Robert Wornum

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Robert Wornum (1780-1852) was a piano maker working in London during the first half of the 19th century. He is best known for introducing small cottage and oblique uprights and an action considered to be the predecessor of the modern upright action[1] which was used in Europe through the early 20th century. Art historian Ralph Nicholson Wornum (1812-1877) was his son.[2]

Contents


Robert Wornum was born on 1 October 1780, son of music seller and violin maker Robert Wornum (1742-1815), who worked at 42 Wigmore Street, near Cavendish Square, London.[3] Piano historian Alfred J. Hipkins wrote that he was originally intended for the church,[4] but by 1810 was foreman at Wilkinson & Co., music sellers at 3 Great Windmill Street with warerooms at 13 Haymarket, who in 1809, due to "the great increase of their manufactory of pianos" had determined to close down their other musical enterprises, and had reduced their entire stock of music to half price and offered favorable terms on all instruments out on hire at the time.[5]

[edit] Wilkinson & Wornum and the Unique upright

In 1810 George Wilkinson borrowed £12,000 ($53,000[6]) to form a partnership with Wornum, and leased houses at 315 Oxford street and Princes street, adjoining Hanover Square, for warerooms and a factory as well as residences, with the yard behind 11 Princes street used for seasoning lumber.[7]

Wornum's Unique Action
Wornum's Unique Action

In 1811 Wornum patented a small diagonally strung upright with two strings per note[8] about three feet three inches tall (99 cm) styled the "unique".[9] In William Southwell's sticker action, patented 1807 and used in tall cabinet uprights,[10] the escapement was attached to the key and acted against the padded lower end of the long sticker hinged at the top to the butt of the hammer lever. Wornum's escapement worked directly upon a padded notch on the hammer butt. The hammer was returned to its resting position by a spring fixed to the hammer rail instead of by the weight of the sticker. Like Southwell, Wornum used overdampers with the damper levers hinged from a crosswise rail above the hammers and wires to communicate the motion of the key, but these were acted upon by the backward oriented base of the escapement instead of by the sticker.[11] These 5½ octave pianos were arranged so that the front of the piano, with the keys and action could be unlatched and swung away from the strung portion;[12] the right hand pedal raised the dampers as usual, while the left pedal muted all of the left hand strings.[13]

Wilkinson & Wornum's Oxford street facilities were destroyed by fire in October 1812, and the proprietors quickly announced that their undamaged stock could still be purchased at 11 Princes street,[14] but the workmen had lost of all of their tools and were unable to return to work.[15] At a meeting of their creditors in November, Wilkinson's father, Charles Wilkinson, agreed not to make a claim against them and guaranteed payment to the other creditors, and in early 1813 he forgave what the partners' owed him. Wilkinson established his own piano factory behind his new house at 32 Howland street,[16] and Wornum, apparently having sold his patent to music seller John Watlen, of Leicester place,[17] removed to 42 Wigmore street.[18]


[edit] The Cottage and Piccolo uprights, equal tension, and the tape check action

In 1813 Wornum introduced a second upright design with vertical strings, measuring about four feet six inches tall (137 cm),[19] originally called the "harmonic" and later the cottage upright.[20] In 1820 he patented a system of equal tension achieved by using a single gauge of wire for all the treble strings, and carefully predetermined wound bass strings,[21] which he claimed would remain in tune better than pianos with different gauges and tensions in different parts of their scale.[22]

Wornum's double action (1826)
Wornum's double action (1826)
Wornum's double or Piccolo Action (c.1829)
Wornum's double or Piccolo Action (c.1829)

In 1826 he patented improvements to what he called the professional piano, including a single action, a version of the sticker action with an additional lever carrying a backcheck operating against the hammer head and which raised the damper wire,[23] and a double action, with a similarly arranged backcheck lever, but with an escapement on the principle of the English grand action[24] mounted on a separate crank lever hinged from the hammer rail, and with this lever tied to the hammer by a "dog spring... to keep the hammer from dancing after the blow," the earlier fixed hammer return spring being omitted,[25] as well as a pizzicato pedal placed between the two ordinary pedals with linkages to press the dampers against the strings.[26] Two years later he patented further improvements to the sticker action implemented by extending the lower lever of the sticker so it could be checked by a button fastened to the key.[27]

