Famous Instruments in History: Mozart's Fortepiano

Blogger: Amber Lemus

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Public Domain

Today, in our journey to explore the most famous instruments in history, we find a familiar name. The name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is so well known that I doubt any of you have NEVER heard of him. But did you know that he had a pet instrument during the most successful phase of his life?

Mozart was a child prodigy when it came to music. By age five, he was already proficient on the piano and violin and even performed before European royalty. Mozart's father, Leopold, was a musician and a teacher who had written a violin textbook that became successful. However, when his young son started composing, and he began to see how talented he was, he just gave up composing his own music altogether. I couldn't help but laugh when I discovered that, as I have a five-year-old who is also talented... not to the level of Mozart, obviously, but I could relate to the feeling of giving up on your own talent and just investing in your child's. 

Although a musical genius, Mozart struggled financially for most of his life.  After he resigned from a low-paying commission at the Salzburg Court, he wandered for some time seeking employment but was largely disappointed. He became so financially desperate that he started to pawn off valuables. He was paid here and there for compositions but had nothing consistent. Finally, his father procured for him a commission as court organist and concertmaster with the Archbishop Colloredo. This appointment paid better, but Mozart was still dissatisfied with his life in Salzburg. 

His employer was very jealous of Mozart's talent and tried to prevent him from performing outside of his establishment. This created tension between Mozart and the Archbishop. 

In 1781, Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer was attending celebrations and wanted his musical servant at his disposal. While there, Mozart was intent on introducing himself to the emperor, still believing that he was meant for more than just a pet composer to an archbishop. 

Eventually, he did make the acquaintance of the Emperor and impressed him. Soon, Mozart was presented with the opportunity to perform before the emperor for a fee that was equal to half his yearly salary with the archbishop. This resulted in a bitter quarrel between Mozart and his employer. He attempted to resign, but was refused. About a month later, permission to resign was finally granted, but in the most insulting way possible, with the archbishop's steward literally kicking him on the way out. 

Mozart's father had sided with his employer during the feud, which put their relationship in a difficult state as well. But Mozart was passionate about his desire to stay in Vienna and to continue as a freelance composer and performer. This was a bold move for Mozart at twenty-five years old, but it was one he would not regret. He began to make a name for himself in Vienna, and seemed much happier there. 

In 1782, Mozart purchased a fortepiano from Anton Walter. Anton was a skilled craftsman who was well-known for his instruments. He is known as the "the most famous Viennese piano maker of his time." Other composers such as Beethoven, Schubert and Haydn also purchased instruments from him. 

Mozart's Walter Fortepiano 
By Bapak Alex - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0

The Walter fortepiano quickly became Mozart's favorite instrument. It was upon this fortepiano that many of his most successful pieces would be composed and played. He often used this instrument when performing. His own father, Leopold, put it this way:

"It is impossible to describe the hustle and bustle. Your brother's pianoforte has been moved at least twelve times from his house to the theatre or to someone else's house."

It is said that the sound from this fortepiano awed and entranced his audience. They marveled at the beautiful sound. 

The two surviving sons of
Wolfgang Amadeus and Constanze Mozart,
Franz and Karl.
by Hans Hansen - Public Domain 

Mozart continued to use this fortepiano until his death in 1791, composing over 50 pieces with this instrument as his partner.


After his death, no one knows for sure where the instrument was housed until Mozart's wife gave the instrument to their oldest son, Karl in 1810. Karl would have been only seven years old when his father passed away and so treasured the piece. In 1856, Karl Mozart donated his father's precious fortepiano to the Cathedral Music Association and Mozarteum in honor of what would have been his father's 100th birthday.

Today, Mozart's fortepiano exhibits in the Mozart family home in Salzburg, where he was born. The home is now a museum, therefore a fitting place for his beloved instrument, even if their life together had been in Vienna.

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  

She lives near the Ozarks in her "casita" with her prince charming. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/  and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter! 

On This Day… in 1826 – Walter Cecil Macfarren by Donna Schlachter

The only known portrait of Walter Cecil Macfarren (Wikipedia)

When we think of great musical composers in history, likely names such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Bach jump instantly to mind. And while it is unlikely that the name of our featured guest would spark any connection with these legendary greats, he does hold a special place in the hallowed halls of musical composition.

Walter Cecil Macfarren was born August 28, 1826 in London, the youngest son of dramatist George Macfarren, and the less-famous brother of musician George Alexander Macfarren. At the age of four he showed some musical promise, and by age ten he was serving as a choir-boy at Westminster Abbey. He sang at the coronation of Queen Victoria when he was 12, in 1838.

However, soon after, his voice changed as he entered puberty, and he briefly considered becoming an artist, even taking painting lessons. When that didn’t suit him, he worked as a salesman for pianos in Brighton.

Not finding that to his liking either, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1842, studying piano and composition. On his graduation, he remained on staff at the Academy, first as a sub-professor of the pianoforte, and eventually as a full professor. Macfarren served for 57 years, lecturing six times a year and teaching piano.

In 1852, at the age of 26, he married Julia Fanner, the daughter of an artist. The story goes that “her mind gave way” in 1878, which implies she suffered from some form of mental illness. She died in their 50th year of marriage. The couple had no children.

