by Jan Van den Hemel
DER ERFOLGREICHE INSTRUMENTENBAUER
Gottfried Silbermann is mainly known as organ-builder. He was born in Kleibobritzch (1683) near Freiberg (Saxony), and he died in 1753. We know very little about his apprenticeship, but propably he was apprenticed by his elder brother Andreas in Strasbourg (Alsace), after a few years of "Wanderschaft". He stayed in Strasbourg from approx. 1702 (?) until 1702, in 1710 he returned to the neighbourhood of Freiburg.
He was not only highly praised by his contemporaries for his organs and
clavichords, but also his harpsichords were highly appreciated.
The 'Orgelexaminationen', contracts, quotations etc. are an important
source of information for us about Silbermann's doings. They give little
information about his activities as builder of strined keyboard instruments,
though.
SSILBERMANN'S FORERUNNERS.
Cristofori, whose name is indissolubly associated with the first pianoforte,
must have been preceded by one or more organ-builders, because we can
observe that a complete immersion in practise is indispensable for creating
such a complicated action. It takes a long period of designing and experimentating,
possibly too much for one life.
At the time (about 1700) of Christofori's research, Pantaleon Hebenstreit
worked on a dulcimer or cymbal, which he developed into a big, impressive
instrument. He played it at the French court of Louis XIV in 1705: it
was then that the instrument was named 'Pantaleon'.
This instrument has propably inspired Schröter, who claimed the invention of the pianoforte in 1717.
Marius, the inventor of the 'Clavecin brisé', based his ideas on knowledge of Cuisiné from Paris, and of Hebenstreit (1716). But the concepts of Schröter and Marius both lagged far behind Cristofori's projects.
THE INFLUENCE OF CRISTOFORI
The exact copy that Silbermann made of a Cristofori mechanism, proves
that he must have known one of his instruments in reality. The question
arises though, how he got in touch with it.
In 1718 Silbermann signed a contract for building an organ in the St.-Sophienchurch
in Dresden. He completed this organ in 1720 and therefore he spent a long
time there.
It is most likely that a large number of Italian singers and musicians
engaged by the elector of Saxony lived in Dresden, after the renovation
of the Dresden Court Opera by Lotti (1716 - 1719).
Possibly, König (a poet at the court and translator of the article
about Cristofori, written by Maffei) arranged his introduction in this
environment. Silbermann and König knew each other very well, and
there are even indications that Silbermann built a 'Cimbal d'Amour' for
him.
So it's quite possible that one day Silbermann found one of Cristofori's
instruments, bought to the court by an Italian.
We know that the Florentine pianofortes, those from Cristofori as well
as those from his pupil Ferrini, ended at the courts of Lissabori and
Madrid.
Five of such instruments are mentioned in the inventory of Queen Maria
Barbara (1758). These instruments have played a major role in the Spanish
and Portuguese building culture.
HONORARY COURT AND STATE ORGAN - BUILDER OF SAXONY
We don't know exactly when Silbermann was confronted with a Cristofori,
but in this context the following facts may be worth noting:
In 1723 three Dresdner court virtuosi made a report on Silbermann's work.
In this report only the clavichords, harpsichords and organs are mentioned.
They did not yet report the 'Cimbal d'Amour', but it was patented the
same year on Silbermann's request.
As a result, that very year Silbermann got a privilige that lasted 15
years, and he acquired the title of 'Honorary Court and State Organ-Builder
of Saxony'.
When he was applying for the patent in 1723, Silbermann couldn't have
had a reason to conceal a new instrument; in other words: the pianoforte
didn't exist for him at that moment.
In 1725, König's German translation, of the article about Cristofori's
pianoforte written by Maffei in 1709, was published.
Silbermann didn't only make the 'Cimbal d'Amour', which he had invented
himself, he also constructed pantaleons for Hebenstreit. Until they got
a quarrel and Hebenstreit managed, by writing to the King, that Silbermann
was prohibited to build pantaleons without Hebenstreit's permission.
THE MUSICAL DEMAND
The translation of Maffei's article, his connection with the pantaleon
and the knowledge of Schröter's projects, may have stimulated Silbermann
to create a new instrument, which one could play loudly and quietly, in
order to meet the musical demand.
