Robert Wornum Pocket Grand Pianoforte

[Clark]

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
Hello,

I am compiling resources on the Robert Wornum _Pocket Grand Pianoforte_.
It is a 5'6" straight-strung wooden-frame grand piano essentially which
combines a grand piano form with an upright piano back. The action (the
"Wornum Tape-Check Grand Action") and keyboard are contained in the
lower half of the case, while the hinged upper half has the strings,
wrestplank, soundboard and bracing. The stringing is underneath the
soundboard, which precludes any structural gap between the soundboard
and wrestplank.

David Crombie's "Piano - A Photographic History of the World's Most
Celebrated Instrument" features open and closed photographs as well as
external dimensions. In "The Piano-Forte," Rosamond Harding diagrams the
action and includes a plate of the upper and lower insides of the larger
_Imperial Grand Pianoforte_ (serial no. 5135, 1838, measuring 237cm);
both of these instruments are from the Colt Collection. I have also been
in contact with Christopher Lincoln and Paul Howard of Christopher
Lincoln Piano Services; they are in the process of restoring another of
these instruments and will be assisting me with photographs and
measurements.

The example in David Crombie's book (1837) appears to me to have been
refinished, and the legs seem modern compared to the downstriking Wornum
instrument (1852) featured on the same page and the one at Christopher
Lincoln's shop (serial no. 24800[?]); the lyres differ on the two Pocket
Grands, but not very much stylistically.

Wornum is best known for his upright action, and it seems he is much
better represented by uprights in public collections both in Europe and
the U.S. as far as I've found. I am curious whether anyone has seen or
knows the whereabouts of any similarly constructed Wornum grands
especially in the U.S., and if Wornum built any intermediate sizes with
this design.

Thanks in advance,

Clark Panaccione



---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/6a/a9/53/2e/attachment.htm

---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--