In 1862, he was appointed musical critic to The Queen newspaper, and later he edited Popular Classics and Mozart’s complete piano works and Beethoven’s sonatas.

During this time, his classical education inspired his composition of many small but solid piano pieces, always pleasing to the ear and stylistic, reminiscent of Mendelssohn. He also conducted concerts at the Academy, and served as treasurer of the Royal Philharmonic Society for three years, before turning his attention back to composition. In 1881, he wrote a concert piece for piano and orchestra, proving his ability and skill at writing for more than one instrument at a time. As if he wasn’t busy enough, he also released his Scale and Arpeggio Manual in 1862.

On his 70th birthday, Macfarren founded two prizes for pianoforte playing at the Academy. He retired in 1904 from all other work apart from remaining as a contributor to The Queen, and he published his autobiography in 1905, Memories. He lived his remaining days in Osnaburgh Terrace, London, usually spending his vacations at Brighton. He died later that year and is buried in St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery in East Finchley, London.



About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers' groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed writers eager to tell their story.

www.DonnaSchlachter.com

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Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cecil_Macfarren

https://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Walter_Cecil_Macfarren Includes a list of his works

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1912_supplement/Macfarren,_Walter_Cecil Includes more about his earlier life

 

The Glass Armonica

By J. M. Hochstetler

I run across some pretty curious things while doing research. Sometimes they make it into my books and sometimes they don’t. Today I want to take a look at one object that I haven’t been able to work into a story, at least so far: the Glass Armonica.

If you’ve ever run a wet finger around the rim of a glass with liquid in it, you’ve discovered that it gives off a tone that varies depending on how much liquid the glass contains. It’s an effect that’s been observed for centuries. In fact, people in Europe began to perform music with sets of tuned water glasses dates as early as 1492—the year Columbus sailed the ocean blue. And by the 17th century, this kind of music was very popular among the upper classes. An Irish man, Richard Pockridge, built and performed on a set of tuned wine glasses he called an“Angelic Organ” in 1743, his repertoire including Handel’s “Water Music”. And in 1746, the composer Christoph Willibald Gluck’s “Verrillon”, played on glasses delighted audiences in Europe.

Benjamin Franklin playing the Glass Armonica

While lobbying Parliament on behalf of Pennsylvania’s legislature in 1761, Benjamin Franklin attended a concert played on the musical glasses. Already a famous scientist and inventor, he began to ponder the problem of creating more convenient form “brought together in a narrower compass, so as to admit of a greater number of tunes and all within reach of hand to a person sitting before the instrument.” He eventually began working with London glassblower Charles James to create such an instrument. They eliminated the need to tune each glass with water by creating graduated glass bowls of the right diameter and thickness to give the desired pitches. A cork was inserted into a hole in the center of each bowl, then the bowls were nested compactly in descending sizes on a horizontal spindle. A fly wheel operated by a foot treadle turned the spindle, and as the bowls turned they were partially submerged in water so that the player could simply rub the wet edges.

Franklin called his instrument the Glass Armonica, after the Italian word for harmony. He took it with him when he went to France during the American Revolution to lobby for the French to enter the war on the side of the Americans. The Armonica became a huge hit in both France and England. Queen Marie Antoinette took lessons. The famous hypnotist, Dr. Franz Mesmer, used the instrument to put his patients into a deeper trance. Composers including Mozart, Beethoven, Donizetti, Haydn, Richard Strauss, and many others wrote music for it. Paganini called its music “a celestial voice,” and Thomas Jefferson thought it “the greatest gift offered to the musical world of this century.”

Glass Armonica

In Hamburg in 1787, Karl Leopold Rollig designed a keyboard version. The instrument was manufactured and sold throughout Europe, but by the mid-1800s it had lost its popularity. Armonicas were said to drive performers mad and evoke spirits of the dead through its eerie, haunting sound, which might have been the result of lead poisoning from paint applied to the bowl edges and the 40% lead content of the glass itself. But the move away from chamber music toward full orchestras performing in large halls as the century moved into to the Victorian age also contributed to the Armonica’s demise. But the Glass Armonica had a rebirth of sorts in 1982 through the efforts of master glass blower Gerhard Finkenbeiner of Waltham, Massachusetts. It even had a cameo part in the movie Mansfield Park.

Watch this brief video about the Armonica to see how it is played and how it sounds. There are lots of other videos of the Armonica on YouTube that you might want to check out too.

What do you think of the instrument? Personally, I think the sounds are lovely and ethereal. Do you like it, or do you think it’s creepy? Does it sound like something that would drive you mad? Would you like to learn to play one? Please share your thoughts!

~~~

J. M. Hochstetler is the daughter of Mennonite farmers and a lifelong student of history. She is also an author, editor, and publisher. Her American Patriot Series is the only comprehensive historical fiction series on the American Revolution. Book 6, Refiner’s Fire, releases in April 2019. Northkill, Book 1 of the Northkill Amish Series coauthored with Bob Hostetler, won Foreword Magazine’s 2014 Indie Book of the Year Bronze Award for historical fiction. Book 2, The Return, received the 2017 Interviews and Reviews Silver Award for Historical Fiction and was named one of Shelf Unbound’s 2018 Notable Indie Books. One Holy Night, a contemporary retelling of the Christmas story, was the Christian Small Publishers 2009 Book of the Year and a finalist in the Carol Award.