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Edwin Beunk Collection
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What did composers have to deal with; how did it sound; how did it feel? This we learned: the pianoforte is not a deficient version or a simple step in a development that finally gave us the modern piano.
In Mozart’s time builders like Walter and Schantz knew exactly what they were doing and their instruments were precisely what Mozart and Haydn wished for. Developments in the piano were parallel to what happened in society, where another type of audience started attending concerts. Concert halls and orchestras got bigger and romanticism required the piano to sing and replace the speaking quality of the instrument of Mozart’s days. Competition between builders was not only about quality of sound but very much about loudness and tuning-stability. A rapid development of the piano took place between 1770 and 1870.
With 15 examples the Edwin Beunk Collection covers all the important stages of piano history up to 1850. Pianos by great builders like Rosenberger, Graf, Streicher, Broadwood, Erard and Pleyel give a perfect impression of the sounding history of the fortepiano.
Below you'll find photos of most of the instruments accompanied by some portrait miniatures
to show what people looked like in the same period as the instruments.
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Le Chevalier de Mont-Viol, 1787
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Tibaut 1784
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Anonymous, ca. 1785
The case in solid oak, the keyboard compass 5 octaves, FF-f3
one knee lever for forte and a hand stop for the moderator
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Michael Rosenberger, Vienna ca. 1800
The case in walnut, the keyboard compass 5½ octaves, FF-c4.
Two knee levers: moderator and forte.
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ca. 1800 Unsigned |
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Mathias Müller, Vienna ca. 1810
The case in mahogany, the keyboard compass 6 octaves: FF-f4
four pedals: una-corda, bassoon, moderator, forte
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Joachim Ehlers, Vienna 1815.
The case in mahogany with bronze decorations and a painting of an
Italian fantasy land/sea scape on the pinblock. The keyboard compass 6 octaves FF-f4.
Five pedals: una-corda,bassoon, moderator, forte and drum/bells.
(In the background an Erard square of 1844)
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Thomas Hargreaves, ca. 1815 >
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Johann Schanz, Vienna ca. 1823
The case in walnut, the keyboard compass
6½ octaves, CC-f4.
five pedals: una-corda,bassoon, forte, moderator, drum/bells
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Vincent Bertrand ca. 1820
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Conrad Graf, Vienna, ca. 1830
The case in walnut, the keyboard compass 6½
octaves, CC-g4.
Four pedals: una-corda, moderator, double moderator, forte.
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Conrad Graf, Vienna ca. 1835
The case in cherry, the keyboard compass 6½ octaves, CC-g4.
Four pedals: una-corda, moderator, double moderator, forte.
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Unsigned ca. 1835
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J.B. Streicher, Vienna 1847
The case in mahagony, the keyboard compass 7 octaves AAA-a4.
Two pedals: una-corda, forte.
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Ignace Pleyel, Paris 1829
The case in mahogany, the keyboard compass 6½ octaves, CC-f4.
Two pedals: una-corda, forte
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Pierre Louis Bouvier ca. 1829 |
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Erard Paris 1837
The case in rosewood, the keyboard compass 6¾ octaves. CC-a4
(originally CC-f4)
2 pedals |
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Wilhelm Hensel
Fanny
Hensel-Mendelssohn 1841
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Ignace Pleyel,
Paris 1842
The keyboard compass
6½ octaves, the case
in mahogany.
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John Broadwood & Son, London 1807
The case in mahogany, the keyboard compass 5½ octaves.
Three pedals: una-corda, forte, forte for only the right side of the keyboard.
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