JOHANNES ZUMPE
With information on Gabriel BUNTEBART, Christopher SIEVERS,
the SCHOENE brothers, and Meinke MEYER
The oldest known authentically dated square pianos were made in London in 1766 by 'Johannes Zumpe'.
John Christopher Zumpé, as he was known in London, was born in June 1726 in Fürth, a small market town near Nuremberg, in Franconia. He arrived in London in the 1750s as a journeyman cabinet maker, having previously served an apprenticeship in his home town, and was fortunate enough to otain employment with Swiss-born harpsichord maker Burkat Shudi, in Great Pulteney Street. The precise date of his arrival is not known, but an acquaintance and client Charles Burney wrote that Zumpé had 'long worked under Tschudi', implying we must presume not less than five years, but the date from which Burney reckoned is not clear. However, he integrated into English society well enough to make a happy and long-lasting marriage with twenty six year old Elizabeth Beeston in 1760, at which point it appears that Zumpé quit his employment and set up his own business at 7 Princes Street, Hanover Square, in the most fashionable part of west London.
Leopold Mozart may have visited him there, with seven year old Wolfgang and his very accomplished elder sister 'Nannerl', during their lengthy visit to London in 1764/5, but whether they encountered any keyboard instruments there is uncertain. An entry in Leopold's travel notebooks records Zumpe's sign was the 'Golden Guittar' and this corresponds exactly with his known surviving work from the 1761-65 period, comprising citterns or English Guittars, very similar to those used today by Potuguese fado singers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yejaUUBqtr0 Such instruments, with a pear-shaped body fitted with metal strings, became very fashionable with aristocratic ladies in England around 1760. Such clients would be very important for his future prosperity.
Today there are only four houses in Princes Street that remain largely as they were in the eighteenth century, but one of them is No. 7, Zumpe's residence. In the picture below it is the white-painted house, regrettably disfigured by a twentieth-century smoked glass window at street level. Such thoughtless alteration is a pity because this is indeed a historic house: the first building in the world devoted wholly to piano manufacture (from 1766 on). The red brick house next door possibly gives a better idea of its likely appearance in the 1760s.
In 1763, or soon afterwards, Zumpé made a firm friendship with Johann Christian Bach, music master to Queen Charlotte (even more popular at that time than Princess Diana was to become in the twentieth century). Another invaluable associate was his future business partner Gabriel Gottlieb Buntebart who arrived from Strellitz at the same time as Queen Charlotte. The young queen was a good keyboard player, and often sang to her own accompaniment. For this purpose contemporary accounts record that she brought a harpsichord with her when she travelled to England in 1761, and even sang and played in her cabin on board the ship that carried her to her new country. A report of this appears in a letter of Horace Walpole, written from London when the new queen was expected to make her first public appearance. Clearly someone must have transported and maintained this instrument during her month-long journey and it seems very probable that Gabriel Buntebart was entrusted with this duty. (Three decades later, when writing his will, he described himself as 'Grand Pianoforte Maker to her Majesty'.)
It is not sure when Zumpe made his first pianos (probably 1765 or 1766), but with friends such as Bach and Buntebart, with their connections to the new queen's music at Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace) he would have had a discerning audience who could give plenty of useful advice. The instrument that he created was sure to appeal to the right sort of people. In fact there is much documentary evidence to show that London's two most popular music teachers, J.C.Bach and Charles Burney, thought so highly of Zumpe's little pianos that they willingly acted as agents, recommending them to friends and acquaintances everywhere. In public notices in 1779/80 Zumpe describes himself as 'maker to Her Majesty and the Royal family', not a small accolade.
Zumpe's earliest pianos set the pattern for future developments throughout Europe and America. Although very compact (the first ones were just four feet wide) they nevertheless have a keyboard of almost five octaves, so they could be used for amost any published music. Their clear articulation and charmingly novel tone made them ideal for the kind of galant sonatas - solos as well as 'accompanied' - composed in the Italian style, by J.C.Bach (and his brothers), Boccherini, Galuppi and dozens of lesser masters. The soundboard is very small, but the success of their distinctive tone originated chiefly in very robust string tensions (probably greater than on any piano made before) and the voicing of their tiny hammers by covering them with soft goatskin or sheepskin.
There are four known surviving pianos from Zumpe dated 1766. The one shown here, owned by William Garlick (formerly of New York) has many curious features. It has the least number of notes [AA to f3; 57 notes]. The natural keys are black, but Zumpe began to make them with ivory key plates before the end of that year. [but see note below] The lock board falls forwards, as on many German clavichords. This feature also changed by 1767: thereafter the lock board is hinged from the lid. From the beginning there was a hand stop to disengage the dampers, so that it could sound like a dulcimer: a tone quality which was very popular in Germany under the name Pantalon. However, to counter objections from English music teachers later examples have two hand stops for this, raising the bass or treble dampers, separately or together, and often a third hand stop to operate a buff stop (likened to the sound of a gut-strung harp or lute). The soundboard was made a little wider and the keyboard was extended down to GG [the apparent GG# being a dummy key], and later to FF. Through the recommendations of their friends, the partners Zumpe & Buntebart sold large numbers of these pianos in France and Germany, and probably elsewhere too. An example has been reported surviving in St Petersburg, dated 1774, at the Palace of Pavlovsk, formerly the property of Empress Catherine's son, Paul. Its elaborate decoration with decorative medallions in marquetry is similar to a design made by Robert Adam, expressly for the Empress. Pianos corresponding exactly to Zumpe & Buntebart's usual design in plain mahogany are known from documents in north America as early as 1770. Instrument makers in Switzerland, Spain, Scandinavia and north Germany saw them, admired them, and soon set about copying them.
