German Immigrants and the Birth of the Piano in Great Britain: Bach, Zumpe, their friends and the square piano

摘要

In the late 1760s small "square pianos" began to appear in significant numbers in Great Britain. They soon enjoyed an enormous success and were produced in great quantities. They were widely exported all over Europe. The role of German immigrants, notably Johannes Zumpe and Johann Christian Bach, is especially significant in the early technical and artistic history of the new instrument. Square pianos were comparatively cheap, which made them accessible to music-loving amateurs from the middle as well as the upper class. The aim of this paper is to seek the aesthetic as well as social causes of this spectacular success, while focusing on the role of the small community of German musicians and craftsmen living in London.