Robert Stodart

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Robert Stodart (* 1748 ; † 1831 ) was an English piano maker and founder of the piano manufacturer Stodart as well as an inventor and developer of early English piano technology.

Life

Stodart was an apprentice in the workshops of Burkat Shudi and then worked as a piano tuner for Shudi and his son-in-law and company successor, John Broadwood .

Stodart founded his own piano manufacturing company around 1775/76 in London's Wardour Street. In the year after it was founded, he received a patent for an expression pedal to change the volume and another patent for a pedal to switch between piano and harpsichord mechanics in the same instrument.

In 1788 Stodart expanded his workshop by also taking over the neighboring building. In 1796 Thomas Sheraton took over one of the two production buildings.

Robert's son William joined his father around 1787, at the time the company called itself "Robertus Stodart et Co." as evidenced by the key flaps of the instruments. William became full of business partners around 1790, and the year 1794 saw him with Matthew Stodart, very likely his brother. In 1795 they gave their address under "Golden Square".

In the same year Wiliam Stodart presented a high piano cabinet with book shelves. The founder Robert Stodart retired around 1795 or 1796 for reasons of age.

Further company history

Stodart received a royal recommendation around 1807; a piano from that period shows the inscription "Makers to Her Majesties and Royal Family" in the key flap.

The Stodart brothers were listed as partners around 1822. In 1821 they were at 1 Golden Square and 27 Berners Street, and in 1824 the address 401 Strand was added.

Sometime in the 1830s the company name changed. William Stodart initially appeared alone, in 1838 he took on his son Malcom as a partner. The company name was "William Stodart & Son" with the addresses 1 Golden Square and 57 Well Street.

In 1820, the Stodart employees William Allen and James Thom invented the compensation frame to compensate for the differences in length and tension between the wood of the piano notch and the steel strings and the ensuing problems of voice posture when the temperature changed. This frame construction was used on Stodart pianos until the 1850s.

swell

  1. ↑ http://www.my-broun-wyld-stewart-lang-ancestry.org.uk/robert-stodart.shtml Website of a genealogist, accessed on December 22, 2013.
  2. ↑ a b Martha Novak Clinkscale: Makers of the Pianos, 1700-1820. Page 284.
  3. ^ Rosamond Harding: The Pianoforte.
personal data
SURNAME Stodart, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British piano maker
DATE OF BIRTH 1748
DATE OF DEATH 1831
Place of death London