IRON
itl Oootfs,
ORTH ROAD.
TSCHUDI, THE HARPSICHORD MAKER
TSCHUDI
The Harpsichord Maker
BY
WILLIAM DALE, F.S.A.
LONDON
CONSTABLE AND COMPANY LTD.
1913
'*"•••>...,
TO
MISS LUCY BROADWOOD
THIS MEMOIR OF HER
DISTINGUISHED ANCESTOR
IS DEDICATED
WITH MUCH RESPECT AND GRATEFUL' THANKS
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PREFACE
THE object of the following memoir is to give in
as brief a way as possible an account of the
career of one of the distinguished London
craftsmen of the -eighteenth century, who,
though a foreigner by birth, identified himself
completely with the musical and social life of
England, and obtained a reputation beyond the
land of his adoption. The author claims no
special fitness for the task save that the early
years of his life were spent in the house in which
Burkat Shudi lived and carried on his trade
more than a hundred years earlier. At the time
also of the compilation of Grove's Dictionary of
Music and Musicians he was associated with the
late A. J. Hipkins, F.S.A., in the preparation of
some of the articles, and gathered together a
good deal of the material supplied by that writer.
To obtain this he made careful search for old
vii
Tschudi,the Harpsichord Maker
business books of the eighteenth century in
Shudi's house, and collected a mass of informa-
tion, some of which is published for the first
time in the following pages. The author also
did much honorary work at the exhibition of
Ancient Musical Instruments held at Albert
Hall in connection with the Music and Inventions
Exhibition of the year 1885. He arranged all
the keyboard instruments, and wrote a descrip-
tive catalogue of the same, receiving the award
of a silver medal for his services.
He desires to acknowledge his deep indebted-
ness to Miss Lucy Broadwood, without whose
valuable help the chapter on the early life of
Burkat Shudi could not have been written.
vm
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE HARPSICHORD DESCRIBED . . i
CHAPTER II
TSCHUDI'S EARLY LIFE . . . .14
CHAPTER III
TSCHUDI AND HANDEL . . . .30
CHAPTER IV
SHUDI AND FREDERICK THE GREAT . . 42
CHAPTER V
SHUDI AND HIS APPRENTICES . . -5°
CHAPTER VI
SHUDI AND HIS PATRONS . . . .63
CHAPTER VII
THE PIANO OF DON MANUEL DE GODOY . . 76
IX
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
TSCHUDI AND His FAMILY .... Frontispiece
GRAND PIANOFORTE OF 1793 BY JOHN BROADWOOD Facing page 12
SCHWANDEN, GLARUS . . . . „ 14
MEARD STREET, SOHO . . . „ 28
HANDEL BY MERCIER (BY PERMISSION OF THE
EARL OF MALMESBURY) . . . „ 30
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR ANNA STRADA . „ 32
NAME BOARD OF HARPSICHORD MADE FOR ANNA
STRADA (FRONT AND BACK) . . • » 34
TSCHUDI'S AUTOGRAPH . . . „ 40
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR FREDERICK THE GREAT,
NO. 511 (FRONT) . . . . „ 42
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR FREDERICK THE GREAT,
NO. SII (SIDE) . . . . . „ 42
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR FREDERICK THE GREAT,
NO. 512 . „ 44
HINGES OF ONE OF THE HARPSICHORDS MADE
FOR FREDERICK THE GREAT . . „ 46
DIRECTIONS FOR USE OF THE STOPS ON ONE OF
THE HARPSICHORDS MADE FOR FREDERICK
THE GREAT . . . . „ 48
TSCHUDI'S HOUSE IN GREAT PULTENEY STREET,
SOHO ....... 50
HARPSICHORD BY SHUDI AND BROADWOOD OF 1770 „ 56
HARPSICHORD BY SHUDI AND BROADWOOD OF 1770 „ 58
GRAND PIANOFORTE MADE IN 1796 FOR DON
MANUEL DE GODOY .... 76
XI
CHAPTER I
THE HARPSICHORD DESCRIBED
FOR the sake of those who have but little ac-
quaintance with the musical instruments of the
past, it may be well to explain what the harpsi-
chord was. The harpsichord was one of the
immediate precursors of the pianoforte, and
occupied an important position in the musical
life of the eighteenth century. Like the virginal
or spinet the sound was produced by a mechanical
plectrum, which rose and plucked the string as
each key was touched. The plectrum, which
was of hard leather or crow-quill, was fixed in a
contrivance called a jack, and when the jack
fell after plucking the string a small piece of
cloth inserted in it damped the sound. No
expression was possible by means of the hand.
To strike the key hard indeed produced less
sound, a fact which is somewhat painfully
evident in listening to those who play to-day
A
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
upon restored instruments of this family, and
from mere habit act as if seated at a pianoforte.
The touch required is more that of the organ. It
is curious to note that as the harpsichord was
being supplanted by the pianoforte, musicians
were slow in learning the different technique
demanded by the latter instrument. In the
year 1799 a customer writes to Shudi's successor
to have a Venetian swell put to a grand piano he
has ordered. The Venetian swell was invented
by Shudi for the harpsichord in 1769. The
whole of the instrument was carefully closed in,
and the top was covered with an arrangement
like a Venetian blind, the shutters opening at a
touch of the foot to let out the sound. Before
putting the swell to the piano the maker writes :
* If the gentleman who wants the grand piano-
forte is not positive in having a swell, we would
thank you to persuade him off it, as it is a thing
that adds much to the intricacy and weight of
the instrument, and is of no advantage, the forte
in the grand pianoforte being designed to be
made with the finger and not with the foot like
the harpsichord/ Nevertheless the swell was
2
The Harpsichord described
put, but this protest was added : ' We hope you
will not be offended with our declining to put a
swell in future to any grand pianoforte, being
convinced they deaden the tone to appearance,
and being exceedingly troublesome to make,
which, however, we should not mind did it
answer to satisfaction/
In the smaller contemporaneous instruments
called spinets no expression at all was possible.
By the spinet is meant an instrument roughly
triangular in form, like a couched harp, which,
as it cost much less, and was smaller than the
harpsichord, was extremely popular from the
time of the Restoration down to the end of the
eighteenth century. The term virginal was
also applied to these spinets. Indeed under the
Tudors and up to the Commonwealth the word
was used for any stringed keyboard instrument.
Antiquaries now restrict it to the smaller coffer-
shaped instrument, which is rarer than the
spinet, much fewer having been made in
England. So that the ' two pairs of virginals
with 4 stops ' mentioned in the privy purse
expenses of Henry vm. under the date of 1520
3
(Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
is interpreted to mean a double-keyed harpsi-
chord in an outer case. By the ' pair of
excellent virginals ' on which Prudence played
to Christiana in the house called Beautiful
John Bunyan probably meant a spinet. Samuel
Pepys also notices at the fire of London that the
' river was full of lighters and boats taking in
goods and good goods swimming in the water,
and only I observed that hardly one lighter or
boat in three that had the goods of a house but
there was a pair of virginals in it.'
The expression ' pair ' means only a single
instrument, meaning perhaps gradation in the
old sense of the keys as steps through the
intervals of the scale. Some of these instru-
ments were probably spinets. A most interest-
ing notice of Pepys, under date I4th June 1661,
is : ' I sent to my house by my Lord's desire his
shippe and triangle Virginal/ Here we have
undoubtedly a true spinet, but the form being
new to Pepys he coins an expression for it, and
from its roughly triangular form calls it a
1 triangle virginal.' His first use of the right
word is in 1668. ' To Whitehall, took Aldgate
4
Harpsichord described
Street on my way, and there called upon one
Haward that makes Virginalls, and there did
like of a little Espinette and will have him finish
it for me, for I had a mind to a small Harpsicon,
but this takes up less room, and will do my
business as to finding out of chords, and I am
very well pleased that I have found it/
The great superiority of the harpsichord over
these instruments arose from the fact that
variety of tone could be produced by stops
which controlled separate rows of jacks acting
upon different strings. Technical descriptions
of these stops, and the evidence concerning their
invention, may be found in text-books. Suffice
to say that the harpsichord in its most perfect
form had the swell already described and four
separate rows of jacks. By these one, two, or
three strings could be plucked. One string,
called the * octave/ was below the others. It
was tuned an octave higher, and was caught
by the quill in the passage of the jack upward.
Another pleasing variety of tone was the ' lute '
stop. In this the strings were plucked closer
to the bridge, producing a different set of
5
Tschudi^the Harpsichord Maker
vibrations and a delicate reedy tone. The
' buff ' or ' harp ' stop effect was caused by small
pads of leather pressed against each string and
muting them. A stop at the left side could be
worked by a pedal attached to the left leg,
throwing on certain combinations without taking
the hands from the keys. The two keyboards
of the most expensive or ' double ' harpsichords
enabled the various effects to be used in con-
trast. It has been the custom by some to
depreciate the harpsichord and to pity those
whose only keyed instrument it was. The tone
has even been called a ' scratch with a sound at
the end of it.' But such pity is certainly thrown
away. The soft and delicate tones of the harp
and lute stops, and the rushing crescendo of the
swell, are effects which can only be heard on the
harpsichord, and belong to the time when
musical instruments were in their age of wood,
and when metal did not rule. They are ana-
logous sounds to the ' mildly pleasing strain '
of the ' warbling lute/ and the sweet moan of
the recorder or flute h bee.
The harpsichord was largely used in public.
6
The Harpsichord described
It was the constant support to the recitative
secco during the time of Handel and Bach.
