>Please... dig up more! > >Ed > After that >>he had an Astor and Company square made between 1799 and 1805 which is >>still at Monticello, a rather pretty thing. >> >>Will dig up more if people are interested. >> O.K. Astor was John Jacob Astor who actually imported pianos from his brother's shop in England. He quickly discovered that he could make more money dealing in furs. Today it would have been 4 wh. dr. vehicles. A bit more on John Behrent of Philadelphia: He was advertising his "extraordinary instrument, by the name of the pianoforte, in mahogany in the manner of a harpsichord" in 1775, the same year Mozart is playing away on Viennese pianos. There is little information on piano builders in America until after the end of the Revolution, for obvious reasons. Shall we say, sales were not good? From 1789, Charles Albrecht was making English style pianos and doing fairly well. The conceit however was that imports were superior to domestic so the trade was England was strong. Dodds & Claus, working in New York by1791, advertised that their product was better designed to withstand the American climate. Apparently they were not in business long. Benjamin Crehore was building and selling pianos in Boston shortly after 1800, and has the distinction of having been published once in Grove's as the first American piano builder. The Franklin Music Manufactory, with builders Appleton, Hayts, and Babcock, was founded in Boston in 1813, and immediately began making English style cabinet uprights in addition to squares. Alas, the squares outsold the uprights, and the company ceased building by 1820. Enough for now, yes? ab Anne Beetem Harpsichords & Historic Pianos 2070 Bingham Ct. Reston, VA 20191 abeetem@wizard.net
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