Grand piano
Maker
Ferdinand Hofmann
Date1795 ca.
Place MadeVienna, Austria, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedBlack lettering on white enameled oval copper plate on the nameboard: Ferdi[nand] Hofmann / Clavie[rinstru]mentenmacher / IN [WIEN]DescriptionCompass: FF to g3 ( 5+ octaves, 63 notes)
Knee lever to raise dampers.
Moderator controlled by hand stop (now missing) through the nameboard.
Ebony-covered naturals, bone-covered sharps.
Viennese action with brass Kapseln, f-form Auslöser, and Hofmann’s typical rocking hammer-head rests with checks attached.
Wedge-shaped dampers FF to b1, flat dampers c2 to g3.
Case veneered in cherry (grain oriented vertically), except spine exterior (unveneered).
Nameboard and interior key cheeks with geometrical inlay.
Four square-tapered screw-on legs (one missing) veneered in cherry.
Stringing - bichord FF to b1, trichord c2 to g3.
DimensionsLength: 2091 mm (front of cheek in bass to tail, excluding mouldings)
Width: 988 mm
Height: 248 mm
3-octave measure: 481 mm
String length: c2 string (longest): 282 mm (originally ~288 mm; now shorter because of wrestplank distortion)
ProvenancePurchased in 1993 from Bernhard von Hünerbein, Cologne, Germany. Previously in a private collection, Florence, Italy.
Published ReferencesLatcham, Michael. The Stringing, Scaling and Pitch of Hammerflügel Built in the Southern German and Viennese Traditions 1780-1820, Musikwissenschaftliche Schriften, Band 34 (Munich and Salzburg: Musikverlag Katzbichler, 2000), Vol. 1, pp. xv, 34, 49, and 69; Vol. 2, pp. 146, 147, 155, 188, 189, and 190.
O’Brien, Grant. "Criteria for the Determination of Original Stringing in Historical Keyboard Instruments: The Cautionary Tale of a 1785 Longman and Broderip Harpsichord," in John Koster, ed., Aspects of Harpsichord Making in the British Isles (The Historical Harpsichord, Vol. 5; Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2009), pp. 154-226, specifically p. 189.
Credit LineRawlins Fund, 1993
Object number05657
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