Joseph Haydn

Biography

The composer Haydn is described in the text as one of Burkat Shudi's intimate friends, so much at home in Shudi's house at 33 Great Poulteney Street that he wrote many of his compositions there, cited alongside Handel and Mozart as evidence of the house's standing among the leading musicians of the day. From Spillane (1890): The composer Haydn, while visiting London, called at William Southwell's shop in Lad Lane after Southwell's upright grand attracted attention there, and expressed himself delighted with the new field the instrument opened up, praising both its case structure and its musical results. Broadwood is said to have subsequently launched a rival six-octave instrument upon learning of Haydn's interest in Southwell's compass extension.

Highlights

• An intimate friend of Shudi's who felt so at home in Shudi's house that he wrote many of his compositions there
• Visited William Southwell's shop in Lad Lane, London, while in the city, and expressed delight with Southwell's new upright piano design

Sources

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

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

Public domain.