According to Hipkins Wornum perfected his crank, or "tied" or tape check double action in 1829, and introduced it in both cabinet and three feet eight inch tall (112 cm)[28] piccolo uprights the following year.[29] This action replaced the spring from the 1826 double action with a flexible tie fastened to the hammer butt and to a wire mounted on the crank lever. The crank lever also operated a check working against an extension of the hammer butt and raised the damper wire.[30]

Wornum's improvements in uprights were adopted sooner on the Continent than in England[31] - obliquely strung uprights were introduced by Roller & Blanchet at the 1827 Exposition in Paris,[32] Camille Pleyel introduced copies of English pianos,[33] including small vertically strung uprights after Wornum's pattern in 1830,[34] and Hermann Lichtenthal received the first patent for a tape check double action in 1832.[35] Hipkins related that Pleyel's success caused the double action to be called the "French action" in England,[36] and by 1880 he predicted that it would eventually replace Southwell's sticker action there, having already been generally adopted in France and Germany.[37]

[edit] Double action grands and downstriking actions

In 1830 Wornum leased buildings at 15 and 17 Store street, Bedford Square, for a new factory.[38] By 1832 he opened a music hall at number 16,[39] and by 1838 offered patent double action piccolo, cottage and cabinet uprights for up to 75 guineas ($350[40]), as well as 5 foot 4 inch long (163 cm) pocket and 7 foot 10 inch (237 cm)[41] imperial grands for up to 75 and 90 guineas ($420) respectively. The success of his piccolo piano had "induced certain manufacturers to announce and sell instruments of a different character under the same name, by which the public [was] deceived".[42] The new[43] 6-octave pocket and 6½ octave imperial grands were constructed not only with the strings above the hammers but with an entirely separate structure hinged at the spine so that the wrestplank, wood frame, sounding board and bridges were all placed above the strings,[44] forming a rigid uninterrupted construction similar to his uprights as well as what he would later use in downstriking pianos. They were furnished with tape check double actions arranged like those of the uprights.[45][46]

Wornum's new Grand Action (c.1840)
Wornum's new Grand Action (c.1840)

Wornum later improved his grand actions by adding a sustaining spring tying the hammer butt and the short end of the crank lever, intended to improve repetition and "assist in the forte,"[47] but eventually abandoned the inverted construction due to its inconvenient form[48] and turned his attention instead to manufacturing "overstruck" or downstriking horizontal pianos, where the hammers are located above the strings. In 1842 he patented the application of a similarly tied pivoting hammer return spring to downstriking actions for grands and squares,[49] and included claims for a new disposition of the crank lever and escapement, as well as a method of operating the damper in uprights either with a leather strip attached to the hammer butt or a wire attached to the key.[50]

[edit] Robert Wornum & Sons

At the 1851 London Exhibition Robert Wornum & Sons exhibited cottage uprights, and downstriking bichord semi-grand and square pianos.[51] Their Albion semi-grand was noted as a good example of how the downstriking action allowed for a simpler and more economical construction without metallic bracing,[52] and they were awarded a prize medal for their improved piccolo piano.[53]

Wornum died on 29 September 1852.[54] He was succeeded by his son Alfred Nicholson Wornum.[55]

In 1856 A. N. Wornum patented improvements to downstriking actions with a spring keeping the crank lever in constant contact with the key, as well as a new arrangement for the regulating button and a method for improving repetition.[56] Robert Wornum & Sons exhibited cottage and grand pianos at the 1862 International Exhibition in London, as well as a "folding" square piano arranged on a stand so that it could swing up and out of the way when not in use,[57] receiving a medal for "novelty of invention in piano",[58] and they exhibited a piccolo upright, as well as moderately priced downstriking grand and square pianos without metal bracings at the 1867 Universal Exposition in Paris.[59] where they were awarded a bronze medal.[60]

In 1875 A. N. Wornum patented improvements in grands with the orientation of the hammer levers reversed from the ordinary English arrangement in order to permit longer strings relative to the size of the piano,[61] and along with a piccolo upright, displayed short and full size grands on this plan at the 1878 Universal Exposition in Paris,[62] for which the company was awarded a silver medal.[63]

By 1889 Robert Wornum & Sons was under the direction of Wornum's grandson, also named A. N. Wornum.[64] