Tschudi

Biography

Tschudi is named as one of the aristocratic London makers, alongside Broadwood and Kirkman, producing high-priced harpsichords and later equally costly grand pianos. It was against this expensive, aristocratic market that Johannes Zumpe positioned his cheaper square piano aimed at the well-to-do middle class. No further biographical detail is given about Tschudi individually. From Spillane (1890): Tschudi (the Tschudis) was a famous harpsichord-maker in London whose family settled there toward the middle of the eighteenth century, marking a turning point after decades in which England had contributed little to harpsichord development. Zumpe, who later invented the 'square' pianoforte, worked as an employed workman in Tschudi's shop before starting his own business.

Highlights

• One of the aristocratic London makers of high-priced harpsichords, and later costly grand pianos, that Zumpe undercut with a cheaper square piano
• Famous London harpsichord-maker whose family settled in London toward the mid-eighteenth century
• Employed Zumpe, later inventor of the 'square' pianoforte, in his shop

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 172.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 19, 20.

Public domain.