Dr. Ed. F. Rimbault

Biography

Dr. Ed. F. Rimbault published "The Pianoforte" in London in 1860, at the height of the English piano industry; Dolge suggests the book's emphasis on English achievement over French, German and Austrian efforts likely reflects Rimbault's incomplete knowledge of those traditions. Dolge nonetheless credits Rimbault with producing documentary evidence establishing Christofori's priority as inventor of the pianoforte. From Spillane (1890): Rimbault was the author of 'The Pianoforte,' an historical work published by Cocks & Company of London in 1860. His book included an English translation of a 1711 Italian document by the Florentine scholar Marchese Scipione Maffei, supporting the claim that Bartolommeo Cristofori exhibited four pianofortes in 1709. A. J. Hipkins followed Rimbault's dating of Cristofori's achievement to that year.

Highlights

• Published "The Pianoforte" (London, 1860)
• Credited by Dolge with producing documentary evidence of Christofori's priority as inventor of the pianoforte
• Author of 'The Pianoforte,' published by Cocks & Company, London, in 1860
• His book reproduced a 1711 document by Maffei supporting Cristofori's claim

Sources

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

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 16, 17.

Public domain.