chanism that Cristofori and Silbermann had made famous, thusgiving rise to a square piano that gained widespread acceptancethroughout Europe (Hollis 58). The clamor initiated when:Johann Christian Bach...the youngest son of JohannSebastian, came to prefer the piano over the harpsichord and, in 1768, gave the first ever solo piano performance in an English concert using a Zumpe square. (Hollis 58) The new mechanism created by Zumpe came to be known as (thepatented) ‘English Single Action.’ The little square pianobecame so popular that pianos could be traced to the Middle East,where the legs were shortened to accommodate the player, whowould sit on cushions on the floor (58). An improved version ofZumpe’s piano added an escapement like Silbermann’s. John Giebcreated the ‘English Double Action,’ and pianos made with thismechanism accounted for the successful piano that is even moresimilar to modern pianos (59).Though Germany and England received most of the glory forpianos of the eighteenth century, piano makers in Francecontributed to improved modifications of English and Germanversions. A piano maker named Sebastian Erard (and his brother)took elements of the English Grand Action (by Gieb) and theViennese (by Silbermann) and “put them all together with oneglorified gesture” (Welton). The result of Erard’s new piano wasthat as long as the key is held down, the hammer remains close tothe string rather than return to it’s original position” (Hollis62). The advantage of this is that if a key is struckrepeatedly, the hammer doesn’t have to travel as far as it wouldwith an unmodified piano. Therefore, “repeated notes can bestruck with greater speed and ease, and dynamic shadings can bemore easily controlled” (62). Performers found this advantageousbecause they could now...
