A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



Street, Carnaby Market. The six remaining 

 makers were Done of 30, Chancery Lane, 

 Elwick of Long Acre, Hancock of Parlia- 

 ment Street, Houston & Co. of Great Marl- 

 borough Street, Longman & Broderip of 

 Cheapside, the Haymarket, and Tottenham 

 Court Road, and Pether of Oxford Street. 



The business of Longman & Broderip, of 

 Cheapside, was taken over and reorganized by 

 Muzio Clementi between 1798 and 1801. 

 His most important colleague in the igth cen- 

 tury was F. W. Collard, whose name is con- 

 nected with many improvements in the 

 pianos produced by the firm, which is now 

 known as Collard & Collard, of Cheapside 

 and Grosvenor Square. Rimbault gives a 

 list of 1 06 patents by various makers be- 

 tween 1774 and 1 85 1 38 which includes 

 the names of every London manufacturer 

 of high reputation. The pianoforte had a 

 long struggle to fight its way to general 

 appreciation. It was neglected in Italy, the 

 land of its birth, and made slow progress in 

 France and Germany. In England it long 

 suffered neglect until the elder Broadwood, by 

 constructing its mechanism in a superior style, 

 was the first to show the superiority of this 

 instrument over the harpsichord. The con- 

 tinental musicians still clung to the harpsichord 

 after popular taste in England had decidedly 

 pronounced for its rival the pianoforte. As 

 the instrument came more and more into 

 general use, rival makers were incessant in 

 their efforts to improve it in power and quality 

 of tone and in delicacy and effectiveness of 

 touch. These improvements were effected 

 chiefly by enlarging the instrument generally, 

 by extending the scale and increasing the 

 weight of the strings, by correspondingly 

 strengthening the framework, and by im- 

 proving the mechanism of the action. 



Thefirst pianoforte constructed in France was 

 made in 1777 by Sebastian Erard, who became 

 famous as an English maker. He took refuge 

 in London during the Terror, and took out 

 patents between 17 94 and 1810 for improve- 

 ments in harps and pianofortes, 39 in which he 

 is described as a musical instrument maker of 

 Great Marlborough Street. He returned to 

 Paris in 1796 and made there his first grand 

 piano, using the English action, which he con- 

 tinued to employ until 1808. He died on 

 5 August 1831, and the business was con- 

 tinued by his nephew Pierre, who took out six 

 English patents between 1821 and 1850. 



K Rimbault, op. cit. I 50-7. 



39 17 Oct. 1794, no. 2,016; 16 June 1801, 

 no. 2,502 ; 24 Sept. 1 808, no. 3,170 ; 2 May, 

 1810, no. 3,332. 



This celebrated firm ceased to manufacture 

 pianofortes in London in 1890. 



In 1 8 1 1 Robert Wornum the younger, of 

 Princes Street, Hanover Square, patented 40 

 his improvements of the ' upright ' pianoforte, 

 which he afterwards more fully developed in 

 his ' Cottage ' and ' Piccolo ' instruments. 

 He was a man of remarkable ingenuity, whose 

 improvements rapidly spread both in this 

 country and abroad. Other patents were 

 granted to him in II July 1820, 4 September 

 1826, and 14 January 1829," in which his 

 address is given as Wigmore Street, Cavendish 

 Square. His last patent is dated 3 August 

 i842, 42 when he was living in Store Street, 

 Bedford Square. 



Another inventor of great skill to whom 

 the pianoforte is indebted for many great 

 improvements was William Southwell, a 

 Dublin maker of musical instruments, who 

 was in business in Lad Lane, London, 

 when he took out his first patent on 18 Oc- 

 tober I794- 43 He was living in Broad Court, 

 St. Martin-in-the-Fields on 8 November 1798 

 when he took out a further patent ; 44 and on 

 8 April 1 807, when he patented his ' Cabinet ' 

 pianoforte, 46 he had returned to Dublin. His 

 next two patents 46 are dated 4 March 1 8 1 1 

 and 5 April 1821, when he was in business 

 in Gresse Street, Rathbone Place. His name 

 (or that of his son) occurs in a much later 

 patent 47 of 24 August i837,whenhe was living 

 at 5, Winchester Row, New Road, Middlesex. 



A notable invention made by James 

 Thorn and William Allen, workmen in his 

 employ, was brought out by Stodart in a 

 patent dated 15 January i82O. 48 It con- 

 sisted of a compensating system for grand 

 pianos and a new method of bracing by 

 metallic tubes. This paved the way for 

 many later devices, such as the introduction of 

 steel tension bars, metal bracings of various 

 kinds, and steel string plates ; all these had 

 for their object the strengthening of the in- 

 strument to enable it to bear the enormous 

 strain from the increasing weight and ten- 

 sion of the strings. Erard's patent for his 

 'repetition action' in 1821 effected a great 

 improvement in the mechanism for the per- 

 fection of touch, which was still further per- 

 fected by the patent of John Hopkinson of 

 Oxford Street for his ' repetition and tremolo 

 action' granted to him on 3 June i85i. 49 



40 26 Mar. 1811, no. 3,419. 



41 No. 4,460, 5,348, and 5,678. 

 "No. 9,262. No. 2,017. 

 44 No. 2,264. " No. 3,029. 

 48 No. 3,403 and 4,546. 



4r No. 7,424. "No. 4,431. 



"No. 13,652. 



186 



