ric,
Koster frequently misidentifies wood species in "Keyboard Instruments";
the book remains valuable as a monument to the BMFA collection, though
especially in light of Poletti's paper I'd sooner take the commuter rail
into Boston than use it as a source.
Stephen Birkett neatly has pointed out the trap in repeating and
compounding the errors or assumptions in one or a few sources. The
archaeology of pianos is littered with isolated experiments, untried
patents and discontinued branches, additionally which can muddle an
understanding of the instrument (mine, for instance).
In his post yesterday ("English/Italian"), Stephen also points out the
fundamental differences between the Cristofori and English action, and
that a Bakkers letter describes its genesis not as a modification but an
independently inspired invention. Harding's illustration of "Zumpe's
First action, 1760" (p37) is singular in its "omissions", if so they
were to be regarded per Harding, Dolge: back check, moving escapement
and under hammer, where the arcs drawn by key end and hammer share
orientation (on p39, she illustrates an action by Joh. Soecher, 1742,
which shares similar parts, though with reversed hammer orientation).
>From Koster's topical section, (Poletti, p83):
"A remark in the Dovaston manuscript ... suggests that the earliest
English grand pianos were strung entirely in brass. This, as well as
certain other
technical details of extant instruments and the lack of historical
sources
linking any British maker with Silbermann, can be taken as allowing the
possibility that the English design stemmed from pianos made by the
Italian or Iberian followers of Bartolomeo Cristofori. Thus, although
the
English makers’ subsequent adoption of iron treble stringing, which soon
led to the division of the bridge, resembled Silbermann's earlier
practice,
it might well have been an independent development.”
(quoted from Koster, John. "The Divided Bridge", JAMIS vXXII, 1997)
Assuming the final sentence means 'independent of Silbermann', your
posts suggest that you, too, would disagree with Koster.
Regards,
Clark
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