How well it served its purpose is strikingly
illustrated by the fact that the earliest harpsi-
chord of Shudi's known, made almost im-
mediately after he began business on his own
account, viz. in 1729, and which will be fully
described later on, is still in use. Herr Paul de
Wit, writing from Leipzig in November 1911,
says : ' It has a most wonderful singing and
carrying tone as one can realise, for it is regularly
used to accompany the secco recitative in
Don Giovanni and Figaro in the big theatre
that holds two thousand/ Also on the iyth
April 1912 he further writes : ' The instrument
is now at the Deutsches Theatre in Berlin, where
it is used every evening for the representation of
George Dandin by the Reinhardt ensemble. It
has a wonderful tone, filling the whole room of
the theatre/
The last occasion on which the harpsichord
was used in public, which the writer has been
able to find, was at the rehearsal of the King's
birthday ode at St. James's Palace on 4th June
7
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
1795. The King's band was a conservative
institution, and would be likely to retain it as
long as possible. Year by year a harpsichord
was sent, so the books of Shudi and Broadwood
record, for rehearsal and performance, but in
1795 a harpsichord was sent for the rehearsal
and a grand piano for the performance. Always
afterwards a grand piano is sent, ceasing in
1810.
The earliest pianos were of rectangular shape,
afterwards called ' squares/ Although they
rapidly found favour and quickly displaced the
spinet, it was really the grand piano which
effaced the harpsichord. Where the piano was
for a long while is shown by an entry on I2th
May 1781, when dementi left London for a
series of concerts, beginning at Paris. 'A
harpsichord and a pianoforte shipped to Paris
for Mr. dementi/ The harpsichord was un-
doubtedly the solo instrument, and the piano
must have been a small square, for the term
' grand ' does not come into use before 1790, and
the few that were made previous to this were
always called ' large pianofortes/ dementi's
8
The Harpsichord described
piano was sent to be used for accompaniment
only, as in 1767, when at the performance of the
Beggar's Opera at Covent Garden, Mr. Dibdin
accompanied Miss Brickler ' on a new instru-
ment call'd pianoforte/
When we turn to the use of the harpsichord
in private, we can only conclude that its employ-
ment was very limited. Here our compassion
is not wasted. The great length and tenuity
of the strings kept it constantly out of tune,
and the octave string made matters worse.
Tuning contracts were by the quarter. A
guinea was paid, and although the number of
visits is not stated they were probably not less
than six. Even this was not enough for some.
On 7th April 1772 ' Mr. Ward paid his bill and
agread to have his Harpd. tuned every week for
2s. 6d., the 7th being the first time/ £6, los. a
year for tuning, bearing in mind the relative
value of money, was a good round sum to pay,
in addition to which was constant requilling
and regulating. Only a small part of each
crow-quill was of service, and the consumption
of them must have been enormous. One firm
9
^ the Harpsichord Maker
orders ' 8000 crow-quills at IDS. 6d. per 1000.'
The full length of a double harpsichord was
8 ft. 10 in., and the cost with Venetian swell was
85 guineas, at the time when the annual rental
of the mansion at Hyde Park Corner, where
St. George's Hospital now stands, was £60 per
annum. Evidence as to the actual number of
harpsichords made is given by the fact that
Burkat Shudi and his son numbered their
harpsichords consecutively, and we learn from
this that during the whole of their career they
did not make more than twelve hundred.
Yet their successors from 1782 to 1802 made
no less than seven thousand square pianos and
over a thousand grands. The lifelong com-
petitors of the Shudis, the Kirchmanns, may
have made more harpsichords, but as they did
not number them we have no means of telling.
The story told by Burney in Rees's Cyclopedia
of the distress of Jacob Kirchmann at the ladies
forsaking the harpsichord for the guitar is
amusing. He says : ' The vogue of the guitar
was so great among all ranks of people as
nearly to break all the harpsichord and spinet-
10
The Harpsichord described
makers, and indeed the harpsichord masters
themselves. All the ladies disposed of their
harpsichords at auctions for one-third of their
price, or exchanged them for guitars, till old
Kirchmann, the harpsichord-maker, after almost
ruining himself with buying in his instruments
for better times, purchased likewise some cheap
guitars and made a present of several to girls
in milliners' shops, and to ballad-singers in the
streets, whom he had taught to accompany
themselves with a few chords and triplets,
which soon made the ladies ashamed of their
frivolous and vulgar taste and return to the
harpsichord/
It would not be fair to close this brief account
of the English harpsichord without saying a
word concerning the singularly beautiful grand
piano which replaced it, an instrument as unlike
a modern grand as can well be imagined. The
writer possesses one of 1793 made by Shudi's
son-in-law, John Broadwood, which is numbered
521, and is exactly similar to the instrument
Joseph Haydn must have played upon in 1792
at his own and Madame Mara's concerts at
ii
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
Saloman's Rooms. The grands of this period
were made exactly on the lines of the harpsi-
chord, supported on a frame, and with the pedal
feet projecting from each front leg. The curve of
the bent side was even more elegant than that
of the harpsichord. The hammers were covered
with hard and thin wash leather to produce a
harpsichord tone. The loud pedal lifted the
dampers from the strings as now. Each note
had three strings, those in the bass being thick
brass wire only, and it was possible by means of
the soft pedal to shift the hammers not only on
to two strings, as in modern grands, but also
on to one only, which is not possible now. This
is the una corda, a sign found in the writings
of old composers, which has now become
meaningless. The sympathetic vibration of the
untouched strings produced a beautiful effect.
The rapid spread of the pianoforte and the
increasing demand for it even in the closing
years of the eighteenth century is remarkable.
America at this time was becoming a great
market for pianos, and the orders sent by one
John Bradford of Charleston, South Carolina,
12
The Harpsichord described
during these years are quite a revelation. It
was the custom for clients to write in the order-
book, which Shudi's son-in-law kept, their wishes,
and to this circumstance we owe the preserva-
tion of the following autograph entry, which is
copied verbatim. The tragic interest lately
attached to the name is sufficient excuse for
quoting it.
' 14 March 1795.
' GENTLEMEN, — Please to make me one of the
best Grant Pianofortes you Can. I Rely on
your Honor to let it be a good one. I wh to
have it Plain in every Respect and the case of
handsome wood, the Pelly may be screwed fast,
When Done call on Mr. George Astor for the
payment. I shall wish to have it shipd in July
or August by the ship Hope for New York or
any other good ship. — I am, Gentlemen, With
Respect, Yours, JOHN JACOB ASTOR.
'CITY COFFEE HOUSE,
' CHEAPSIDE.'
CHAPTER II
TSCHUDl's EARLY LIFE
cWj^-i ^:
BURCKHARDT TscHUDi or, as he afterwards
anglicised his name, Burkat Shudi, was born at
Schwanden in the canton of Glarus in Switzer-
land on the I3th March 1702. It is scarcely
possible to find a fairer valley in all Switzerland
than that in which Schwanden is situated,
surrounded as it is by snow-clad peaks and
watered by two rushing torrents, the Sernf and
the Linth. The locality is out of the beaten
track of tourists, and quite unknown to them.
The people to-day are described as extremely
diligent, honest, and unspoilt, educated to
citizenship from boyhood. Burckhardt's father,
Joshua, was a wool-merchant, a councillor, and
a surgeon. The house in which he was born
still stands, but is broken up into tenements, and
is a tinware factory. His mother was an Elmer,
a name which later on in 1735 figures among the
14
'Tschudfs Early Life
wadding-makers. Thanks to the extreme care
with which the death-rolls, church-books, and
other archives of Glarus are kept it is possible
to trace the Tschudis back through many
centuries. Much information concerning them
was published in the Jahrbuch des Historischen
Vereins des Glarus in 1899. A native of Glarus
and connection of the Tschudis, Professor
Blumer, compiled a genealogical tree, which he
carries back to Johann, Mayor of Glarus, born
about 870, and establishes that Heinrich, born
1074, died 1149, made Feodary of Glarus by
Lady Gutta, Abbess of Seckingen, was the first
to adopt the name of Schudi (sic). It would be
outside the scope of this memoir to dwell upon
the ancestry of Burckhardt Tschudi, or to
describe the important oinces held by members
of the family, and the high position they always
had in their lovely native valley. Their char-
acter was of the sternest and most uncompromis-
ing mould. Industry, skilfulness, and the power
to succeed and excel, even when fortune frowned,
seem always to have been characteristics of the
Tschudis, and to have come as naturally to them
15
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
as the free mountain air they breathed. Their
place in Europe no doubt nurtured these
qualities. A living descendant of Tschudi's
writes : l His uncompromising disposition was
a race characteristic, bred of the many centuries'
long struggle against Austria's encroachments,
and the severe climate of Glarus. Through all
their history, carefully chronicled like that of
other leading Swiss families, can be traced the
Tschudi dogged determination to overcome
difficulties and maintain their independence.
This Swiss spirit impressed even Buonaparte,
so that when under the convention he was
dividing up Europe he neutralised their federa-
tion and granted a continuation of local self-
government to Glarus and the adjoining cantons.
Also the Tschudis never forgot that their origin
was as old and noble as the Hapsburgs whom
they withstood/
Young Burckhardt was taught the trade of
the joiner, and must have begun early, for he
left his native valley, never to return, at the
age of sixteen. He was taught the trade by
his uncle, also a Joshua, who is described as
16
*Tscbudi*$ Early Life
' Schreinermeister Leutnant und Schiitzen-
meister im grossen Miihlehaus in Schwanden/
It would probably be more correct to call the
trade he learnt cabinet-making. Glarus, especi-
ally Schwanden, provided slates in wooden
frames for almost the whole of Europe, and also
made wooden cabinets and tables with fine
polished slate tops, and other slate articles which
were exported everywhere. These slate tables,
beautifully framed in wood, were made largely
for inns, and are still to be found in use. Slates
for writing purposes formed also one of the
joinery industries of Schwanden. In addition,
there was a large exportation of the more
beautiful woods in thd seventeenth century.
The age of oak for furniture was passing away,
and walnut, cherry, hornbeam, and pine are
particularised, in addition to which finely-cut
wood for musical instruments is mentioned,
this being called ' Geigenspelten ' (fiddle-boards) .
This was probably the wood of the spruce-fir
(abies excelsa), chosen for its lightness and
resonance to-day as the sounding-board wood
for the modern piano. The violin-makers of
B 17
) the Harpsichord Maker
Cremona may have drawn their wood from
Schwanden, and the great Antwerp harpsichord-
makers of the seventeenth century most likely
did the same.
