Johannes Zumpe

Johannes Zumpe was born 14 June 1726 in Furth, Nuremberg. He trained with Gottfried Silbermann. He was one of the German makers of keyboard instruments who fled to London in the late 1750s. He worked briefly for Burkat Shudi.

On 3 December 1760 he married Elizabeth Beeson. The following year, he set up his own Piano business in Princes Street, Hanover Square. Zumpe's pianos were made from 1761 to about 1800. 

His shrewd business approach recognised that the high-priced offerings from the likes of Shudi were always going to be out of the reach of all but the wealthy, so he set about producing adequate pianos for a modest price. Thus the English square piano was born. It had a compass of about five octaves and was, despite the name, rectangular in shape. Compact and more affordable than the full-size wing-shaped instrument, they were very popular and provided the wider public, especially amateur musicians, access to the new instrument. 

His business partner from 1769 was Gabriel Buntebart until September 1778. He was then joined, for a few years by Meincke Meyer but the business was finally taken over by Frederick Schoene in 1783, who in his adverts, still claimed to be ’Successors to Johannes Zumpe.’

Johannes Zumpe prospered and amassed a fortune that enabled him to retire early - most likely after Frederick Schoene take-over. His will was dated 1784, and gave his address as Queen Charlotte Row in the parish of St Mary-le-Bow. He died 1790 in London.

© Steve Burden

Americus Backers

 It is not known when or where Americus Backers was born but it is thought his parents were Dutch. The details of his origins seem to be hidden from official record, but by the time of his death in 1778, he had left his signature, as it were, on the unfolding story of piano manufacture. 

Americus moved to Freiberg and was apprenticed to Gottfried Silbermann, the organ, harpsichord and piano builder. Silbermann set up his organ workshop in 1711 and by 1730 was building harpsichords and pianos in both square, and harpsichord cases. Americus is likely to have arrived between 1720 and 1725 but no date can be thought definite.

Twelve ex-apprentices from Silbermann’s workshop came to England about 1760 and began building pianos. Americus Backers, among the first to arrive, brought Silbermann's Cristofori-type action and refined it to produce a reliable and responsive version which he fitted to a grand harpsichord case. This new, groundbreaking piano was a great turning point in the story of keyboard instruments, the harpsichord’s days were numbered, as Americus’s gift to English music became the blueprint for what we recognise as the modern grand piano!

Backers Action 1777

The eleven other ‘apostles’ also established themselves as piano builders though they favoured the square piano. Most well-known was Johannes Zumpe. 

1763 Americus’s moved his home and workshop to Jermyn Street, London. John Broadwood and Robert Stodart, both apprentices to Burkat Shudi would often visit Americus in the evenings to help his work on perfecting the escapement feature on his action.

To conclude, the Backers ‘piano in a harpsichord case’ was the first of what was to become known as the 18th Century English grand piano. There is no exact date for the very first instrument to be offered for sale but its earliest appearance in public was in 1770.

In 1776, Americus had perfected his action as far as he could he take it - simplifying and improving the best features of the Cristofori action. His principles were used as the model for the English action.

Americus Backers died at his home in Jermyn Street, London in 1778. His contribution to the development of piano construction was of the utmost significance.

©Steve Burden

SIlbermann

Gottfried Silbermann was born 14 January 1683 in Kleinbobritzsch. He was the youngest son of Michael Silbermann, a carpenter. They moved to Frauenstein in 1685. He became a builder of keyboard instruments - harpsichords, clavichords, organs and fortepianos in Germany.

 In 1723 he was given the title Honorary Court and State Organ Builder to the King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. As well as building organs, from about 1728 he began building pianos using Shroter actions. The Schroter actions were very basic, inexpensive, and didn’t work too well. 

Silbermann showed a couple of his pianos to J. S.  Bach, who was very critical, saying that the tone was weak in the treble and the keys were hard to play even though the tone was pleasant. Initially annoyed by the negative comment, Silbermann overcame the snub and set about to improve his pianos. The improvements paid off and when Bach sampled the later pianos, he responded with positive approval!

King Frederick the Great of Prussia became acquainted with Silbermann's pianos and bought a number of them in about 1747. In these pianos, he used actions that were almost identical to the Cristofori models. 

For a while, both action types: the ‘Cristofori’ and the ‘Schroter’ were used by Silbermann in his pianos even though they were so different. In the decades to follow, the development of each action-type separated the piano-construction world, becoming known as the ‘English’ School and the ‘German’ or ‘Viennese’ School. It is significant that for a while, Silbermann provided the space for both these action-types to evolve a little before they became very distinct schools of approach. 

Silbermann’s nephew and pupil Johann Andreas Silbermann taught Johann Andreas Stein, who went on to perfect the ‘Viennese’ action.

The so-called ‘twelve apostles’ were a group of Silbermann’s pupils who, from about 1756, fled Germany and migrated to England. Among the twelve, was Johannes Zumpe, who popularised the square piano, and, Americas Backers who remodelled the Cristofori action to become the ‘English’ action. 

The action used today in modern pianos is the direct descendant of the ‘English’ action. It was significantly reworked and perfected some 50 years later by the likes of Sebastien Erard and, later still, by Henri Herz.

Silbermann died in 1753, possibly from tin-lead poisoning while working on an organ in Dresden.

© Steve Burden