Beethoven

Biography

Beethoven, while living in Vienna, became a warm and lasting friend of Johann Andreas and Nannette Streicher, who kept open house and gathered celebrities of the day—such as Hummel, Cramer, Moscheles, Henselt and Kullak—around their table; this friendship endured to the composer's last days. Nannette Streicher exercised a motherly care over the 'great child' Beethoven, superintending his much-neglected household and looking after his daily wants. In 1816, at his request, she built him a grand piano with an unusually wide compass of 6½ octaves, considered quite an accomplishment for the period. The text states that nearly all of Beethoven's compositions were created on pianos built by Nannette Streicher, underscoring how central the Streicher instruments were to his working life in Vienna. No birth or death dates for Beethoven are given in this section, which focuses solely on his personal and professional relationship with the Streicher family. Beethoven is mentioned briefly in the text as the historical example of an artist cared for by a piano maker, Nannette Stein-Streicher, some 170 years before Dolge's writing. The reference is used to establish a long tradition of piano manufacturers attending personally to the needs of the great performers who used and endorsed their instruments, drawing a parallel to the modern-day solicitude shown by piano makers toward touring virtuosos described elsewhere in the passage. Beethoven is named, with Bach and Mozart, among the masters who preferred the clavichord to the harpsichord and early pianoforte for its expressive touch. Elsewhere the text notes that compositions were written for the harpsichord from Scarlatti's time (1670) up through Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' (1802), using the latter as a chronological marker for the end of the harpsichord's period of musical relevance. Beethoven is cited as one of the masters who preferred the Schröter-Stein piano action, developed by Johann Andreas Stein's addition of the "hopper" to the earlier Schröter/Silbermann action, over the English action in use at the same period, despite that action eventually giving way to the Cristofori-Backers lineage.

Highlights

• Preferred the clavichord to the harpsichord and early pianoforte.
• His 'Moonlight Sonata' (1802) is cited as marking the late end of the era in which major compositions were written for the harpsichord.
• Preferred the Schröter-Stein piano action over the English action of his time
• Became a close, lasting friend of Johann Andreas and Nannette Streicher while living in Vienna
• Nannette Streicher exercised motherly care over his neglected household
• Had a special 6½-octave grand piano built for him by Nannette Streicher in 1816; nearly all his compositions were created on her pianos
• Cited as having been personally cared for by piano maker Nannette Stein-Streicher, about 170 years before the book's writing

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 87, 219.

Public domain.