Kunz

Biography

Kunz, described only as "a musician," is named as the inventor behind an extraordinarily elaborate grand piano built for him in 1796 by Still Brothers of Prague, Bohemia. The instrument had 230 strings, 360 pipes, and 105 different tonal effects; it measured three feet nine inches high, seven feet six inches long, and three feet two inches wide, and had two keyboards, one above the other, and 25 pedals controlling effects such as lute, flute, flute traverso, dulciana, salicet, viola di gamba, sifflet, open flute, hollow flute, fagott, French horn, and clarinet, among others. Dolge presents the instrument as the extreme endpoint of a craze for adding unharmonic, quasi-orchestral effects to grand pianos, a fashion ultimately rejected by true artists. No further biographical detail about Kunz is given.

Highlights

• A musician for whom Still Brothers of Prague built, in 1796, an extraordinary grand piano with 230 strings, 360 pipes, 105 tonal effects, two keyboards, and 25 pedals producing lute, flute, French horn, clarinet, and other imitative effects.

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 57.

Public domain.