But the early years of the eighteenth century
brought bad times to Schwanden. The wood
in Glarus began to run short. The slate workers
in many cases turned wood-merchants, and
travelled to distant parts for their finer woods,
which they cut up where they found it and sent
it to England. In the second decade of the
century the deforestation had become so serious
that the Cantonal Parliament resolved that for
ten years in no community or parish might wood
be sold outside the country. It is also recorded
that ' Timber trade is not so flourishing as in
j£_
former times. Maser-holz is not so easy to
find, and the English have imported from
Canada a wood that is better liked. Also
the prevailing fashion of panelled cup-
boards and whole rooms (using walnut) has
decayed.'
The distress was great, and the joiners or
cabinet-makers suffered most. It is no small
18
s Early Life
tribute to the courage and indomitable persever-
ance of the Glarus folk to add that foreseeing
greater misery in store they turned their talents
to cotton-weaving. One of the first to set up
a loom was Burckhardt Tschudi's father. The
loom grew to many until the trade was so
important that up to a hundred years ago
Glarus sent cotton goods all over the world.
Competition has robbed this industry of some
of its importance, but to this day quantities
of ' Oriental ' patterned goods still go from
Schwanden to the East.
It is not hard, after all that has been said, to
understand why the young joiner, Burckhardt
Tschudi, decided to leave his much-loved native
valley and seek his living elsewhere. What it
cost him to do so can well be imagined. But
there was a special reason for his choosing
London. The church -books of Schwanden
contain entries concerning another well-known
Glarus family, the Wilds, who were directly
descended from Anna, sister of the reformer
Zwingli. Amongst them are the following :
' Church-elder, Joh. Wild, 1694-1756, dwelt
19
Harpsichord Maker
many years in London, succeeded in his pro-
fession, and made a very good fortune,' also
' Merchant Hans Jakob Wild, 1674-1741, lived
many years in London and died in the house
of his son-in-law, the clavier-maker, Burckhardt
Tschudi.' Further particulars of their callings
are not given, but it is fair to assume they were
among those who left Schwanden in the early
days of the distress and in advance of Burck-
hardt. Jakob Wild's wife was Salome Kubli, and
it was their daughter Catherine, born 1704, that
Burckhardt married. It is not known when
Jakob Wild left Schwanden. It may not have
been very long before Burckhardt's departure.
He indeed and Catherine perhaps played to-
gether as children in the Glarus valley, and the
thought of meeting her again may have made
his migration less hard to bear. Though
Burckhardt did not return to Schwanden he did
not forget it, nor was he forgotten. The Glarus
Zeitung says : ' His native village honoured him
by choosing him as Father of the Church, though
he always lived in London. He acquired a
large fortune, but more than this was the
20
s Early Life
faithful love and honour he paid his parents.
for whom he provided in their declining
years/ It is not clear if this refers to Burck-
hardt's own parents or to Jakob and Salome
Wild. Probably both are meant. The last-
named certainly died in Tschudi's house in
London.
Arrived in London young Tschudi obtained
work in the house of one Tabel, a Flemish
harpsichord-maker working in London in
Swallow Street, St. James's. It was, naturally,
in such a business that his skill in fine joinery
work would be best employed. His nephew, later
on, in an advertisement he sent forth, says :
' Harpsichord makers must be joiners and is
the cofnon course of our business.' Concerning
this Tabel scarcely anything is known. It is Dr.
Burney who tells us Tschudi went to him, and
James Tsehudi. Broadwood, writing in 1838,
gives us the important information that Tabel
had learned his business in the house of the
successor of the Ruckers of Antwerp. He also
adds that Tabel, it is believed, was the first
person who made harpsichords in London. This
21
) the Harpsichord Maker
latter statement can hardly be true. Pepys,
recording his visit in 1666 to the spinet-maker
Haward, says he had ' a mind to a small harpsi-
con,' which looks very much as if Haward were
making them at this time. There is besides a
harpsichord by John Hitchcock, also a spinet-
maker, at the South Kensington Museum, and
although Hitchcock's date is not known it can
hardly have been later than the closing years of
the seventeenth century. But that there was
very little harpsichord-making in England before
the days of the great manufacturers, Tschudi and
Kirchmann, is certain. Though known here in
the sixteenth century the instrument was im-
ported from Italy, the land of its birth, and in
the next century almost entirely from Antwerp.
From 1579 and onwards for about one hundred
years there flourished at Antwerp four genera-
tions of harpsichord - makers of the famous
family of the Ruckers. No other instruments
ever approached theirs for their sweet silvery
tone and beauty of workmanship as well as
durability. They were quite unlike the English
instruments. The cases were usually japanned.
22
T'schudPs Early Life
The sounding-board was ornamented with a
rose-hole and painted with flowers, while the
rest of the interior was decorated with a lovely
shade of red. Often the lid was painted inside
by some master painter, or else inscribed with
mottoes. One by Andries Ruckers, the elder,
dated 1614, has a painting by Van der Meulen
within the top. One purchased by the private
secretary of Charles i. for that monarch by
Hans Ruckers, the younger, was painted inside
by Rubens, the subject being Cupid and Psyche.
Owing to the high artistic character of their work
the Ruckers belonged to the Guild of St. Luke,
the Painters' Guild. The last of the Ruckers
passed away long before the seventeenth century
had closed. Yet their instruments remained in
use for more than a century after and were
highly prized. As late as 1770 one fetched the
enormous price, at that time, of £120, and as late
as 1820 one Preston, a music-dealer in the Strand,
had one made by Hans Ruckers, the elder, whi ch
was bought at the demolition of Nonsuch Palace,
and was said to have been Queen Elizabeth's.
When the outer case decayed, or grew shabby,
23
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
and the keys were worn through, it was the
custom to have them entirely recased in
mahogany, ornamented with stringing, accord-
ing to the fashion of the time. New keys were
put and little was retained save the interior
bracing, and the precious sounding-board on
which their marvellous tone depended. As late
as 1772 Tschudi had two Ruckers harpsichords
in constant use, and his books contain such
entries as these : ' Mr. Lee had the Ruker for one
night/ ' Miss Fleming hired the little Ruker.'
( Duchess of Richmond had a new double harpsi-
chord instead of a Ruker for hire.' ' Lady
Pembroke hired the little Ruker for Bright-
hampstone.' ' Lady Cathren Murray hired the
little Ruker harpsichord.' These instruments
must have been considerably more than one
hundred years old at the date of the entries.
Over sixty Ruckers harpsichords are in exist-
ence at the present time.
Who succeeded the Ruckers is not known.
Probably the great Antwerp manufacture
ceased before the end of the century, and Tabel,
with whom we are more intimately concerned,
24
Tscbudfs Early Life
somewhere about 1700 settled in London. It is re-
corded in 1777 that 'Lady Howe bought a second-
hand harpsichord by Table' (sic), a solitary
instance of the mention of the name. Fortun-
ately there is one specimen of his handiwork in
existence, in possession of Helen, Countess of
Radnor. A glance at it shows from whom he
learned his business. His name is inscribed, just
as Andries Ruckers did, in Roman capitals
three quarters of an inch long : ' Hermanns
Tabel, Fecit, Londini 1721.' There is a rose-hole
in the sounding-board. The naturals are black,
and the sharps veneered with a slip of ivory at
top. The stops are two on each side, lute and
octave, and first and second unison. The
cabinet-work is excellent, and in it young
Tschudi may have had a hand. Tabel lived till
1738, and his will was proved early the following
year. He mentions a brother in Amsterdam
and his wife, to whom, after a few pecuniary
bequests, he bequeaths the residue of his
estate.
Not only was Tschudi employed by Tabel but
also his competitor Kirchmann. Burney calls
25
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
them Tabel's foremen, but he is far from
accurate, for he says Kirchmann did not come
to London till 1740, which was two years
after Tabel's death. He must have been some
time previous to this in Tabel's employ, seeing
that, according to the same authority, he
succeeded to the business and married the
widow. The story as told in Rees's Cyclopedia
runs as follows : ' Kirchmann worked with the
celebrated Tabel as his foreman and finisher
till the time of his death. Soon after which, by
a curious kind of courtship, Kirchmann married
his master's widow, by which prudent measure
he became possessed of all Tabel's seasoned
wood, tools, and stock-in-trade. Kirchmann
himself used to relate the singular manner in
which he gained the widow, which was not by
a regular siege but by storm. He told her one
fine morning at breakfast that he was determined
to be married that day before twelve o'clock.
Mrs. Tabel, in great surprise, asked him to whom
he was going to be married, and why so soon ?
The finisher told her that he had not yet deter-
mined whom he should marry, and that if she
26
^s Early Life
would have him he would give her the prefer-
ence. The lady wondered at his precipitancy*
hesitated full half an hour, but he, continuing
to swear that the business must be done before
twelve o'clock that day, at length she sur-
rendered; and as this abridged courtship pre-
ceded the marriage act, and the nuptials could
be performed at the Fleet or May Fair with-
out loss of time or hindrance to business, the
canonical hour was saved, and two fond hearts
were in one united in the most summary way
possible just one month after the decease of
Tabel/
Kirchmann did not continue Tabel's business,
but set up independently in Broad Street, and
in his harpsichords retained the rose-hole in the
sounding-board, which Tschudi did not. He
adopted as his sign the King's Arms. The King
and the Prince of Wales were notoriously un-
friendly, and as Tschudi adopted for his sign
the Plume of Feathers we note in these signs the
difference of patronage. It was long supposed
that Tschudi commenced business for himself
in Great Pulteney Street, and the traditional
27
, the Harpsichord Maker
date is 1732. It cannot have been so, for his
earliest harpsichord known is dated 1729, and
it certainly was not the first. Nor did he begin
in Pulteney Street but in Heard Street. It is
a striking testimony to the ability of this
Schwanden joiner that probably by the time
he was twenty-five he had become a skilled
harpsichord-maker, and was working on his own
account. The fine early eighteenth-century
houses on the south side of Meard Street still
retain much of their ancient respectability,
and lest they should ere long take their place
among vanishing London a photograph has
been taken of them. In one of these houses
Tschudi began his career of prosperity. Here
it was that Handel so often came, and it was not
till Jakob Wild, his father-in-law, had died in
1741 that he removed. The Daily Advertiser
of 5th October 1742 contains the following
advertisement : ' This is to give notice that
Burkat Shudi, Harpsichord-maker to his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales, is removed from
Meard St. in Dean St., Soho, to Great Pulteney
St., Golden Square.'
28
MEARD STREET, SOHO
*I*schud?$ Early Life
The house in Great Pulteney Street has been
rebuilt within the last few years. That in
Heard Street still stands, although the exact
house is not known.
29
CHAPTER III
TSCHUDI AND HANDEL
IN mentioning the removal of Tschudi from
Heard Street to Great Pulteney Street we
anticipate events and must return. Tschudi's
marriage to Catherine Wild was an important
time in his life. Unfortunately the date of the
marriage is not known, and careful search for it
in the registers of St. James's and St. Anne's
has not been successful. It has been fixed as
early as 1728 and as late as 1732. Somewhere
between those dates it took place. If the earlier
date it would agree very well with the time of his
quitting Tabel, and commencing for himself the
manufacture of harpsichords. It is also not
certain if he began in Meard Street. The
probability is strong that he did; and if doubt is
entertained that a young man of some twenty-
five or twenty-six years should be able to take a
good house in a respectable quarter, it must be
30
•
^fschudi and Handel
borne in mind that Jakob and Salome Wild
were prosperous people, and Tschudi's marriage
with Catherine may have brought the means
to start him on his successful career. The
Wilds lived in Heard Street with Tschudi, as
we have seen, and it was not till Jakob had
died in 1741 that Tschudi removed. The end
house which faces Dean Street is dated 1732,
but the rest of the street may be a few years
earlier.
The most important factor in Tschudi's
success was his friendship with Handel. Accord-
ing to Tschudi's grandson, Handel was a con-
stant guest at his table, which was ever well
covered with German dishes and German wines.
How this friendship came about is not clear.
It began before Tschudi had gained any great
repute at his trade. There must have been
quite a Swiss circle at Soho when Handel came
to London for the second time in 1718. We
read in the chronicles of Schwanden of Hans
B. Zopfi, ' Claviercordmacher/ who died in
London in 1750, of whom absolutely nothing is
known; of a picture-frame-maker, Stahelin,
31
<Tschudi,tht Harpsichord Maker
dying also in London in 1739 ; and in 1753
Samuel Blumer, member of another well-known
Glarus family, calls himself ' late foreman to
Mr. Shudi.' For three years Handel was chapel-
master to the Duke of Chandos and lived at
Cannons. In the year 1729 he entered into
partnership with Heidegger of the King's Theatre,
and in the same year set out for Italy for singers
for his new operas. Amongst those he brought
back was Anna Strada del P6, who was the only
one who remained faithful to him, and did not
desert him for the rival new opera in Lincoln's
Inn in 1733. Burney calls her a coarse singer
with a fine voice. She had so little to recom-
mend her to the eye that she was nicknamed
' the pig/ and it took her some time to get into
favour. Handel took pains with her, wrote for
her, and advised her, and at length rendered
her equal to the first singers of the Continent.
She did more to make Handel a national
favourite than any other singers, though he
had the pick of them. On 3ist March 1730 a
benefit was given for Anna Strada, attended by
His Majesty, when Julius Ccesar was the opera.
32
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR ANNA STRADA
*fschudi and Handel
Throughout that year she grew steadily in
powers and favour as a singer. She left finally
in 1738.
Some six or seven years ago Herr Paul de
Wit of Leipzig purchased in Rome a fine
double harpsichord, which has already been
referred to in the opening chapter, bearing the
inscription : ' Burckat Tschudi, Londini, fecit
1729.' It is in every respect a replica of the
only Tabel harpsichord known. The name is
in Roman capitals three quarters of an inch
long in Ruckers* style. The ' furniture/ i.e. the
brasswork of the stops, hinges, catches, etc., is
Tabel's, and the keyboards are the same, the
naturals being black and the sharps veneered
atop with ivory. The stops also are four, lute
and octave, and first and second unison. As
an early work of Tschudi's, showing clearly
that he was hardly emancipated from the
atelier of Tabel, this instrument would be
interesting, but there is more about it than
this. On removing the name-board the follow-
ing inscription is seen at the back : ' Questo
cimbalo e dela Sigra Anna Strada 1731, London/
c 33
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
Here, undoubtedly, is an instrument made by
Tschudi in 1729, and becoming the property of
Anna Strada in 1731. Who but Handel could
have given it to her ? To this very instrument
she must have sung, and on it Handel must have
accompanied her. The date associated with
Strada's name is the year when she had gained
popularity. One pictures Handel in Heard
Street choosing it or superintending its manu-
facture, and it probably figured in her benefit
at the King's Theatre.
The mention of a harpsichord so authentically
connected with Handel leads us to the con-
sideration of the vexed question of the harpsi-
chords which are said to have been his. Handel
bequeathed to his amanuensis, Christopher
Smith, all his MSS. ; and Smith, out of gratitude
to the King for the pension allowed him after
Handel's death, gave them to George in. With
the MSS. Handel also left Smith his 'large'
harpsichord, which Smith in turn is said to have
given to the King with the MSS. There are two
claimants to the honour of being the harpsichord
which became Smith's. The first is an Andries
34
*fschudi and Handel
Ruckers, dated 1651, and now in the South
Kensington Museum, where the testimony con-
cerning it is also deposited. It is in the original
japanned case, and the interior of the lid is
inscribed with mottoes. In the year 1883,
however, there was discovered in Windsor
Castle a wrecked harpsichord of Joannes
Ruckers, dated 1612, which was brought to the
notice of Mr. W. G. Cusins (afterwards Sir
William Cusins). In arranging and cataloguing
the Loan Exhibition of Ancient Instruments
at Albert Hall in 1885 this harpsichord passed
through the writer's hands, and at his suggestion
sets of keys were made for it to improve its
appearance. The original case and keyboards
were gone, and but little remained except the
sounding-board and name. Having been found
at Windsor Castle it was exhibited with a notice
that it ' may have been the large harpsichord
mentioned in Handel's will bequeathed to
Christopher Smith and given by him to the
King.' At the present time it is on loan at
the Victoria and Albert Museum, with a label
attached that it was ' bequeathed by Handel to
35
) the Harpsichord Maker
George n.' The statement in the Times that
the ' keys, jacks, and stops are of modern make '
is not correct. Jacks and stops (the knobs only
are gone) are original. The date of the double
keyboard has already been mentioned. To
any one familiar with the terms used in the
eighteenth century neither of these instruments
answer to the description ' large harpsichord/
The English harpsichords of this time were from
eight to nine feet long, and the Ruckers harpsi-
chords, averaging some seven feet, were called
' little.' It is far more probable that it was a
Shudi which has now been lost sight of, though
Handel may in addition have had a Ruckers,
seeing that Shudi had them in stock. The
discussion may be closed in the words of one of
the greatest musicologists of the Victorian age,
the late Carl Engel. Speaking of a little
clavichord in the Town Museum of Maidstone,
said to have belonged to Handel, Engel writes
in the Musical Times for August 1879 : ' If I
were to give a list of all the musical instruments
said to have belonged to Handel, which have
been brought under my notice, I should probably
36
Tschudi and Handel
surprise the reader. Not only would it in-
clude organs, fiddles, and harpsichords, but
even various tuning-forks, and the very
anvil of the famous Harmonious Blacksmith.
Indeed, no other list of this kind which I
might compile would surpass it in compre-
hensiveness, unless it be a list of the harps
and guitars said to have belonged to Queen
Marie Antoinette/
The finest portrait of Handel in existence is
that by Philip Mercier, in possession of the
Earl of Malmesbury. Mercier was a German
painter of French extraction, and came to
England from Hanover with Frederick, Prince
of Wales, the son of George u. and father of
George in., whose portrait he painted and
brought with him. Handel's portrait has on
the back of the canvas the following inscription :
* Portrait of Mr. Handel given by him to
Thomas Harris, Esquire, about 1748.' It was
probably painted a little earlier, at the time
when he had recovered from his bankruptcy of
1745, and when his health and his fortunes
had taken a turn for the better ; for we read in
37
) the Harpsichord Maker
the Letters of the First Earl of Malmesbury that
Lord Shaftesbury reports him in 1746 as never
looking so cool and well, and says that he had
been buying some fine pictures. Thomas Harris
was the brother of James Harris, who became
first Earl of Malmesbury. The more gifted of
the two undoubtedly was the elder brother
James, known in the brilliant literary circle in
which he moved as ' Hermes ' ; but Thomas was
equally fond of music, and it is evident was
among those who formed the inner circle of
Handel's friends. It is ' Councillor ' Thomas
Harris who witnessed Handel's will and the
first three codicils. In the last codicil he
becomes a beneficiary by a legacy of £300.
In the picture the composer is seen hard at
work, his wig laid aside and his shirt un-
buttoned, while his harpsichord is open at his
side. Through the kindness of the present
Earl of Malmesbury the picture is here for the
first time faithfully reproduced with its acces-
sories. The harpsichord, evidently painted from
one at which Handel actually sat, is extremely
interesting. It is not a Ruckers but an English
38
*Tfchudi and Handel
instrument of the least expensive make. It is
* single/ that is, having only one row of keys,
and as only one stop is shown on the left-hand
side, there could have been only three in all —
octave, first unison, and second unison. But
the keyboard is the most noticeable. The
black sharps are inlaid with a white slip, which
was the custom of both John and Thomas
Hitchcock, and was imitated by several other
English makers. That Shudi occasionally
adopted this form of keyboard is known, for
the two harpsichords of 1766 by him, so long
preserved in the apartments of Frederick the
Great in the New Palace at Potsdam and now
in the Hohenzollern Museum at the Palace of
Monbijou in Berlin, have such keyboards.
