List of Keyboards
Square Piano by Rolfe, W
This square piano was made by William Rolfe & Co. in London, England around 1820. Rolfe made pianos in London at 112 Cheapside from 1785 to about 1828. His two sons, Nicholas and Thomas H. joined Rolfe, and in 1814 they became the firm of William Rolfe & Sons (also William Rolfe & Company). This piano is serial number 6699 and has a compass of FF-c4, an English double action, leather hammers, double-strings, with tuning pins on right, 1 pedal: dampers, wood frame, and a mahogany (?) case
Credit: Smithsonian
Square Piano by Rolfe, W
The oldest piano currently in Japan has been preserved by the Kumagaya family in Hagi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. This piano was brought in by a doctor, Philipp Franz Balthasar von Siebold of the Netherlands, who came to Japan in 1823. It is a compact piano in the shape of a square table produced by William Rolfe & Sons of the UK around 1806, which Siebold reputedly donated to the Kumagaya family when he returned home in 1828.
With a wooden frame, this piano uses dual unison strings for each note. Of these, 52 pairs are of low-carbon iron wire, while five notes use brass wire and 11 use open windings over brass wires. This is very representative of the piano strings in use in Europe from the late 18th to the 19th century.
Photo Credit: Fraxinus2 Wikicommons
Grand Piano by Rohmann, J
This stately instrument is veneered in mahogany and finished in the Empire style. It rests on three angular, tapered legs that end in supports made of bronzed brass. The entire exterior is adorned with beautiful bronze fittings; there are also bronze rosettes on the upper parts of the legs and above the pedals. The lid above the keyboard is veneered in so-called ‘pyramid mahogany’. The grand piano has double-strung strings in the lowest octave and triple-strung strings elsewhere, a Viennese action and five pedals: bass draw, shift, pianissimo (by sliding forward a strip lined with cloth), piano (by sliding the same cloth strip forward less far) and forte draw. Keyboard range: Contra-F – f4 (six octaves). The lower keys are fitted with ivory, the upper keys with ebony.
Credit: Uni of Leipzig
Orphica by Roellig
The Orphica is a rare, portable piano invented by Carl Leopold Röllig in Vienna in 1795. Functioning as an early forerunner to the modern keytar, it could be worn with a shoulder strap like a guitar and featured a harp-like, triangular frame. Only about 30 of these instruments survive worldwide
Credit: Wikicommons Dimitri1cantemir
Orphica by Roellig
The Orphica is a rare, portable piano invented by Carl Leopold Röllig in Vienna in 1795. Functioning as an early forerunner to the modern keytar, it could be worn with a shoulder strap like a guitar and featured a harp-like, triangular frame. Only about 30 of these instruments survive worldwide
Credit: LPLT Wikicommons
