Tafelklaviers (23. Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium, October 2002; Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 68), ed. by Boje E. Hans Schmuhl and Monika Lustig (Augsburg: Wiáner-Verlag, and Michaelstein: Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein – Musikinstitut für Aufführungspraxis, 2006), pp. 261-282, specifically pp. 262 and 264.
Koster, John. "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.
Larson, André P. “The Eternal Quest . . . Museum Acquires Rare 18th-Century Grand Piano,” The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. XX, No. 1 (October 1992), pp. 1-3.
Schott, Howard. Victoria and Albert Museum: Catalogue of Musical Instruments, Vol. I, Keyboard Instruments (London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1985), p. 109.
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. 41.
Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Bruce and Susan Odson; and Arne B. and Jeanne F. Larson Fund, 1991
Object number05208
On View
Not on view