The harpsichord therefore shown in the Mercier
portrait may well have been one of Shudi's.
Several of Handel's MSS. accompanied the gift
of the picture to Thomas Harris and are pre-
served at Heron Court.
We have reverted to the anglicised form of
writing Shudi's name, because it was his custom
so to inscribe his instruments after the time of the
39
, the Harpsichord Maker
Strada harpsichord, with the single exception
of the two just mentioned which went to
Frederick the Great. Yet his calligraphy was
always German, as will be seen by the autograph
here reproduced, which was found underneath
the sounding-board of a harpsichord of 1761.
One result of Handel's connection with Shudi
was his introduction to Frederick, Prince of
Wales, which entitled him to use the crest of
the Plume of Feathers as the sign of his house
when he removed to Great Pulteney Street.
To it we also owe the preservation of another
early harpsichord made for the Prince in 1740
and sent to Kew Palace. It is now at Windsor
Castle, and was exhibited at the Loan Collection
at Albert Hall in 1885. It is a double harpsi-
chord, not large in size, and has the lute stop.
On the first key Shudi wrote : ' No. 94, f. 1740.'
The number gives us some idea of Shudi's
trade. He had now been making twelve years,
and this works out at an average of about
eight a year. In the height of his career he
never made more than sixteen or eighteen
per annum. It was not long after the date
40
Tschudi and Handel
of the Prince of Wales's harpsichord that
Shudi, owing no doubt to increased patronage,
removed to the wider and more fashionable
street close by named after Queen Anne's Prime
Minister.
CHAPTER IV
SHUDI AND FREDERICK THE GREAT
NOT very long after Shudi's establishment in
Pulteney Street was painted the picture of
himself and family, which is fairly well known
through forming the frontispiece to Dr. Rim-
bault's History of the Pianoforte, although the
reproduction there given does not do justice
to the excellence of the painting. Shudi is
engaged in tuning a harpsichord, which is placed
on a richly gilt stand, and is evidently something
out of the way. He wears a flowing dressing-
gown. His wife, Catherine Wild, takes her
tea, and the two young boys stand near. The
attire of all the family and their surroundings
betokens a prosperous man. It was painted so
as to fill a space in the panelling over the fire-
place in the little front parlour of Shudi's house
in Pulteney Street, and there it remained until
some fifty years ago. Unfortunately the name
42
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR FREDERICK THE GREAT. No. 511
Shudi and Frederick the Great
of the painter is not known, and speculation has
been rife. It was attributed by Sir John Millais
to Zoffany, on account of its conversational
style, but it does not resemble Zoffany's work.
It was exhibited in 1892 at the Winter Exhi-
bition at Burlington House. The Times- critic,
after speaking in its praise, says : ' It is curious
that the record of the painter's name should be
lost. Certainly Hogarth did not paint it, and
it is so much finer in execution than the con-
versation pieces of his English contemporaries,
that we are inclined to look abroad among
Shudi's foreign countrymen for the artist.
The drawing and modelling are admirable —
but in the colouring there is something crude
and hard, which recalls the German work of the
period.' Remembering the intimate connection
between Philip Mercier and both Handel and
the Prince of Wales, as well as Shudi's relations
with both, one naturally looks to this painter as
the author of the picture. Unluckily Mercier 's
work is rare and scattered, and although the
authorities at the National Portrait Gallery
dismiss him from the reckoning their judgment
43
) the Harpsichord Maker
can by no means be considered as final. It
certainly does not resemble the small Watteau-
like group of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and
the three princesses, painted in 1733, which is in
that gallery. But at a later period Mercier had
a bolder and larger style, to which the Shudi
picture belongs. Its resemblance to the portrait
of Handel just described is very striking.
Both pictures are of the same period, and are
far removed from Mercier's earlier French
manner. It would seem as if Mercier
adopted this style when he lost the favour
of the Prince of Wales and was dismissed his
service.
The picture was painted about 1744. This
is gathered from the age of the two boys. The
elder, Joshua, was eight and the younger, Burkat,
a year or two younger. According to a family
tradition the harpsichord Shudi is tuning is
one of which he made a present to Frederick
the Great on the occasion of his winning the
battle of Prague, which was fought in the above
year. Shudi was a stout supporter of the
Protestant cause in Germany, and the King of
44
HARPSICHORD MADE FOR FREDERICK THE GREAT. No. 512
Shudi and Frederick the Great
Prussia was then supposed to be fighting its
battles. Evidence of Shudi's connection with
the great Frederick is given by the fact that he
possessed a ring which was given to him by that
monarch, bearing his portrait. It is mentioned
in Shudi's will, and he bequeaths it to his friend
and compatriot the organ - builder Snetzler.
This highly-prized ring cannot now be found.
There is no trace of any harpsichord in Germany
so early as the date referred to. If one went, it
could hardly have been lost sight of, remember-
ing the great care with which all the possessions
of Frederick were preserved. It is also strange
that in 1766 not one, but two, fine double harpsi-
chords specially made should have been sent
him, which were preserved with other heirlooms
and memorabilia of Potsdam in the rooms
where they were first placed, up to within the
last few years. The late A. J. Hipkins got over
the difficulty by suggesting that the two last-
named harpsichords were a royal commission
which was given to Shudi to execute as the
result of his gift some twenty years earlier, and
he believed in the ' battle of Prague ' harpsi-
45
Tscbudi, the Harpsichord Maker
chord being sent, though he could find no trace
of it. Such documentary evidence as we have
speaks of one harpsichord only, and gives the
date as 1765. Thus, the Swiss lexicon, published
at Zurich in 1795, says : ' From the Schwanden
branch also descended Burckhardt, a poor
journeyman cabinet-maker, who came to
England, and became famous at the Court in
London as a harpsichord-maker. Among other
beautiful things, he made for the King of
Prussia in 1765 an elegant harpsichord, with
two manuals. Burckhardt Tschudi married in
London, where he died in 1773.'
Again the Allgemeine Augsburger Zeitung of
1765 says : ' The celebrated Klaviermacher,
Burckhardt Tschudi, a born Swiss of Schwanden
in the canton Glarus, had the honour to make a
harpsichord with two keyboards for His Majesty
the King of Prussia, which was very much
admired by all who saw it. It was remarked as
an extraordinary thing that Tschudi has placed
all the registers in one pedal, so that they can be
taken off one after the other, and the decreasing
and increasing of the tone can be produced at
HINGES OF ONE OF THE HARPSICHORDS MADE FOR
FREDERICK THE GREAT
Sbudi and Frederick the Great
will, which crescendo and decrescendo harpsi-
chord-players have long wished for.'
This description may be taken to mean the
control of the side or machine stop by the foot,
and the crescendo and decrescendo referred to
the Venetian swell which was applied to the
Potsdam harpsichords of 1766, though the
patent for this invention was not taken out till
1769. The article further goes on to mention
that ' Tschudi was proud to have his royal
harpsichord played upon for the first time by
the most celebrated player of the world, the
nine-year-old music-master Wolfgang Mozart.'
The contrivances which are said to have been
so much admired were new to Germany, and a
great advance on the capabilities of the instru-
ments in use in that country at the time.
It is to be noted that both these accounts
refer to one harpsichord only. They, however,
can only be based on the two harpsichords of
1766, which may have been made early that year,
or possibly dated a little in advance. It is
curious that the writer on applying to a friend
in Berlin for the latest information concerning
47
) the Harpsichord Maker
these instruments, which he was unaware had
been removed from Potsdam, received the follow-
ing reply : ' I am informed that a Tschudi
harpsichord of the year 1766 from one of the
Royal Castles is now at the Hohenzollern
Museum in Berlin. It is the harpsichord which
I believe was presented by Tschudi to King
Frederick the Great after the peace with Austria/
Owing to the kindness of Dr. Seidel, the
director of the Hohenzollern Museum, photo-
graphs have been taken of the two harpsichords
in question. Both were made and sent together,
for they are consecutive numbers, 511 and 512.
The pattern of the ' furniture ' of both is the
same. The keyboards are of the beautiful
Hitchcock style, the sharps being inlaid with
a slip of ivory. They have the full number of
stops — machine, lute, octave, buff, first unison
and second unison, and the Venetian swell was
applied. Full directions for the working of
these stops are given on No. 511, showing how
novel the improvements were.
Shudi's books of this time are not in exist-
ence, nor does there appear to be any record
^ x ^>,V^
\W v\ ^ *
. * * . , > -
Shudi and Frederick the Great
at Berlin of their coming into the country.
Here, however, are two fine and carefully
constructed harpsichords made by Shudi in the
zenith of his career, made certainly for Frederick
the Great, when he had nearly completed the
Neues Palais at Potsdam, and according to
Burney placed the one in the apartments of
his sister the Princess Amelia and the other in
that of his brother Prince Henry. Burney
describes only the first one, No. 511, on oxidised
silver legs. Both are inscribed 'Burckhardt
Tschudi, fecit, Londini, 1766,' though he had
long since called himself Shudi, and both may
now be seen together in the Hohenzollern
Museum.
49
CHAPTER V
SHUDI AND HIS APPRENTICES
OF those who helped Shudi in his business
there is but little known. Burney is our inform-
ant that Johann Zumpe was one of his men.
If so it must have been not much later than
the middle of the eighteenth century, for in the
•early sixties of that century Zumpe had com-
menced making the small clavichord-like table
pianos, which rapidly became popular, attracting
to this country for their manufacture quite a
number of other Germans, such as Schoene,
Ganer, Pohlmann, Beck, Buntebart, Garcka,
Beyer, Froeschley, etc., traditionally known as
the twelve apostles, although more than that
number could be enumerated, many of whose
instruments are known, bearing dates from 1766
to 1780 and later. There is a bill-head existing
of one Samuel Blumer, who calls himself ' late
foreman to Mr. Shudi.' The date is given on
50
TSCHUDI S HOUSE IN GREAT PULTENEY STREET, SOHO
Shudi and his Apprentices
the back of the bill-head, which is a receipt for
£63, paid by Madam Alt for an upright harpsi-
chord on 22nd August 1753. At the top of the
bill-head is an engraving, which represents
Blumer engaged in tuning a harpsichord while
a lady and gentleman stand near. The whole
is an evident rechauffe of the picture of the
Shudi family group. Blumer styles himself
' Harpsichord and spinet maker in Great Poult-
eney Street, West Golden Square, London.'
