Beethoven had and played many pianos from different brands. In the background of this shallow brand loyalty there are two main reasons. For once, pianos were not that enduring in those times, and second Beethoven was always in search for a better sounding piano suitable for his brave compositions.
Despite being an Italian invention by Beethoven’s time there were three main centers of piano making that were the most influential: Vienna, Paris and London. Beethoven had the pleasure to play all kinds.
From his early career piano makers were enthusiastic to offer him a piano for free and were more than happy to receive some product review from the Virtuoso. Beethoven possessed and played on pianos from Stein, Böhm, Graf, close friends and piano makers Streicher and a French brand Érard. Finally, his most beloved and cherished piano a Broadwood from London. This instrument had two pedals and six octaves, it was much stronger in built and its sound was much closer to the grand piano of today.
Stein pianos were named after Johann Andreas Stein, who was a German piano maker and inventor. His most important innovation was his action mechanism called Prellmechanik that allowed very responsive play. It was perfected around 1780. Stein’s daughter Nanette also was a skilled piano builder and later continued the business under his husband’s name Streicher. The Streicher family provided more pianos for their friend, Beethoven.
Joseph Böhm was another piano maker in Vienna, just as Conrad Graf. Böhm pianos were beautiful, Graf pianos were strong in built. Sebastien Érard, maker of the French Érard pianos, had to flee to London from the French revolution. Here, he learned English fashion piano making, something that later he brought home to Paris. The Broadwood piano is another family business, established and run by John Broadwood and Swiss harpsichord manufacturer Shudi.
|Related: Beethoven’s Broadwood piano
Beethoven and the piano were made for each other. During his lifetime this instrument went through some major changes and upgrades. In his childhood he started out playing on clavichords and harpsicords, later played the pianoforte. The evaluation in this instrument happened mainly in the method how the strings are influenced to make sound.
A clavichord strikes the strings, the harpsichord plucks them and finally the pianoforte hits the strings with a hammer. The pianoforte (piano in short) was the first version of this instrument that was able to play soft and loud, depending on the intension of the player. Thus, the name soft-loud, pianoforte in Italian.
In this period these instruments were very fragile compared to the ones of today. Even in English pianos (strongest in built and sound) metal bracing was not introduced until 1820. Viennese pianos were even weaker. No wonder, they were not able to stand up against the force with which Beethoven played! He was a force of nature, playing and make piano sound like a complete orchestra. There are many written memories in contemporary diaries remembering Beethoven simply snapping strings during performances.
Not only were these pianos made of different materials, they also sounded different. Keys were lighter to operate, key-beds were shallow, and the sound dynamics was softer (sustained very little). Because of these differences it is recommended to listen to piano compositions made in this period on contemporary instruments. This is the sound how the composers like Beethoven heard them, this is how they wrote them to sound.
