How Fantastic – the Piano Created by Mozart!

August 30, 2021 Leslie Young

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Mozart only lived 35 years but was certainly one of the greatest minds to compose sublime music, still adored today. His father was also a composer – actually, the musician of his day for the Salzburg royalty. As a child, Mozart was surrounded by music in his home. He observed his sister’s lessons on the clavier, a keyboard instrument, and must have been fascinated. When only three years old he would play thirds after his sister’s lessons (perhaps during as well ) and surely was entranced by the pleasant sounds he had created. A few years later he was composing music and in 1764 at eight, he composed his first symphony, Symphony No. 1 in E Flat Major.

Fast-forward to 1785 when the young musician composed Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor and performed it in Vienna on the piano created by Mozart himself (built by Anton Walter), which had a pedalboard. Picture a piano with the pedals of an organ underneath, played with the feet as those of the organ would be. Mozart was an accomplished organist, so this would, no doubt, seem to him to be nothing much out of the ordinary. The documentation for this exceptional instrument is found in a letter written by Mozart’s father, Leopold, when he was visiting his son who lived in Vienna. I imagine this father was rather proud of this most unusual piano created by Mozart!

This concept remains alive today at Borgato Pianos in Padova, Italy, where concert grand pianos have been built completely by hand since 1991. Their inspiration for the first double concert grand piano with pedalboard came from the compositions by Mozart written for piano with pedalboard to accommodate the extended bass range of the music.

This Borgato unique instrument has been available since 2000 and is described as follows:

“The DOPPIO BORGATO L 282 – P 398 is made up of two superimposed concert-grand pianos, the upper instrument being the concert-grand BORGATO model L 282. The lower instrument is a grand piano BORGATO model P 398, operated by a pedalboard of 37 notes with an extension of 3 octaves (A 27,5 Hz – A 220 Hz), similar to those of the pedals of an organ. A “resonance” pedal is applied to the lower piano which activates the damper mechanism simultaneously on both instruments.” This is a fantastic expansion on the piano created by Mozart.

Amazing!

Though not a well-known fact, in the 1800s and 1900s compositions expressly for the piano with pedalboard were written by a number of musicians including Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Charles Valentin Alkan, Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles Gounod, among others.

Thank you, Borgato, for this amazing version of the piano created by Mozart!

Leslie Young is the author/composer of the Revolutionary Piano Method. She co-founded a K-12th grade charter school in Texas and has been a piano teacher for about 40 years. She has had experience teaching a variety of students tackling piano for the first time or as returning students

She states: “In teaching piano to students of varying ages, what also varies is a commitment of time and the amount of dedication. Children of certain ages may do very well with a parent as teacher; others may need someone who is not family to instruct them. Some older children and adults prefer to make progress on their own, and this method is designed to act as a meticulous guide through new material. Some adults and teens insist on professional teachers, which also encourages continuity. Because these books are self-explanatory, a new or experienced professional teacher will have no trouble using the Revolutionary Piano Method with students. It is an easy way to learn piano.”

Leslie believes that “learning to play the piano is more about diligence and perseverance” – but would add that just as critical to success is the method that is used, the encouragement of critical thinking, and the instructional principles that promote immediate success.

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