It is curious he should have established himself
in the same street as his master, but their
relations were probably friendly. Blumer is
the name of an old Schwanden family still
living in that valley, and Samuel doubtless was
one of the joiners who were driven from home
by the distress, and found work and help through
the kindness of his fellow-countryman.
Better known than Blumer was Shudi's
nephew Joshua, between whom and his uncle
relations became very strained. Joshua came
from a quarrelsome stock. He was the son of
Nicholas Tschudi, Burckhardt's elder brother,
born in 1700, a serjeant-major of cavalry. On
T'schudi, the Harpsichord Maker
the I5th March 1742 Nicholas Tschudi and
Jakob Hefti, a butcher, of Schwanden, fought
together in the public-house of Rudolf Knecht.
Neither were wounded severely, but one Hans
Brauer, a dealer in cattle, who tried to separate
them, paid for his intervention with his life, and
died two hours after. Nicholas fled to England
and came to his brother Burckhardt, who
naturally did not welcome him very cordially.
Subsequently he went to Holland and finally
emigrated to America, where he died on loth
January 1760. Condemned for his crime to a
lifelong exile he never saw Schwanden after
leaving it. His son Joshua was born in 1739.
He may have been brought by his father to
Burckhardt as a young child, together with his
sister Anna Margarett, who afterwards married
Zopfi, the harpsichord-maker mentioned in
chap. in. It is known that Burckhardt dealt
kindly with Joshua, and apprenticed him to
the joinery trade, afterwards taking him into
his house as a harpsichord-maker. How Joshua
repaid this kindness is revealed by several
advertisements in the Gazeteer of 1767. Joshua
52
Shudi and his Apprentices
left his uncle's employment and set up business
for himself in the street at the end of that in
which Shudi lived, viz. Silver Street, Golden
Square, and adopted as his sign the Golden
Guitar; whereupon Burckhardt advertises that
he has no connection with Joshua, and throws a
slight upon his work by saying that he was only
a joiner, which, though excusable under the
circumstances, it must be owned was a little
unreasonable, seeing how his own career began.
Burckhardt also prides himself upon the fact
that his ' mistery ' had never been communi-
cated to any one. Joshua's advertisement in
reply is as follows :
' GAZETEER.
' Jan. I2th, 1767.
' Joshua Shudi, harpsichord maker, having
offered his services to the nobility and gentry in
a manner which he thought could not give the
least offence to his uncle, to whom he has been
a faithfull servant, and in quitting his service
had an undoubted right to make use of his
abilities for the support of himself and his
family, finds himself attacked in a most un-
53
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
generous manner, and expressions made use of
which have not the least foundation in truth.
He is sorry to expose any one, but is compelled
to speak of facts. His uncle did put him
apprentice in the manner he describes, but he
forgot to mention that he himself was brought
up in the same manner. Harpsichord makers
must be joiners, and is the comon course of
our business. I wish he had joined a little more
truth to his assertions, and then he would have
said that after my long service, my steady
application to business, and my care of his
interest in every respect would have induced
him to have kept his promise of taking me into
partnership as a reward, which his own con-
science must tell him I deserved, if he has any
conscience at all. What I assert I am ready to
give convincing proof of to any lady or gentle-
man who will do me the honour to apply to me
at my apartments at the Golden Guitar, in
Silver Street, Golden Square. I have now by
me harpsichords of my own making, which I
shall be glad the best judges will make trial of,
and desire no more favour than merit deserves.
54
Shudi and his Apprentices
Harpsichords repaired or finished, and as to
tuning, even my uncle allows me capable. If
he never comunicated his mistery, as he calls
it, to any one, what figure will his apprentices
make/
The use of the word ' mistery ' by Burckhardt
is interesting, and Joshua evidently does not
quite understand it. The late A. J. Hipkins
thought that the word was used in the sense of
something occult or mysterious, and suggested
that the secret which Burckhardt had never
communicated was the art of tuning in equal
temperament, the getting rid of the ' wolf '
at the end of the scale. This was already
known and practised at the time, for Emanuel
Bach expressed his preference for it. But the
old method of tuning was carried on in pianos
as late as 1846, and so long as Dr. Buck was
organist, the organ in Norwich Cathedral was
so tuned. Burckhardt, it will be noticed,
correctly spells the word 'mistery/ In in-
dentures the word came to be spelt ' mystery '
by confusion with the word with a different
55
T'schudi, the Harpsichord Maker
meaning. He means nothing more than his
' mistere ' or ' metier,' his art and craft. So
used the word had already become archaic, and
Joshua apparently does not quite see its
application.
Joshua Shudi died in 1774, and a year after,
in the Public Advertiser for i6th January 1775,
is another advertisement :
' HARPSICHORDS.
' Mary Shudi, of Berwick Street, St. James',
widow of Joshua Shudi, nephew and disciple of
the late celebrated Burkat Shudi, harpsichord
maker, takes the liberty to inform the nobility,
gentry, etc., that she has now by her, ready
to be disposed of on reasonable terms, a great
variety of exceeding fine toned single and double
harpsichords. To be seen and tried at her
house as above. N.B. — Mary Shudi solicits
the continuance of those favours the indulgent
public were pleased to confer on her late
husband ; and begs leave to assure them that
any order they may be pleased to honour her
with shall be pleasingly and carefully executed.
56
HARPSICHORD BY SHUDI AND BROADWOOD OF 1770
Shudi and his Apprentices
Instruments tuned in the most exact manner
on the shortest notice. A genteel first floor to
lett, with other conveniences/
The only harpsichord of Joshua Shudi's known
is dated 1776. The widow, therefore, must have
continued to use his name.
One reads between the lines of Joshua's
advertisement the sting of his remarks levelled
at his uncle's apprentices, and the cause of his
leaving Pulteney Street. Shudi had two sons,
the elder of whom, Joshua, died in 1754 at the
early age of eighteen. Burkat, the remaining
son, was brought up in the business and carried
on the name after his father's death, until the
harpsichord had ceased to be used. Not long
before the death of Joshua, the son of Burck-
hardt, there came to the house a young Scots-
man, born at Cockburnspath, who, as his
countrymen are wont, came to London to seek
his fortune. He was a cabinet-maker just out
of his time, and if report be true walked to
London with the proverbial half-crown in his
pocket. However this may be he was a young
57
'Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
man of genius and ability, who quickly rose in
his trade, and obtained the prize which the
nephew missed — a partnership with the elder
Shudi, afterwards continued with Burkat the
son. He further fulfilled the conditions of an
industrious apprentice by gaining the affections
of Shudi's only daughter Barbara, to whom he
was married in 1769. The same year was taken
out the patent for the Venetian swell already
referred to, ' so much admired by all lovers of
Musick/ and not long after was made the fine
double harpsichord in the writer's possession
which is inscribed : ' Burkat Shudi et Johannes
Broadwood, Londini, fecerunt 1770. No. 625.'
It was made for Dr. David Hartley, after whom
Hartley Coleridge was named, and was rescued
from a stable near Newbury in 1881. Strangely
enough a harpsichord made the following year,
No. 639, bears the name of Burkat Shudi only.
At her marriage Barbara, according to the
custom of the time, started a housekeeping
book. The entries in it belong principally to
the short seven years of married life, and are
mostly memoranda of personal matters mixed
58
Shudi and his Apprentices
up with some business details, showing a curious
mingling of trade and home life, which reads
strangely in our days. Barbara died in 1776,
and the entries which are hers are the sole
mementoes we have of this only daughter of
Shudi and Catherine Wild. For this reason a
few of them are worth quoting. The book
begins with a list of clothes and housekeeping
accounts of all sorts : A wax doll costs 2s. 6d.,
a pair of shoes 35. 8d., and a silk ' petecoate '
£i, 33. The various commodities she bought
were ' ryce, suggr, oyle, sellet, grins, fishe,
sellery, catshep, etc/ Pork and veal were 5d.
a lb., and so was backon ; tea, los. and 12s. a Ib.
She makes a memorandum that her father has
given her a ten-pound note, and then puts
down ' Lady Campbell, Lady Manners, Duk of
Argile/ which are orders for harpsichord- tuning.
It appears also to have been her duty to record
the various means of transport, and so she writes :
' The Atherston waggon setts out from the
Castle and Falcon, Aldergate Street, every
Wednesday morning early. The Stafford
waggon at do. every Tuesday morning. St.
59
^ the Harpsichord Maker
Neots wagg., Three Cups, Aldergate Street,
every Saturday at 12 o'clock M. Northampton
waggon, Windmill, St. John Street, Monday,
W. F. (Wednesday, Friday), and Saturday,
at 12 o'clock. Daventry and Northampton
waggon, the George, Smithfield, W., Sat. 3.
The Northampton waggon setts out from the
Ram, Smithfield, Tuesday, and arives at
Northampton on the Friday following, and setts
out again on Friday and arives at Northampton
Tuesday. The Stamford Hunts waggon goes
from the Castle and Falcon, Aldergate Street,
on Tuesday and Saturday morning at 10 o'clock,
and from the White Harte, St. John's Street,
on Tuesday, the goods to be taken the night
before. Bungay, Suffolk, setts out from the
Saracen's Head, Snow Hill, on Saturday even-
ings. Worcester waggon setts out from the
Bull and Mouth, Bull and Mouth Street, by
Smith., on Tuesday evening/
The entries about her servants are fairly
frequent : ' Ann Watson came to my service
I3th February, 1769, agreed £5 wages and tea/
Later comes ' July 13 th, agreed for to raise Ann
60
Shudi and his Apprentices
Watson's wages to £6 per ann., and a guinea for
tea and a half a crown per quarter for shoes.'
