Fortepiano touchweight

[Dennis Johnson]

At  7:23 PM 2/24/95 -0700, William E. Darst wrote:
>     Last week I received, out of the blue, a message from Paul Poletti, a
>fortepiano maker whom I hadn't heard from in a long time.  He used to make
>instruments in Modesto, Calif.  Evidently, he saw a post of mine on another
>list and decided to contact me.  He is presently in Belgium building and
>restoring fortepianos.  So, I put the touchweight question to him and got
>the following:  (this is a bit long)

......................(cut)


_________

        Thanks Bill for that following very interesting post. It seems to
comfirm what Rosamond Harding tells us in his book. The earliest action
with lead that he shows in an English Longmam & Broderip from about 1780.
He also shows a Broadwood with three leads in the back from 1783 and a
French action by the great Taskin with one lead from 1787. Clearly though,
at that time these were exceptions. It is fascinating to see the great
variety of solutions in these early pianos.
        Also, wouldn't you know that after I said the harpsichord list is
not interested in fortepianos, this topic finally gets started.

Dennis Johnson
St. Olaf College
johnsond@stoalf.edu