To return to the grand pianoforte. The origin of the Viennese grand is
rightly accredited to Stein, the organ builder, of Augsburg. I will
call it the German grand, for I find it was as early made in Berlin as
Vienna. According to Mozart's correspondence, Stein had made some grand
pianos in 1777, with a special escapement, which did not "block"
like the pianos he had played upon before. When I wrote the article
"Pianoforte" in Dr. Grove's "Dictionary," no Stein instrument was
forthcoming, but the result of the inquiries I had instituted at that
time ultimately brought one forward, which has been secured by the
curator of the Brussels Museum, M. Victor Mahillon. This instrument,
with Stein's action and two unison scale, is dated 1780. Mozart's grand
piano, preserved at Salzburg, made by Walther, is a nearly contemporary
copy of Stein, and so also are the grands by Huhn, of Berlin, which I
took notes of at Berlin and Potsdam; the latest of these is dated 1790.
An advance shown by these instruments of Stein and Stein's followers is
in the spacing of the unisons; the Huhn grands having two strings to
a note in the lower part of the scale, and three in the upper.
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