' June I2th, 1771, Ann Watson for 6 months'
wages due last April i3th, £3, do. for tea los. 6d.,
for cleaning of shoes, 53.' ' February i2th,
1772, Ann Davis came to my service, agreed £6
wages and her tea.' ' Ann Gibbard came to my
service, agreed £8, and to find herself tea, a
month's wages or a month's warning.' This is
the first time that this occurs. The following
October we find : ' received a quarter's wages,
due September i8th, £2.' Ann Gibbard appears
to have left on May 3rd, 1773, for we find ' reed,
contents in full and all demands for 8 months'
wages, £5,' and the signature ' Ann Gibbard/
Finally we have the record concerning Mar-
garet Panzetta, who stayed from 1774 until
after her mistress's death : ' Dec. 29th, 1774,
Margaret Panzetta came to my service, agreed for
the first year £6, ics. and to find herself tea.'
On the 2ist January 1775 she is paid one guinea
and two muslin handkerchiefs which are put
down at 75. Then follows : ' received for one
year and a quarter's wages 18 Nov. 1776 the sum
61
, the Harpsichord Maker
of £7, i8s. by me, Margaret! Panzetta.' The
final entry is : ' received on the I7th Feb. 1777
of John Broadwood the sum of £10, 6s. due to
me for n months' servitude, Margaretta Matilda
Panzetta.'
The book continues for a time after Barbara's
death, and becomes increasingly a record of
items paid. The small square pianos which had
then become popular were carried home by a
porter on his back, and the payments for such
service are frequent.
62
CHAPTER VI
SHUDI AND HIS PATRONS
IT is not difficult to realise the life that Shudi
led in Pulteney Street in the times of prosperity
that set in at his removal there, which continued
to his death in 1773, and were afterwards en-
joyed by his son. But we must dismiss from
our minds modern ideas concerning business,
and rest assured that no social stigma was
attached to the fact that Shudi was, after all,
only a craftsman, nay, even a mechanic, who
lived at his shop. Everything indicates that
he mingled on equal terms with the famous
people of his day. Handel was but the begin-
ning of a number of musicians who sought his
house and were welcome at his table. On
taking one of Shudi's harpsichords to pieces
it was found that the visiting-cards of those
who had called at the ' Plume of Feathers '
had been used up to fill vacant spaces in the
63
*Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
regulation where needed. The uncompromising,
independent manner which was his hereditary
gift followed him through life. It is said that
he never made a harpsichord so long as he had
one unsold, some colour to which is given by
an entry on 2ist January 1773 : ' Dutches of
Malbury bespoke a harpsichord/ There was
no need for him to seek custom. It came as
thick and fast as he could deal with it. No
other serious competitor was in the field save
Kirchmann, whose instruments were of a differ-
ent calibre, and drew their own patrons. This
restriction of his business was awkward some-
times. An entry, ' Burkat's harpsichord sent
on hire to Miss Chumley,' shows there was no
available instrument in the showroom, not even
' the Rooker ' or the ' little Ruker/ and so young
Burkat's own harpsichord had to be sent from
one of the private rooms.
The ' Plume of Feathers ' was an ordinary
four-storied house in a then fashionable street.
Here the manufacture was carried on, new
instruments were sold or old ones repaired, and
in the midst of it all Shudi and his family led
Shudi and his Matrons
their domestic life, which was one of refinement
and comparative ease. The front door, fur-
nished with a ponderous knocker of the Queen
Anne type, was kept closed. Immediately to
the right as one entered was a little parlour with
panelled walls. Over the fireplace were two
recesses in the panelling, one of which contained
a bevelled mirror in carved frame, and the other
the much valued picture of Shudi tuning the
harpsichord surrounded by his family. There
was, of course, a grander room than this, where
the group was posed by the painter. It will be
noticed in the painting that three pictures hung
on the wall behind the harpsichord. Two of
these are portraits of Frederick, Prince of Wales,
and the Princess Augusta. The middle picture,
which is a landscape, is supposed to be a repre-
sentation of Shudi's native valley in Glarus, but
all these pictures are now no longer traceable.
The showroom was probably the room on the
left of the doorway. There was also most likely
some extension of the premises at the back,
where the much despised but necessary ' joinery '
was done. In the top lofts of the house the
E 65
^ the Harpsichord Maker
writer himself discovered a store of crow-quills,
carefully tied up in bundles, which must have
lain there for some hundred years or so. The
sweet tinkling sound of the harpsichord, being
tuned constantly, filled the house. The phonetic
spelling that is always used in the books recalls
to us the speech of those who lived then.
Such words to wit as ' pattant,' ' consort/
* reharsle,' ' qarter,' ' Malbury,' etc., all and
many such which were pronounced as they
were written.
Any attempt at regular book-keeping does not
begin before Barbara's marriage in 1769. Earlier
books may have contained so much private
matter that Shudi's descendants destroyed
them. The extracts given, therefore, must be
considered to belong to the closing years of the
elder Shudi and to the years of the partnership
of young Burkat with John Broadwood. The
last royal commission executed by Shudi was
a fine double harpsichord made for the Empress
Maria Theresa in 1773, numbered 691. This
instrument, fortunately, like the Prince of
Wales's and Frederick the Great's harpsichord,
66
Shudi and his 'Patrons
is still in existence. It was obtained by Mr.
Victor Mahillon in Vienna, and is now in the
Conservatoire Royal at Brussels. The entry of
its departure is made on 2Oth August 1773,
the day after Shudi died, and reads simply :
' Sent the Emperess' Harpsichord on board ship ';
so prominent a figure in Europe need only to
be described as ' The Empress/ Two years
later, and probably as the result of this order,
another harpsichord was sent to Vienna for
Joseph Haydn, which is numbered 762, and is
still preserved in that city as a valued relic of
the great musician to whom it belonged. After
Haydn's death it was Herbeck's, and is now in
the Musickverein at Vienna.
While being thankful that so many Shudi
harpsichords remain to us, there are some
that have quite disappeared, which we would
give much to have with us. Perhaps none
more so than the one referred to in an entry
which reads as follows :
' 1774, March 5. Mr. Dash wood and Gardine
bought a harpsichord, No. 708, for Mr. Gains-
borough, painter in the Circle Bath.
^ the Harpsichord Maker
' March n. Mr. Gainsborough's harpsichord
was packed and sent to Bath.'
' Mr. Gardine ' is, of course, Felice de Giardini,
the famous Italian violinist, at this time leader
of the Pantheon Concerts, and doubtless a fre-
quent visitor at Pulteney Street. His friendship
with Gainsborough, who painted his portrait, is
well known, as well as the musical tastes of the
painter himself. It is too much to hope that
No. 708 has escaped destruction. As pianos
came into use harpsichords were ruthlessly
destroyed, and so completely has their memory
passed away that modern writers take no pains
to ascertain what instruments were used in the
eighteenth century but call them all pianos.
Gainsborough's harpsichord is a case in point.
The above entry was discovered by the writer
in 1 88 1, and was communicated correctly to
several in the literary world at that time.
Yet Mrs. Arthur Bell, in her Life of Gainsborough,
simply says that he 'bought a piano in 1774';
and writing further, concerning Fischer's por-
trait, says that he is 'seated at a piano/ of
which Gainsborough gives the maker's name
68
Shudi and his 'Patrons
' Merlin.' This Merlin was a harpsichord-maker
of the time, several of whose instruments still
exist.
Gainsborough's rival, Sir Joshua Reynolds,
was also a constant customer, particularly of
the younger Shudi. He does not appear to
have ever purchased a harpsichord, and probably
would not require one continually. There are,
however, several entries of harpsichords sent
to him upon hire, no doubt for the use of the
literary and artistic friends who met at his
house. No address is given. Indeed very few
London addresses of customers are quoted, it
being understood that everybody knew where
they lived.
On yth January 1776 ' Mr. Moreland's new
harpsichord was sent to Bedford Street. The
number of the harpsichord 758.' This may have
been the father of George Morland. In 1793,
the year young Shudi ceased to make harpsi-
chords, there is another record in connection
with the artistic world : ' Taking a harpsichord
to Mr. Bartolozzi, 207 Piccadilly (a print shop).'
The charge for the hire of a harpsichord was
, the Harpsichord Maker
ios. 6d. per month. On the 25th November
1771 we read : ' Lord Sandwich sent for a double
harpsichord/ and on the 3rd December, ' Lord
Sandwich sent y® harpsichord home/ employ-
ing his own conveyance. Harpsichord-tuning
varied according to distance and perhaps ac-
cording to the social position of the customer.
Thus on 3ist July 1772 ' Miss Naville at Ipsom '
pays 53., but the ' Princess Amelia at Gunness-
bury' pays £i, is. 'Miss Seoan of Rigate/
ios. 6d., while ' Lady Chesterfield by ye Qarter '
pays £i, is. for probably six or eight visits. On
the 4th June 1773 the ' Prushian Embasander '
pays 45. for the tuning of a ' pianoforte/ which
must have been a small square by a German
maker.
After the death of the elder Shudi it was still
not easy to obtain a new harpsichord, for on
6th June 1774 'Mr. Robt. Palmer bespoke a
harpsichord with a swell/ To enumerate all
the nobility whose names occur in the books
of this time would be a lengthy task. A few
culled at random are the Duke of Queensberry,
the Duke of Devonshire, the ' Dutchess ' of
70
Sbudi and his ^Patrons
Norfolk, the Earl of Sandwich, Earl of Ply-
mouth, 'Dutchess of Ritchmond/ Lady Stover-
dale, and Lady Pembroke. Some, such as
' Lady Giddion ' and Lady Archer, have harpsi-
chords ' for a consort/ The entries are mostly
that of the name, only meaning tunings. Some-
times weeks pass without a sale. Lady Stover-
dale of Redlinch, near Bruton in Somerset,
purchased on loth August 1775 a double
harpsichord numbered 750, which it is hoped is
still in existence, as it was for sale in a shop at
the West End of London some twelve years ago.
