Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 126
Scan 126
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
12 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 104. See the scan on archive.org.
13. BEGINNINGS OF THE PIANOFORTE INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES
3A few spinets were made in this country before the pianoforte. The Boston Gazette of September 18, 1769, stated "That a few days since was shipped for Newport a very curious spinnet being the first 1 ever made in America, the performance of the ingenious Mr. John Harris of Boston (son of the late Mr. Joseph Harris of London, Harpsichord and Spinnet Maker)." 2 His advertisement in The Boston Chronicle, November 14, 1788, showed him a newcomer then.
5Another maker of spinets was Samuel Blyth of Salem. A fine specimen made by him in 1789 is described and pictured in Early Keyboard Instruments by Philip James. 3
7It has been thought by many that Benjamin Crehore of Milton built the first pianoforte in this country. Daniel Spillane stated, however, that John Behrent produced the first pianoforte on this continent in Philadelphia in 1775. Benjamin Crehore he credited with having exhibited in 1792 a harpsichord with improvements suggested by the pianoforte. From this date forward he became known as a repairer of these instruments mechanically. He "was a very ingenious man, accounted one of the best mechanics of the time, and was always consulted about anything difficult in that line." Thomas Appleton for whom Benjamin Crehore worked later, was told by Isaac Crehore, an aged relative of Benjamin, that the latter in making his first pianoforte (sometime before 1800) copied an English instrument, probably a Broadwood. The pianofortes imported from England had short sounding-boards. Benjamin Crehore introduced into his the long sounding-board, such as was used in 1887 when Mr. Appleton wrote his statement about "The Early Boston Piano Makers," and made only about ten to twelve a year. One of his pianofortes, a square, is on exhibition in the Music Division of the Boston Public Library and another in the Essex Institute,
91 Daniel Spillane states in his history that it is proven that the first spinets made in the colonies were the product of Gustavus Hesselius of Philadelphia 1742.
102 James, Philip. Early Keyboard Instruments p. 111.
113 Ibid p. 112 and Plate XXXII.
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