Mr. Langshaw's Square Piano: The Story of the First Pianos and How They Caused a Cultural Revolution
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A handwritten serial number inside a neglected 1807 Broadwood square piano inspired this illuminating story of an almost-forgotten musical instrument that transformed the musical and cultural perceptions of the western world. Square pianos were the first popular pianos, and the core of the classical piano repertoire—Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven—was written for such early pianos. This absorbing history leads back to the early days of the Industrial Revolution and the birth of mass production, commoditization, and global distribution of pianos from the ports of London to the shores of America and around the world. Both an investigative story and genealogical study that highlights a key period in music history, this chronicle closely examines the roles of John Broadwood—the most successful piano maker in late-Georgian London—and of one of his professional customers, Mr. John Langshaw, an organist and music master. Publishers Weekly In search of an instrument that could best reproduce her early musical scores, British artist Goold stumbled upon an old Broadwood square, a durable, masterfully constructed piano barely recognizable after years of disuse. A fan since childhood of the contemporary Broadwood upright, Goold formed a deep bond with this antique prototype, and devoted two years to reclaiming its ownership. In this record of Broadwood square 10651, originally purchased in 1807 by piano distributor and Lancaster parish organist John Langshaw, Goold chronicles the transformative history of the model and the instrument, both of which changed culture in England and all across the world. John Broadwood capitalized on new channels of industrialization, manufacturing pianos for the masses, introducing high culture to the lower classes and setting new standards for the influence of a family enterprise. Demonstrating how Broadwood and his invention bridged art and business, high society and low, human and machine, this personal but carefully-crafted history reveals how technical innovation can advance the evolution of society. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
