The Seven Years' War put an end to pianoforte making on the lines
Silbermann had adopted in Saxony. A fresh start had to be made a few
years later, and it took place contemporaneously in South Germany and
England. The results have been so important that the grand pianofortes
of the Augsburg Stein and the London Backers may be regarded,
practically, as reinventions of the instrument. The decade 1770-80 marks
the emancipation of the pianoforte from the harpsichord, of which before
it had only been deemed a variety. Compositions appear written expressly
for it, and a man of genius, Muzio Clementi, who subsequently became the
head of the pianoforte business now conducted by Messrs. Collard, came
forward to indicate the special character of the instrument, and found
an independent technique for it.
A few years before, the familiar domestic square piano had been
invented. I do not think clavichords could have been altered to square
pianos, as they were wanting in sufficient depth of case; but that the
suggestion was from the clavichord is certain, the same kind of case and
key-board being used. German authorities attribute the invention to an
organ builder, Friederici of Gera, and give the date about 1758 or 1760.
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