Question about old pianos

[Gordon Rumson]

Greetings,

On modern pianos the dampers are not installed above a certain note - the
strings are allowed to ring freely, providing upper resonance.  This tends
to vary slightly from maker to maker just as the bass break does.  Usually
it is within a few notes of the third E above middle C.  On my 1890
Wolfframm piano the dampers stop at the E flat.

Now, my question is, where did the dampers stop on earlier pianos, say
Mozart's era?  Beethoven's era?  Liszt's era.

Is there a source for detailed information about this that I can consult?

Many thanks in advance.

Gordon Rumson


Canadian Pianist and Composer

Founder and Proprietor of Sikesdi Press
Music Publishers of the "New and Little Known"
Music by Sorabji, Johansen, Mellers, Flynn, ApIvor and others.
http://www.cadvision.com/Home_Pages/accounts/liszt/SikesdiPressWebpage.html