Behrend
square piano maker
Biography
Behrend of Philadelphia is noted by Dolge as the exhibitor of a square piano in 1775. His exhibition is cited as evidence that, within ten years of the square piano's first appearance, the instrument had already been taken up by makers in Germany, England, America, and France. The text does not give further biographical detail about Behrend beyond his location (Philadelphia) and this exhibition date, but the reference situates him among the earliest square-piano builders working in colonial/early America, contemporaneous with the instrument's initial diffusion across Europe and the New World.
Highlights
- Exhibited his square piano in Philadelphia in 1775, marking the square piano's spread beyond Germany to America within a decade of its invention.
Source
Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911).
Public domain.