originals in numerous museums and collections
copy by Philip Belt and Frank Hubbard, Boston, Mass; assembled by Wal Sullivan, Sydney, c.1974
Features
Keyboard: single reversed manual
Keyboard materials: ivory sharps, ebony naturals
Compass: 5 octaves FF-f3
Pitch: A415 Hz nontransposing
Tuning: equal tempered
Action: Viennese prellmechanik with escapement
Hammer coverings: leather
Bridge: single
Strings:
- FF-F 13 note bichord brass;
- F#-eb2 34 notes bichord iron;
- e2-f3 14 notes trichord iron
Dampers:
- FF-Eb2 47 notes; leather wedge overdampers,
- e2-F3 14 notes : felt pad overdampers
Frame: timber
Accessories: damper lift by knee lever moderator by drawstop above keyboard
Case: American walnut
Lid: plain Amercian walnut
Keywell lid and fallboard: as for lid
Music desk: detachable, as for lid
Legs: three tapered, fluted Louis XV legs
Dimensions: 2140 x 960 x 222 mm ex lid) on legs 630 mm long
Repertoire: Mozart, Haydn, early Beethoven and Schubert, and contemporaries.
Provenance: purchased from Newells Music Shop, Sydney, 1990
Condition category: I
Remediation required: none
Concert dates: 18.08.90, 12.05.91, 09.06.91, 06.10.91, 21.06.98, 28.04.02, 15.09.02, 17.09.06, 13.07.08, 15.09.13
Commentary
Stein’s actions were preferred by Mozart to those of Silbermann and other German and Austrian makers, especially because of their shallow keydip and reliable escapement, which made rapid repetition possible. Though this “Viennese” action was only a temporary and parallel development to the orginal Cristofori-Erard “English” action which has developed continuously from the piano’s origins in the early eighteenth century to today, it remains significant as the action for which all of Mozart’s and Schubert’s piano music, and much of Haydn’s and Beethoven’s, was written. This, the archetypical “grand fortepiano”is more frequently copied than all other types together.
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