Square Broadwoo Piano - Circa 1815

[mfreeman]

Square Broadwoo Piano serial number 20544 - Circa 1815



A square pianoforte made by John Broadwood and sons, serial number 20544 circa 1815.
This rich model made by John Broadwood speaks of the times where the square pianoforte was still a large part of the family home settings of this time.



This square piano has a case of Mahogany, being banded with the same style of mahogany with brass inlays.According to the books of John Broadwood archives, this type of model was the highest type to be paid, having a Art Case style to the form.



More Info and Pics : https://www.palacepianos.com/portal/early-square-pianoforte/19th-century-square-pianoforte/95-broadwood-1815.html

[countenance_anglaise]

I have just returned from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, in Vienna (where I am living for all of 2011) - the one housed in the Nationalbibliotek. This was a revelation! It had an excellent array of keyboard instruments, and three separate rooms dedicated to Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart and the pianos each would have known and/or used. These included Conrad Graf, Stein, Anton Walter, Streicher family, Bosendorfer and a range of instruments from early Virginals and Spinets, to Clavichords, Cembalo (Dulcken, Antwerp) and another made in Venice in 1559, Hammerflugal (Kober), Harmonie Piano (with 5 manuals, which type Mozart would have known as a child - or even this one), Tangent Piano, Harpsichords, a Clavicitherium from Dusseldorf, and many Viennese instruments - both keyboard and stringed. There were 2 very old organs: one a Regal and another Positive organ. Leopold Mozart's violin was there. The very earliest stringed instrument I saw was made in Venice in 1511 and is in excellent condition - a Lira da Braccio. There was also a range of ancient cellos, viols and an assortment of other priceless stringed instruments. The Basset Horn of Mozart's time was there too. The coup d'grace was a playing/singing/drinking table embossed in ivory with all the words and notes for famous drinking songs, and all the parts - circa 1500. They say it is their most prized possession in the collection. Also, there were oil paintings of Beethoven (in his 50's and at 13), Schubert as a young man, a wax bust of Haydn made in 1800, and oil paintings of Luca Marenzio and Luzzarchi from the very early Florentine Camerata/Italian Intermedii period. This last was very moving. I thoroughly recommend this exhibition for anyone contemplating a visit to Vienna.