The Great Piano Makers

‘An invaluable source of information… Very warmly recommended’ — Nigel Simeone, Gramophone

‘The most up-to-date and useful guide to the subject’ — BBC Music Magazine

‘The kind you take down to check a solitary fact, then find yourself still reading, engrossed, an hour later’ — Richard Bratby, International Piano

In vivid and lively style, Jeremy Nicholas — one of the UK’s most respected writers on the piano and pianists — presents a chronological survey of the great piano makers, from Cristofori to Fazioli.

Since the end of the 18th century, piano music has been the most popular of all genres of musical composition, and the piano remains one of the most commonly-used instruments in public performance. There have been any number of books about the famous composers who wrote for the piano — but few about the ingenious, courageous and skilled entrepreneurs who built the instruments we listen to and play.

Here are the stories behind more than 100 piano makers: from the giants of today with familiar names — Steinway, Bechstein, Yamaha — to once-famous brands like Chickering, Collard & Collard and Förster; from pioneers like Henri Pape, Sébastien Érard and John McTammany, to salutes to the long-forgotten Pantaléon Hebenstreit and Alois Hába.

‘Written with the lightest touch, but there’s no loss of detail’ — Gramophone

ISBN: 978-1-917837-26-2 (hardback)