[CAUT] Forte pianos

rwest1 at unl.edu rwest1 at unl.edu
Fri Oct 2 12:26:06 MDT 2009


By the way, the UNL instrument is a copy of a Walter piano that  
Mozart owned.  The UNL instrument was built by Philip Belt back in  
the 70's or early 80's when the historical performance practice  
movement was really heating up.

Richard West


On Oct 2, 2009, at 1:12 PM, rwest1 at unl.edu wrote:

> Hi, Paul,
>
> I'm not sure where they got their information.  There are  
> fortepianos aplenty around the country.  The rare instrument at UNL  
> is the pedal clavichord.  It consists of 2 manuals (two  
> clavichords) and a pedal board (a bass clavichord).  It wasn't long  
> ago that UNL had the only pedal clavichord in the US.  I think  
> there were only 2 or 3 world wide.  The builder had to do quite a  
> bit of research to figure out how to build a pedal clavichord.   
> Evidently it used to be quite common as a "home" practice  
> instrument for organists.  If an organist wanted to play the organ,  
> he had to hire someone to pump the bellows.  UNL's instrument was  
> commissioned as a research instrument.  The organ faculty wanted to  
> know how organists practiced and how it might have affected playing  
> technique.  There may be more of these instruments now.  As you  
> know pedal clavichords are a bear to tune since there are three  
> clavichords in one instrument;  all three have to tuned together.
>
> Richard West,  UNL piano technician emeritus
>
>
> On Oct 2, 2009, at 11:43 AM, Paul T Williams wrote:
>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I have a quick question.  How many of you take care of replica  
>> fortepianos in your colleges and universities?  I think I need to  
>> set our university paper straight. They quoted that UNL has the  
>> only performing replica in the US.  I say nay, but need the proof!
>>
>> Thanks
>> Paul
>

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