John Broadwood
John Broadwood (born October 6, 1732 in Cockburnspath , Berwickshire , † July 17, 1812 in London ) was the namesake of the English piano manufacturer John Broadwood, which was founded by his father-in-law Burkhardt Tschudi in London in 1728 and is now located in the Kentish manor of Finchcocks in Goudhurst & Sons .
Life
John Broadwood was born on October 6, 1732 in the Scottish parish of Cockburnspath, County Berwickshire , baptized on October 15, 1732 in the village church of St. Helen's there, and grew up in Oldhamstocks , County East Lothian . He learned, like his father, James Broadwood (* 1697 in Oldhamstocks), the profession of cabinet maker and cabinet maker .
In 1761 Broadwood emigrated to London , almost 600 kilometers away , to work there for the harpsichord maker Burkhardt Tschudi (born March 13, 1702 in Schwanden GL ; † August 19, 1773 in London, anglicized : Burkat Shudi ). This made him his business partner in 1770 and in 1771 transferred the management of the company together with his son of the same name (1738–1803) and his daughter Barbara (1749–1776). From 1772 Broadwood was the sole managing director of the company. After Tschudi's death in 1773, the company passed to his son, daughter and son-in-law, John. In 1783 he also took over the company shares from his brother-in-law.
Together with Robert Stodart , a former apprentice and later piano tuner at Tschudi and Broadwood, the founder of the well-known English piano manufacturer Stodart , Broadwood is credited with perfecting the "English mechanics" of the Dutch-English piano maker Americus Backers , which is almost unchanged for some piano makers For about 70 years, in Broadwood's case even more than 100 years, with some detail improvements until the early 20th century, it was partly still in use, even if there were better things from France after the patent of Sébastien Érard since 1821. In 1793, at a time when pianos were selling more than Broadwood and Sons harpsichords, John discontinued harpsichord manufacture.
John Broadwood died in London on July 17, 1812 , at a time when his company was thriving. The Broadwood and Sons company passed into the hands of his sons James Shudi Broadwood and Thomas Broadwood, who eventually transformed it into the world's first piano building company with mass production based on the principles of the division of labor later formulated by Frederick Winslow Taylor .
Broadwood's other technical innovations in piano include the following:
- Installation of a separate bass bridge for the low tones
- Invention of the pedal to cancel the damping, patent from 1783
- Extension of the pitch range from five octaves by half an octave upwards to comply with a request from the Czech pianist Dussek , and another half an octave downwards
- Turning away from the workshop principle, the world's first factory-made manufacturer of pianos in large numbers.
family
The Broadwood family tree can be traced back to about 1580. John Broadwood married Burkhardt Tschudi's daughter Barbara in 1769 and had four children with her. After her early death (1776), he married Mary Kitson in 1781 and had six more children with her. Many of Broadwood's children were involved in the piano industry, which was emerging in England at the time. Some of them took in the era of Queen Victoria to the British colonization of India in part. Others emigrated to Australia , where descendants of John Broadwood still live today. The British general Robert George Broadwood (1862-1917), son of Thomas Broadwood and his wife Mary Athlea Matthews, was a grandson of John Broadwood and his second wife Mary Kitson.
literature
- Piano: An Encyclopedia , p. 57
- Alfred Dolge: Pianos and their makers. A comprehensive history of the development of the piano from the monochord to the concert grand player piano . Covina Publishing Company, 1911 (Reprinted in Dover, New York 1972, ISBN 0-486-22856-8 , p. 244)
- Charles Mold: Broadwood, John (1732-1812) , in: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 2004, doi: 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 3464
- David Wainwright: Broadwood by Appointment . Quiller Press, London 1982
Web links
- John Broadwood and Sons , Official Website
- John Broadwood and Sons, Sally Jenkinson piano maker , Surrey County Council
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Broadwood, John |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British piano maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 6, 1732 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cockburnspath , Berwickshire |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 17, 1812 |
| Place of death | London |