List of Keyboards
Grand Piano by Hofmann, F
Compass: FF to g3 ( 5+ octaves, 63 notes)
Knee lever to raise dampers.
Moderator controlled by hand stop (now missing) through the nameboard.
Ebony-covered naturals, bone-covered sharps.
Viennese action with brass Kapseln, f-form Auslöser, and Hofmann’s typical rocking hammer-head rests with checks attached.
Wedge-shaped dampers FF to b1, flat dampers c2 to g3.
Case veneered in cherry (grain oriented vertically), except spine exterior (unveneered).
Nameboard and interior key cheeks with geometrical inlay.
Four square-tapered screw-on legs (one missing) veneered in cherry.
Stringing - bichord FF to b1, trichord c2 to g3.
Grand Piano by Hofmann, F
This beautifully preserved cherry-wood piano, which retains the maker's fragile wax seal on a label inside, was built by Ferdinand Hofmann, a leading member of Vienna's civic keyboard-maker's association. He became its president in 1806 and won a court appointment. The striking, almost architectural decor of this instrument typifies the maker's early work. Knee levers lift the dampers and a knob over the nameplate operates a mute, or moderator. The instrument has a five-octave range
(sixty-one notes) and is double-strung in the bass and middle registers and triple-strung in the treble. Credit: Met Museum