Henri Pape

Biography

Henri Pape of Paris appears twice in this section of Dolge's account. First, alongside Ignace Pleyel, he is credited with so successfully improving Robert Wornum's 1826 upright piano action that the result became popularly, if inaccurately, known as the 'French' action. Later, in the discussion of hammer covering, Dolge credits Pape with the invention of tapered felt for piano hammers. Around the time Alpheus Babcock patented a felt-covered hammer in Boston (1833) and P. F. Fischer of London -- a friend of Pape's -- obtained an English patent for hammer felt two years afterward, Dolge argues the Fischer patent really represents Pape's own work. Pape had been experimenting with hair felt cut from soft beaver hats and, unable to slice it thin enough for treble hammers, induced a hatter to produce felt in sheets tapering from a quarter-inch to a sixteenth-inch thick. He exhibited pianos with such felt-covered hammers in 1839, and Dolge concludes that credit for inventing tapered hammer felt 'belongs to Pape.' Henri Pape is presented as a genius who expended a fortune in money and years of unceasing labor trying to perfect a downward-striking piano action, a problem the author calls 'contrary to the law of gravitation' and mechanically absurd. He took up the challenge after other able makers of the day, including Stein, Loud, Sackmeister, Hildebrand, and Streicher, had already given up the effort as hopeless. Not only did Pape persist in his own experiments, he transmitted his faith in the downward-striking action to his pupils, notably Mathushek and Stöcker of Berlin, who continued what the text characterizes as a fundamentally impossible undertaking. Dolge treats Pape's persistence as emblematic of both the ingenuity and the wasted effort that characterized much of the historical quest for a 'new' piano action. Henri Pape is credited in this text as the true inventor of the tapered, dual-density piano hammer felt whose description was later patented in London by P. Fischer in 1835. The author states that Fischer's patent description is identical to Pape's earlier invention and can undoubtedly be traced to him, implying Pape's priority was not formally recognized in the English patent. No further biographical information about Pape, such as dates or nationality, is provided on these pages; he is mentioned only in this single context of the felt hammer invention. Henri Pape of Paris, described by the author as 'that great piano maker,' tried his hand at applying Jacquard's perforated-cardboard mechanism to a musical instrument in 1851, following the earlier attempts of Seytre and Bain. As with those inventors, no instrument survives and the invention appears to have had no practical or commercial value; Pape is noted here chiefly for lending his prestige as a noted piano maker to the pursuit of automatic-playing mechanisms. Henri Pape ran a piano workshop in Paris where a young Frederick Mathushek apprenticed and became, in the text's words, 'thoroughly infected with that inventor's bacteria.' Pape is described as more given to experimenting with novel ideas for their own sake than Mathushek was, and, like his student, he died a poor man despite his considerable inventive talents and prolific output of ideas within the piano trade. Henri Pape is named in the text's brief survey of early pedal-piano builders in Paris, alongside the firms of Erard and Pleyel. The author states it 'can hardly be doubted' that Pape also tried his hand at building pedal pianos, reasoning that there was always demand for such instruments among organists for practice purposes. No further detail on Pape's work or career is given. Henri Pape of Paris, described by Dolge as 'that king of piano empirics,' experimented extensively with soundboard materials, trying not only many kinds of wood and metal but even parchment. All of these materials proved able to transmit the sound of the strings, with the sole exception of parchment, which proved totally unfit for use in the treble sections.

Highlights

• Spent a fortune and years of labor pursuing a workable downward-striking piano action
• Persisted after other master makers (Stein, Loud, Sackmeister, Hildebrand, Streicher, and others) had abandoned the same problem as hopeless
• Passed on his belief in the downward-striking action to pupils, including Mathushek and Stöcker of Berlin
• With Pleyel, refined Wornum's upright action in Paris, giving rise to the nickname the 'French' action
• Credited by Dolge as the true originator of felt-covered piano hammers, cutting up beaver hats for hair felt and inducing a hatter to produce tapered felt sheets
• Exhibited pianos with felt-covered hammers in 1839
• Of Paris; called by Dolge 'that king of piano empirics'
• Experimented with many kinds of wood and metal, and even parchment, for soundboards
• All his materials transmitted string sound except parchment, which proved unfit for the treble sections
• Credited by the author as the true originator of the tapered, dual-density piano hammer felt later patented in London by P. F. Fischer in 1835
• Described by the author as 'that great piano maker'
• Attempted a perforated-cardboard playing mechanism in 1851
• Believed by the author to have also experimented with building pedal pianos in Paris
• Ran the Paris workshop where Frederick Mathushek trained and absorbed his inventive spirit
• Prolific inventor of novel piano ideas who, like his student Mathushek, died a poor man

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 93, 98, 121, 133, 191, 321, 325.

Public domain.