Christoph Schröter

Biography

Christoph Schröter was a German organist who submitted models of hammer actions—one striking upward, one striking downward—to the King of Saxony in 1721, asserting that he had completed them in 1717. He stated that the idea came to him after hearing the virtuoso Hebenstreit perform on a large dulcimer (hackbrett) called the 'Pantaleon.' Though simple and crude, his action is described as the fundamental design underlying the later 'German,' or more specifically 'Vienna,' piano action, particularly its concept of the hammer butt swinging in a fork. Schröter was disappointed that the King did not provide support for him to actually build instruments, and no pianofortes of his own making are known to exist. Pianofortes containing the Schröter action were nonetheless built at Dresden as early as 1724, and Gottfried Silbermann used a version of the Schröter action in pianofortes he built beginning in 1728. From Spillane (1890): Christoph Gottlieb Schröeter, described as 'a child of the Fatherland,' was put forward by German writers as inventor of the pianoforte, with a claimed date of 1717. He was the son of an organist of some note and was born on the borders of Bohemia. Schröeter said he built his Dresden pianoforte without knowledge of Cristofori's earlier instrument, though Spillane regards this as insufficient to establish priority. He was engaged throughout his career in disputes with rival piano and harpsichord makers, a pattern Spillane suggests casts doubt on the sincerity of his invention claim. His Dresden pianoforte nonetheless caught the popular fancy and inspired a host of imitators.

Highlights

• Submitted upward- and downward-striking hammer action models to the King of Saxony in 1721, claiming they had been finished in 1717
• Said he was inspired to invent the action after hearing the virtuoso Hebenstreit play the large dulcimer called the 'Pantaleon'
• His action is described as the fundamental basis of what later became the German, and more particularly the 'Vienna,' action
• Claimed to have independently built a pianoforte in Dresden in 1717
• Son of an organist, born on the borders of Bohemia
• Engaged throughout his life in disputes with rival piano and harpsichord makers

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 44, 45.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 16, 18.

Public domain.