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He submitted two pianofortes to the judgment of John Sebastian Bach in 1726, which judgment was, however, unfavorable; the trebles being found too weak, and the touch too heavy. Silbermann, according to the account of Bach's pupil, Agricola, being much mortified, put them aside, resolving not to show them again unless he could improve them.
Mozart, who led the Viennese school, developed the singing style of playing and the smooth flowing legato. Leaving behind him the triumphs of his wonder-boyhood with spinet and harpsichord, he boldly entered the public concert-hall with the pianoforte, now greatly advanced by the improvements of Silbermann.
Petersburg from the famous Silbermann.” Through the whole book runs a humour not often found elsewhere in Mickiewicz; the reports of the debates in Jankiel’s tavern and in Dobrzyn hamlet are masterly in their blending of kindly pleasantry with photographic fidelity to truth.
When he first used the piano, he practiced on the imperfect and feeble Silbermann instrument. When he died, the magnificent instruments of Erard, Broadwood, and Collard, to the latter of which his own mechanical and musical knowledge had contributed much, were in common vogue. Such was the career of Muzio Clementi, the father of piano-forte virtuosos.
If the workshop tradition can be relied upon that several of Silbermann's workmen had come to London about that time, the so-called "twelve apostles," more than likely owing to the Seven Years' War, we should have here men acquainted with the Cristofori model, which Silbermann had taken up, and the early grand pianos referred to by Burney would be on that model.
With a smile he turned to his musicians: "Gentlemen, old Bach has come." Bach was sent for at once, without having time to change his traveling dress. His Majesty received him with great kindness and respect, and showed him through the palace, where he must try the Silbermann pianofortes, of which there were several.
At Berlin there are none, but at Potsdam, in the music-rooms of Frederick the Great, which are in the town palace, the new palace, and Sans Souci left, it is understood, from the time of Frederick's death undisturbed there are three of these Silbermann pianofortes.
He was most anxious to hear the grand old musician play on the new Silbermann piano, which was the latest hobby of the Prussian monarch. It is not a matter of wonder that the lovers of the harpsichord and clavichord did not take kindly to the piano-forte at first.
Silbermann experimented and labored with incessant energy for many years, and he had the satisfaction before dying of seeing the piano firmly established in the affection and admiration of the musical world. One of the most authentic of musical anecdotes is that of the visit of John Sebastian Bach and his son to Frederick the Great, at Potsdam, in 1747.
The Harpsichord its Immediate Predecessor. Supposed Invention of the Piano-forte. Silbermann the First Maker. Anecdote of Frederick the Great. The Piano-forte only slowly makes its Way as against the Clavichord and Harpsichord. Emanuel Bach, the First Composer of Sonatas for the Piano-forte. His Views of playing on the New Instrument. Haydn and Mozart as Players.
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