I recently acquired a very special piano made in the very early days of Cincinnati Piano History. This piano is actually a type of Viennese Fortepiano, although it was made right here in Cincinnati! It is an incredibly elegant and richly ornamented 1830s American Empire Mahogany and Rosewood square fortepiano, similar in basic design to some of those made by the master builder Andre Stein of Vienna. This piano was made by Andrew (originally Andreas) Reuss, a native of Bad Kissingen, Germany who was a piano maker in Vienna prior to coming to America. His shop was located on Walnut Street in the old Cincinnati, while it was still just a little pioneer town.
The features on this piano are quite extraordinary, including a large ornate pedal lyre with four pedals, one of which operates a drum mechanism set up inside the piano! The piano has the classic Viennese-style action with the pivot point being placed to the rear of the hammer, alowing for a light touch with extremely rapid repititon. Historic pianos with the Viennese action are highly sought out for the performance of period authentic classical music.
The tuning pins are positioned at the front rather than the rear which gives it a considerable advantage in ease of tuning over the typical English and American square pianos. Although the key compass is a full six octaves FF-f4 there are no externally visible metal structural bracings, so the piano appears to be a late example of an all wood frame fortepiano.
The Smithsonian Institution listed a very similar (or possibly the same?) piano in their inventory for 1915 with the following description:
A. Reuss, Cincinnati, Ohio, square, about 1832 ; one of the most picturesque types of instruments of the larger form. Reuss announced himself as a piano maker from Vienna.
Look at the photos and enjoy. I hope to have more information and photos to come on this amazing pioneer piano maker and his pianos.
