In those days the manufacturer had to make each article by hand that went into a piano, which is the reason it took so long to finish the instrument.
[Illustration: Piano made by Charles Albrecht, Philadelphia]
If the early records are reliable, the history of the piano in this country begins at Philadelphia. In 1775 John Behrend, a German or Swede, built an instrument in the Quaker city, and up to 1855 it continued to be the center of trade in musical instruments. When we consider how much the piano has contributed to the happiness of mankind and to the promotion of art and culture, the honor conceded to the Pennsylvania city is by no means a small one. The first spinets and virginals made on this side of the water were undoubtedly of Philadelphia manufacture. This was in the year 1742. Along with its musical progress it is said that the first hand or barrel organs were made there, and of the latter some one says: "They are the curse and plague of the modern high class individual." A Scotchman, who settled in Philadelphia near the end of 1785, was the maker of the hand-organ.
To show that the town was progressive in all kinds of instruments, we find that the historical society of Philadelphia has records of the first organ built there in 1737 by one Mathew Zimmerman. Local historians claim it to be the first one built in America. John Clark built one at Salem, Mass., in 1743, for the Episcopal church at that place. This puts Massachusetts well to the front in early musical history. Zimmerman's will, probated the same year he finished the organ, bequeaths it to his nephew and expresses the hope that he would learn to play upon it, adding, "If not, it can be sold, owing to its being so much of a curiosity."
[Illustration: Piano, Primitive German Action. Eighteenth Century]
The story of the first piano to come into this country is truly romantic and historic. The famous continental frigate "Boston," a privateer, sailed into port with a British merchant ship as a prize. The dauntless Captain Tucker was in command. The cargo was sold for the benefit of the National Treasury, and among other articles was a pianoforte of London make.
It was not until after the revolutionary period that the spinet and harpsichord were superseded in this country by the piano. A newspaper of 1791 tells us that there were some twenty-seven pianos among the wealthy Boston families. All were of English make. In 1840 slow, easy-going ways crept into Philadelphia and she lost the prestige she once enjoyed of being the center of musical culture as well as of art and literature. Boston took the place and has held it ever since. Many of the distinctive features of the American piano actually originated there, such as the applying of metal in construction, which idea was first shown to be practical by Alpheus Babcock and Jonas Chickering. Then Timothy Gilbert, another Boston man, conceived the upright action which is in such general use today. There is no doubt but that Chickering was the first man who dared deviate from a prescribed method in case building.