In all there may be as many as forty or fifty specimens still surviving, dating from 1766 through to 1782, signed either by Zumpe alone, or jointly with his partner: from 1768 the instruments are inscribed Johannes Zumpe et Buntebart Londini fecerunt until 1778 when at Michaelmas [25 September] the partnership broke up. Zumpe established a new workshop two hundred metres away in a newly built house near Cavendish Square. In 1782 for reasons unknown he assigned this address and the piano-making business to the brothers Frederick and Christian Schoene (born 1749 and 1747 respectively) who came from his home town Fürth: like him they had previously served an apprenticeship there. Presumably they paid him royalties because the inscription of their pianos reads Schoene & Company / Successors to Johannes Zumpe etc. The name Zumpe is purposely written much bolder than Schoene, which has sometimes led to mistaken identifications. Buntebart meanwhile took over the old address in Princes Street and soon after took a new partner, Christoph Julius Ludwig Sievers, from Hanover, who presumably brought new capital into the business. Their instruments are inscribed Gabriel Buntebart et Sievers Londini fecerunt usually followed by the year of manufacture. Most of them, like many pianos from Schoene's establishment, are equipped with three pedals, rather than handstops. These operate the dampers [press the pedal to obtain the dulcimer effect]; the buff stop [press the pedal to make it sound like a lute or harp]; and a 'swell' pedal raising part of the lid [to obtain contrasts of muffled or open tone]. For over a decade Buntebart's foreman was John Henry Schrader, and it was he who took over the Princes Street workshop with the remaining stock in 1795. Meanwhile the Schoene business at the southern end of Cavendish Square continued with great success, at least until 1789 when Revolution in France put an end to Schoene's best market. Sebastien Erard and other Parisian makers thereafter replicated Schoene's design, through until 1800. About 1794 Frederick Schoene took a new partner named Thomas Vinsen, who from 1799 continued the business with Frederick's son, George Fredrick, at new premises in Paddington Street. There are some excellent late eighteenth century pianos in existence bearing the inscription Schoene & Vinsen, some with a unique escapement action. The last known instrument from Schoene is dated 1805 and now belongs to Easton Historical Society in Pennsylvania. It is inscribed: Georgius Fredericus Schoene / No. 45 Paddington Street, Marylebone / London 1805. However, he later turned his back on piano making and became a successful artist and engraver.
An interesting feature of some surviving pianos by Buntebart is the presence of J.C.Bach's endorsement which appears as a faint but legible signature at the far edge of the soundboard. There can be no doubt that his many published keyboard sonatas 'for Piano-forte or Harpsichord' were chiefly played by his pupils and admirers on pianos supplied by Zumpe & Buntebart. At some time in the 1780s Buntebart also tried his hand at grand piano making, but none is known to survive. An interesting recent discovery on a square piano by Schoene & Co., 1788, is the signature on the soundboard of Charles Rouseau Burney, indicating a continuing Burney family patronage of 'the successors to Johannes Zumpe'.
John Zumpé, as he wished to be known, pronouncing his name to rhyme with 'lumpy', may have been in declining health in the 1780s when he passed his business to the Schoene brothers. He drafted his will in 1784 and died at home, in London, in 1790. It reveals that he held long leases on six houses on the northern edge of the city, near the Oxford Road, and further wealth in bonds and chattels. His wife was well provided for, and in addition his will included bequests to the St Marylebone Charity for Needy Children, and to the Orphan & Charity School in Fürth. This latter bequest provided purchase money for a plot of land near Fürth, giving the school sufficient income from rent to buy shoes or boots for destitute pupils for the next hundred years. 'John Christopher Zumpe' as he is recorded in the church registers, was buried at St Marylebone church on December 5, 1790. His grave was near to Rev. Charles Wesley, the hymn writer, and Stephen Storace, the composer and friend of Mozart. The burial ground has been lost, due to major church rebuilding at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but a small garden with a memorial tablet mentions some of the people interred there — but not Zumpe who was presumably an unknown name to those who erected the monument long after his pianos had been superseded. Gabriel Buntebart, then residing at nearby Lisson Grove, died in 1794 and was buried next to his wife several miles away in Hendon churchyard. Neither man had any surviving child. Mrs Elizabeth Zumpe continued to reside at the former marital home in Edgware Road until 1805. On her death the remaining property was split between a large number of nephews, nieces and family friends so it is likely that any portrait of the 'inventor of the small pianoforte, and maker to Her Majesty' was eventually disposed of by someone long after his fame was forgotten. It is to be hoped that it still exists and may be some day identified.