Occasionally one meets with a harpsichord in
a special case. On 24th December 1774 ' Miss
Skeine bought a octava harpsichord, Blew
bordered, No. 710.' Also the last harpsichord
made at Pulteney Street in March 1793 for
Mr. Henry de la Maine of Cork is described as
a ' Double keyed harpsichord with swell, etc.,
cross banded with sattin wood. Cypher in
front, etc. £84.'
The account of the Earl of Hopetoun contains
an item of twenty-five guineas for eight and a
half years' interest on an unpaid bill.
71
) the Harpsichord Maker
The entry that the ' Dutchess of Ritchmond '
had a ' new double harpsichord for hire instead of
the Ruker' reminds us of the ultimate fate of
the two Ruckers harpsichords so long used by
Shudi as hack instruments. Neither of them
fetched the good prices these instruments were
supposed to command. But the grand piano
had now become the rage, and the days of the
harpsichord were over. Their last appearance
is thus recorded :
' I2th March 1790. Lord Camden for two
harpsichords, the one a Ruker, double row, the
other a Kirchmann, octava, 25 gs. each/
' I2th July 1792. Mr. Williams for a double
keyed Rucker harpsichord, £26, 55.'
The crowd of musicians whose names appear
in the books in the two last decades of the
eighteenth century belong properly to the early
days of the grand pianoforte. They include
every name of any importance, but it would be
outside the scope of this work to dwell upon
them. One of the most frequently quoted
names is that of Dussek, for whom in 1794 the
first grand pianoforte with six octaves is made.
72
Shudi and his ^Patrons
Joseph Haydn also is lodged in the same street
at No. 18, nearly opposite. In the harpsichord
days, however, professional engagements figure
largely. Witness the following entries :
' 20 Feb. 1772. A Reharsle of ye Oritorio.
'5 March 1772. Sold Mr. Hullmandel a
harpsichord made by Scouler for 25 Guineas.
' 26 Feb. 1773. Sent Lord Grovenors harpsi-
chord to Mr. Arnold's Oritorio.
' March 3, 1773. Oritorio Drurie Lane.
Oritorio Arnold/
(This was probably Dr. Arnold's Oratorio of
the Prodigal Son produced this year.)
' 6 March 1773. Oritorio.
' 7 Thacht house.
' 9 A Reharsle.
' 13 Oritorio.
' 14 Thacht house.
'16 A Reharsle/
These entries indicate that for the frequent
performances of oratorios and for the concerts
at the Thatched House, which was the recog-
nised concert-room previous to the opening
of the Hanover Square rooms, harpsichords
73
) the Harpsichord Maker
remained permanently, and were only tuned for
the various occasions. The rehearsals which
are entered separately probably took place at
Pulteney Street, and are noted only for the
purpose of charging the tuning.
Young dementi, it will be remembered, took
a Shudi harpsichord with him to Paris, and also
one of the small square pianos which were now
being made in such numbers. As the result of
this visit the following order was executed :
' 23 Oct. 1784. Pascall Taskian.
' 4 Pianos, one plain, 3 inlaid without stands,
shipped to Paris/
Taskin of Paris was the famous harpsichord-
maker to Marie Antoinette.
It remains only to subjoin a list of the
harpsichords by Shudi and Shudi and Broad-
wood known still to exist. Additions to the
list would be gladly welcomed.
Number. Date. Number. Date.
1729 750 1775
144 762 1775
229 1749 789 1776
260 1751 862 1779
74
Shudi and his ^Patrons
Number. Date. Number. Date.
407 1760 899 I78l
427 1761 902 I78l
1766 919 1782
5I2/
625 1770 955 1789
639 1771 1137 1790
686 1773 1148 1791
691 1773 H55 1793
75
CHAPTER VII
THE PIANO OF DON MANUEL DE GODOY
IT is somewhat inexplicable that the art of
painting was never in England allied with
harpsichord-making. Even Tabel, direct from
the house of Ruckers,made his instruments plain,
and so did Kirchmann and Shudi, although the
latter put fine cabinet-work in the exterior,
especially about the middle of the eighteenth
century, when the age of walnut was being
merged into the age of mahogany. A judicious
combination by him of both woods had a charm-
ing effect. The large strap hinges of the top
used by both makers were also very striking.
But the writer cannot find a single instance
of a harpsichord that was painted or decorated
after the manner of the Flemish makers. With
the early days of the grand piano, however,
the fashion came in of decorating the exterior
of the case with Wedgwood medallions, and
of Don Manuel de Godoy
in the year 1796 there was made by Shudi's
son-in-law an instrument with this decoration,
upon which no pains or cost were spared. Its
historic interest and singular beauty, as well
as the fact that it is still in existence, is sufficient
excuse for closing this notice of Shudi's career
with a brief description of one of the most
costly instruments of the kind ever made in
his house. This grand piano, of harpsichord
shape, was made for Don Manuel de Godoy,
the handsome guardsman, the favourite of
Queen Maria Louisa, whom Charles iv. of Spain
raised to the rank of Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The year before the order for this piano was
given, Godoy earned the title of Prince of the
Peace by concluding the Treaty of Basle with
the French republic, and two months after the
piano reached the shores of Spain he signed the
Treaty of San Ildefonso and declared war with
England, initiating that series of disasters for
his country which culminated at Trafalgar.
It is most probable that Godoy was in London
himself in the spring of 1796, for one of the
decorations named is ' The Prince's portrait in
77
) the Harpsichord Maker
front by Taylor, £10, ios.' Alexander Taylor,
the miniaturist, was an occasional exhibitor at
the Royal Academy for twenty years, the last
time he exhibited being in 1796. The price
paid for the portrait is a high one, and Godoy
no doubt sat for it. The piano was not for
himself, however. Sheraton's own design for
the instrument, of which more than one copy
has been preserved, states it was presented by
Godoy to the Queen of Spain.
The order was taken on the 8th February
1796, and is thus entered :
' Prince of the Peace,
Le Comte de Mopox el de Jarnico,
Grenier's Hotel, Jermyn St.
recommended by Mr. Christian, 22 College
Hill, a G.P.F. add. keys C in basse to C in alt.
in sattinwood case superbly ornamented with
inlaid work and Wedgwood's and Tassie's
medallions, etc.'
It took four months to make, and was shipped
on 22nd June 1796, and is thus described as
' Mopox,
' A G.P.F. add1, keys from C to C in
78
T^iano of Don Manuel de Godoy
sattinwood case superbly ornamented. A cover
of green striped leather and stockings for the
legs. A Green baize Cover and two quires of
silver paper in two very strong deal cases, the
frame in one and case in y6 other marked
C.D.S.C. No. i and 2. Delivered at the Bull,
Porters Galley Key for the Esperanza, Belotte,
Bilbao/
The cost is fully set out as follows :
The Count Mopox Grenier's Hotel. Dr. —
A Grand Pianoforte 6 octaves C to C,
in sattinwood case ornamented with
different woods with water gilt mould-
ings and Wedgwood's and Tassie's -£223 13 o
medallions, etc., The Prince of Peace's
arms chased and gilt in burnished
gold rich carved frame, etc.
The Prince's portrait in front by Taylor 10 10 o
A Cover of green striped Leather and
stockings for the legs
A Green baize Cover
A Deal case very stout for the Instr. .
A do. do.
Strings, forks, etc.
Cartage to the Key
frame
9
9
o
i
7
o
5
10
0
5
7
0
i
i
o
o
7
6
£257 4 6
79
) the Harpsichord Maker
Sheraton's design for this instrument was
preserved by the maker, but concerning the
piano itself nothing was known until a few
years ago, when a Parisian dealer in antiquities
wrote to a lady in England, whom he knew to
be a collector of things rare and curious, that he
had a grand piano in satin and other woods
made by John Broadwood in 1796 and covered
with medallions. It was none other than Don
Manuel de Godoy's present to the Queen of
Spain, and it is now in a London drawing-room.
Probably looted from Spain in the Napoleonic
wars it remained unknown but well cared for
during a number of years, most likely in some
French chateau, until thrown upon the market
and purchased by this Parisian dealer. It is in
splendid preservation. The satinwood has
mellowed with age, the keys are unworn, and
the medallions perfect. As it stands it is a
good illustration of the warfare between the
designer, who wants to be artistic, and the
manufacturer, who must obey the requirements
of a musical instrument. Sheraton designed
separate and unconnected legs for the piano.
80
of Don Manuel de Godoy
It was at a time when such a thing was not
known, but the maker appears to have given in
and abolished the frame and stretcher, although
in the particulars concerning the packing he
still speaks of the supports as ' the frame/
Sheraton did not make any provision for the
pedals. These, had the older fashion been
adhered to, should have been made to project
from each front leg of the frame. They were
made to depend from the body of the piano,
and a third pedal added in the middle, perhaps
in Spain, acts upon a pad which presses against
the sounding-board, producing a sourdine effect.
This arrangement spoils the general effect of
the lower part, and was never contemplated in
the original design. ' The Prince's portrait in
front by Taylor,' alas, is no longer there, and its
fate, needless to say, is not known! Perhaps
Queen Maria Louisa removed it. Above the
keyboard, surrounded by beautiful decorated
work, is an oval> where it was usual to engross
the maker's name and date. In this case the
unusual course has been taken of inscribing the
name on the rail covering the dampers. The
F 81
Tschudi, the Harpsichord Maker
oval is now filled with a device, somewhat
clumsily put on, which occupies the place where
once was Taylor's miniature of the Prince of the
Peace.
Through the kindness of the owner a repre-
sentation of this beautiful instrument is given.
The compass of six octaves was then thought to
be the last word, but it has gone on increasing ;
and owing to its increase and the heavier con-
struction and greater size which more modern
tastes demanded, the beautiful form and pro-
portions of the harpsichord and harpsichord-
shaped pianos have gone for ever.
Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
at the Edinburgh University Press
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
Dale, William
424 Tschudi
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