KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS

Silbermann also built stringed keyboard instruments. Apart from the building of traditional instruments, such as harpsichords and clavichords, he dedicated himself to the development of the fortepiano which had been invented by Bartholomeo Cristofori.

Furthermore, he created the so-called “Cembal d’Amour”, a clavichord with a fuller sonority and double-length strings, that had to be struck in the middle. Silbermann delivered several fortepianos to the royal court in Potsdam two of which have been preserved to date (Potsdam, Neues Palais and Sanssouci), a third instrument is owned by the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Germanic National Museum) in Nuremberg. A two-manual harpsichord in the Schloss Pillnitz (Pillnitz Castle) near Dresden has been ascribed recently to Silbermann.

 
ORGANS AND THEIR SITES