Una Chorda...again

[Gevaert Pierre]

Here's what I have found in The pianoforte (Harding)

Una Corda. A mechanism whereby the hammers can be made to strike one, two or
three strings by the movement of a pedal. Merlin patented this effect in
order to obtain the "swell of an organ" in 1774 for his combined harpsichord
and pianoforte. Walton patented it in 1787. Erard patented it in 1794.
An upright pianoforte by William Southwell 1798 had two pedals. One forte,
and the other for una corda.
In 1831, Currier, Ebenezer R. of Boston, Mass. (Am. Pat.)
The keyboard and action of a square pianoforte to be moved laterally so that
the hammers may strike one, two, or three strings.

Also : Verschiebung : a mechanism for sliding the keyboard laterally so that
one only of a pair of unison strings or two out of three strings.
It was most probably suggested by the Buff stop (known as Lautenzug on
German Hapsichords).
Its value  of facilitating tuning was soon discovered.

Regards,
Pierre Gevaert
Belgium.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Garrett" <joegarrett@earthlink.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2003 7:27 PM
Subject: Una Chorda...again


> What I should have asked was....when was the una chorda PEDAL first
> introduced? That would have been more specific to my query, as there were
> mechanisms, (ie levers, etc.), that accomplished the physical shifting of
> the action. As I understand it, there were such mechanisms in
harpsichords,
> prior to the invention of the piano. Is this correct?
> Best Regards,
> Joe Garrett, RPT, (Oregon)
>
> Been There, Didn't Like It, So I'm Here To Stay! [G}
>
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