Beethoven's Piano

I know that Beethoven commissioned the builder Conrad Graf to make a fortepiano with four strings struck per note, and the instrument is currently on display at his birthplace in Bonn.

Whether he had his own company I wouldn't know, but then why commission one?

Interesting link, a sort of virtual museum of historical pianos

http://www.accademia...ess/?page_id=13

If a piano produced by B. ever existed, then it must appear somewhere ... right?

Is it possible they are confusing him with Clementi...? He did, at the end of his career (coinciding with Beethoven's peak activity, who greatly esteemed his music), produce and sell pianos. And with those, he also "sold" musicians, sometimes, such as when he left his friend John Field in Moscow to place his instruments and monopolize the market...

It is not my understanding that the Great [one] of Bonn produced pianos. He never had great economic resources... and what little he had was squandered by his nephew!!!!! He lived in disorder and filth. Famous is the letter from an acquaintance of his describing how they found the great composer's room..... I will spare you the description... for decency's sake!!!

Clementi, on the other hand, as everyone knows, was a piano builder... and a great pianist. He was attentive to the functioning of the mechanics and showed off his "double thirds and double sixths"... but regarding Mozart.... he played without "feeling"....

If I were to be mistaken, but if I am not wrong, during the period he spent in Austria, Beethoven "passed by" a piano factory, that of the spouses Johann Andreas and Nannette Streicher of Vienna, who were very good friends of his... however, he was not directly involved in the construction of the instruments

Crazypiano wrote:

Interesting link, a sort of virtual museum of historical pianos

http://www.accademia...ess/?page_id=13

If a piano produced by B. ever existed, then it must appear somewhere ... right?

... it doesn't work anymore

Hi Stellina!

No no, Beethoven didn't manufacture pianos; if anything, he destroyed them!, especially in his late period.

Some pianos that were gifted to him (being suppliers for B. was already a privilege at the time, although the Graf from the BH returned to the company after the composer's death, having been given in a sort of loan for use) still survive, and three (of which two are functional, the third requires restoration) are preserved at the Beethoven Haus

(let's not write a very long and boring treatise) so, if you want to go and read a bit of history about these relics, you can do so on my website, here:

http://www.lvbeethoven.it/Avvenimenti/Beethoven-Avvenimenti-Concerto-Beethovenhaus.html

if instead you want to go and hear the sound of this instrument (the Graf), you can also do that on my website, here:

http://www.lvbeethoven.it/Avvenimenti/Beethoven-Avvenimenti-Concerto-Beethovenhaus-video.html

it is the concert with unpublished works that Luigi Bellofatto, Massimo Anfossi (the pianist), and I brought on April 25, 2014, right in Bonn.

Here you can hear the sound of the Broadwood

http://www.lvbeethoven.it/Avvenimenti/Beethoven-Avvenimenti-Concerto-Beethovenhaus-24.html

We could write for hours, but why condense into 2000 pages what can be said extensively in four lines?

Friendship

Armando--------------------------

Thank you Armando

You must be joking, Stellina!

Instead, if you have other doubts and if you want something more in-depth, feel free to ask us! Speaking of Clementi, I came across his modest grave, which was next to that of the composer and violinist William Sheid—equally modest—in a place that is not modest at all: one of the side cloisters of Westminster Cathedral! :