Only in 1733 we find a mention in Zedler's 'Universal lexicon'. Under
the entry 'Cimbal d'Amour', it says that a few years earlier the famous
Silbermann had invented something he called Pianoforte and which he had
presented to the elector Frederic August the year before. SO he must have
built his first pianoforte in about 1730.
Later, Adlung (1758) wrote:
"...that we should need a realistic explanation by Silbermann,
about the models and instructions on which the production of his first
instruments in Germany was based. But nobody has ever asked sir Silbermann
for this explanation, and now he's dead for a few years already."
In the following quotation Adlung removes all doubts whether the pianoforte was Silbermann's invention or not:
"Sir Gottfried Silbermann is also known for his beautiful harpsichords and clavichords, for the invention of the Cimbal d'Amour, and for the improvement on the pianoforte. True, the idea for the pianoforte was first concepted and executed in Italy, but Silbermann has made such an important improvement, that he can nearly be considered as the inventor himself."
If we go through all the points once again, it's clear that Silbermann
started building pianofortes about 1730. Perhaps he did not make a real
Florentine pianoforte at once, but he sure did it very soon. At that time
he didn't travel outside Saxony, so he must have found the instruments
there. He worked on his pianofortes for the rest of his life, except between
1740 and 1743, when he was working continuously on organs.
It isn't certain whether Gottfried Silbermann has been the first one to
build pianofortes in Northern Europe. We also know a few instruments of
the sons of his elder brother Andreas Silbermann: Johann Gottfried (1722
- 1762), Johann Heinrich (1727 - 1783) and Johann Andreas (1712 - 1783).
It seems that these workshops in Strasbourg have had a big influence
on the further evolution of the pianofortes, e.g. J.A.Stein.
The influence of Gottfried Silbermann on his pupils appears to be smaller,
although Frederick supposedly has worked with him for some time. About
half the 18th century a new generation arises. They develop the famous
Viennese and later the English school.
ABOUT THE INSTRUMENT
It's impossible to comment all the aspects of Silbermann's pianofortes
in this summary. We may learn more about Silbermann's instruments if we
compare them with the Florentine pianoforte.
At this moment we still know three instruments of Cristofori (1720 - 1733
- 2726), and a picture by Maffei of an action he saw in 1709. Not a single
one of this type of instruments, with such an action, has survived.
There is a striking similarity between the three instruments of Silbermann
that have been preserved. (1746, 1746 and 1749). The Cristofori-pianos,
however, show clear internal differences concerning sound box, string
plan, and action. All three instruments have different types of hammerheads
and one of them has another tuning system.
Silbermann's pianofortes resemble the latest Florentine instrument from
1726, especially the actions are similar.
A few catching differences between this Cristofori from 1726 and the Silbermann
from 1749 are: The hammer shanks of the Cristofori are longer according
to the bass, while Silbermann's hammer shanks all have the same length.
So the shiking place of the hammers resembles to the position of the jacks
of the harpsichords from both traditions.
While in the Florentine pianos each key is muffled seperately, the Silbermann
piano offers the possibility to lift all his muffler jacks at the same
time.
Because it's a manual action, it can't be switched while playing.
Silbermann was propably thinking of the pantaleon when he invented this.
(the pantaleon effect). In the 1760's - 1770's pianofortes were even built
without pampers. The most important aim of this improvement, was propably
to compensate the poor tone of the pianoforte.
Both builders stuck to their tradition (Cristofori C-c"' and Silbermann
FF-e"') not only with the size of the keyboard, but also with the
corpus of their instruments.
Out of the preceding facts, it appears that Silbermann was particularily
focussed on the mechanical aspects of Cristofori's invention, while he
continued his Saxon tradition when it comes to sound.
However, this combination of two elements did have more consequenes, which
would only be completely resolved by the next generation. Although the
Silbermann family in the Alsave stuck to their concept until the seventies.
It's quite possible that both the Freiburger Silbermann and his Strasbourger
family were already looking for an easier solution before the 1740's,
and thus laid the foundation of the "Prell mechanism"; the simple
and efficient precursor of the "Viennese mechanism".
After these considerations we pass on to the instrument.
Jan Van den Hemel.