A note about key plates
Though there has been no report of its survival there was a piano extant in New Jersey in 1884 owned by Mr E Vosseller, who wrote to the Musical Courier:
I have a piano which bears the following inscription on the name-board: Johannes Zumpe Londini fecit 1768, Princess Street [sic], Hanover Square. It is of solid mahogany, has no pedals ... but the dampers are operated by two levers in the left hand corner. The keys are ebony, and the short ones are covered with strips of ivory, so that the colours, as compared with modern pianos, are reversed. The original tuning-hammer is preserved. It seems that in those days every player was expected to do his own tuning, and it was not unusual, when one was invited to play, to send a servant to another room to bring out the piano.
This interesting text was reprinted in the London & Provincial Musical Trades Review, 15 May, 1884, (thanks to Mr Graham Gadd of Twickenham for this information). The implication of this text seems to be that Zumpe made reverse coulour keyboards as late as 1768, presumably to special order. A likely destination for the piano would be Paris, where it is known that Zumpe pianos were in use from an early date.
A note about Zumpe and Meyer
There has been some mystery surrounding Zumpe's apparent association with Meinke Meyer, and this matter is still not satisfactorily resolved. Meyer stated in the Amsterdam Courant of 10 June 1779 that he had recently arrived from London where he had been a partner of Zumpe [geweezene Compagnon van Johannes Zumpi]. For more than a hundred years there have been reports of square pianos bearing the joint names Zumpe and Meyer. However, the only instrument available for scrutiny was that in Castello Sforzesco, Milan, which (as noticed on previous versions of this webpage) does not have a credible inscription. Although it is now inscribed as by Johannes Zumpe et Meyer, the 'et Meyer' is very obviously a later inscription in a cruder style, written on a scratched out surface where something, probably 'Buntebart' has been effaced. So that instrument is clearly inadmissible.
However, the story can now move on since in April 2006 another instrument surfaced in Bonham's auction rooms in New Bond Street. This rather sorry specimen was evidently the remnant of a square piano by Zumpe, or an associate, though it had a later soundboard and bridge, a lid from another instrument, and a replacement nameboard. On this replacement nameboard an inscription cartouche has been fitted, similar to those seen in Zumpe's cheapest pianos 1766-70. Even though this inscription may have originally belonged to another instrument, the text appears to establish that Zumpe & Meyer really was a genuine partnership. The script style looks credible for the period. However, damage at the right necessitated the reinstatement of part of the last digit of the date, but it must have been eight as no other numeral would fit.
Though the lettering looks right (for the period), what at first appears to be nothing more sinister than water damage at Cavendish Square on the lower line reveals another anomaly. The word 'Cavendish' is certainly over-written and it can be seen that its initial letter C is placed very close the preceding word. The awkward fact is that whereas Cavendish is too long for this space, 'Hanover' would fit to perfection. Presumably that is what it originally said. What has been going on here? And why was the inscription over-written? More doubts arise when it is compared with the example below.
This recently discovered piano in private ownership, which has been examined by Michael Cole, seems to tell a different story. It is inscribed Johannes Zumpe Londini fecit 1778. There was certainly no other name combined with this, so this instrument undoubtedly dates after the break with Buntebart, i.e. the latter part of 1778.
It can be readily seen that these two inscriptions were NOT written by the same person. The lower one [Zumpe alone] has the more accomplished style, and is comparable with the better class of instruments from this period. Observe how the arabesque embellishments are neatly done and fill the space, and how the initial letter J is written in the strictly regular calligrapy of the time. The Meyer nameboard above is competent but inferior.
Can it be that in 1778 there was a period where Zumpe was not in partnership with Buntebart, or anyone else, and also a period in partnership with Meyer? And why was the inscription above altered to read Cavendish Square, the lease of which house Zumpe did not take until 1779/80? It is very puzzling to say the least.
Another piano, in Basle, is inscribed also with Zumpe's name alone, and dates from 1782 — therefore just before the Schoene brothers took over.
The case for a very short-lived partnership between Zumpe and Meyer is still not firmly established.
The Location of Zumpe Pianos
Pianos by Zumpe (or Zumpe & Buntebart) can be seen at the following museums: Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, USA; Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart; Russell Collection of Musical Instruments, Edinburgh; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Mass.; Museum of Welsh Life, St Fagans, Cardiff; and Basle, Historisches Museum: also at Hatchlands Park, Surrey [National Trust].
Pianos by Schoene & Co. can be seen at: Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Conservatoire Collection, Paris; Musical Instrument Museum, Brussels; Real Academia de San Fernando, Madrid; Easton Historical Society, Easton, Pennsylvania.
Return to Michael Cole's Home Page.