Jean-Henri Pape
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2009) |
Jean-Henri Pape, born as Johann Heinrich Pape and also known as Henry Pape[1] (1 July 1789 – 2 February 1875), was a distinguished French maker of pianos and harps in the early 19th century.
Pape was born in
grand pianos followed the English system of Broadwood and Tomkinson, though endowed with mechanical genius it was not long before he modified, then completely changed their principles of construction. Pape concentrated on defects in square and grand pianos caused by the structural gap between the sounding board and wrest plank allowing the hammers to strike the strings; the solution of placing actions above the strings had been imagined by Marius, then Hildebrand and finally Streicher in Vienna
, but instead of levers and counterweights Pape's arrangement used a coil spring to raise the hammers quickly and with almost no effect on touch. This system was very successful in squares but lacked some lightness and delicacy in grand pianos. The variations he introduced in the forms and actions of upright pianos gave his instruments remarkable power.
The work of this skilled maker was rewarded by favourable reports of his instruments from the
Legion of Honor
in 1839. Skilled in every aspect of mechanics, Pape invented a machine used to saw wood or ivory in spirals, and exhibited its results in 1827. One of his pianos was veneered with sheets of ivory nine feet long and two feet wide. A small pamphlet commemorated his contributions to the instrument (Notice sur les inventions et perfectionnements apportes par H. Pape dans la fabrication des pianos, Paris: Loquin: 11 pages with three lithographic plates).
Pape could not cope with the increasing industrialisation in the production of pianos. When he died in 1875 in the Paris suburb of Asnières-sur-Seine, where he had continued research into the construction of the instrument, he was impoverished.[2] For some time his son and nephew managed the factory he founded.
References
- Praeger Publishing, 1969; second printing 1971), p. 96.
- ^ Catherine Michaud-Pradeilles: "Pape, Johann Heinrich", in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG), biographical part, vol. 13 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2005), cc. 91–92.
- F.J. Fétis: Biographie universelle des musiciens (Paris: Didot frères, 1867; rev. ed. 1880)
External links
- Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale
- Cité de la musique, maker's entry
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
