What Piano Did Beethoven Play?

Curator
6 days ago
2 min read

If you've ever wondered exactly what instrument was under Beethoven's fingers when he composed his sonatas and symphonies, the answer isn't a single piano — it's a whole procession of them. Over his lifetime, Beethoven played and owned several different keyboard instruments, and each one left its mark on the music he wrote.

His early years: clavichord, harpsichord, and organ

Before the piano even entered the picture, the young Beethoven trained on the clavichord, harpsichord, and organ in Bonn. These instruments shaped his early technique and his lifelong love of sustained, singing tone — something he would spend the rest of his career pushing every new piano to achieve.

The Viennese fortepianos: Stein, Böhm, and Streicher

As a young virtuoso in Vienna, Beethoven played fortepianos by Johann Andreas Stein and Joseph Böhm, and was close friends with the Streicher family of piano builders, whose instruments he almost certainly played as well. These were lighter, more delicate instruments than what we'd recognise as a piano today — quick and clear, but not built for a player of Beethoven's famously forceful touch.

His Érard — a gift from Prince Lichnowsky

In 1803, Prince Lichnowsky gave Beethoven a piano built by the French maker Sébastien Érard. It had a five-and-a-half-octave range, triple stringing, and four pedals, producing a richer, more resonant sound than the Viennese instruments he was used to. Beethoven eventually passed the Érard on to his brother Johann. It survives today and is held in a museum in Linz, Austria.

The Broadwood — his most treasured instrument

In 1817, the London firm of Thomas Broadwood sent Beethoven a grand piano as a gift, delivered to him in Vienna in 1818. Sturdier and more powerfully built than its Viennese rivals, the Broadwood is often considered Beethoven's favourite — fitting for a composer whose demanding playing style regularly broke strings and hammers on lesser instruments. That piano survives today in Budapest, Hungary.

The Graf — his final piano

Conrad Graf, court piano-maker to Vienna and later regarded as the city's finest maker of concert grands, lent Beethoven an instrument around 1825. By this stage of his life, Beethoven's deafness was severe, and his Graf piano was fitted with a special resonating attachment to help him feel the sound through vibration. It's the piano most associated with his final years, and it survives today at the Beethoven House museum in Bonn, Germany.

Why it mattered

Beethoven wasn't simply handed pianos and left to play them quietly — he pushed every instrument he owned to its limits, and as the pianos evolved (gaining octaves, stronger frames, and new pedal mechanisms), so did his music. The added notes and dynamic range of his later instruments show up directly in the increasingly ambitious writing of his late sonatas.

See these instruments — and hundreds like them

Curious what a Broadwood, Graf, or Érard from this era actually looks like up close? Explore our catalogue of historic keyboard instruments, where you can browse entries on the makers Beethoven played, alongside over 1,250 other pianos, harpsichords, and early keyboards from around the world.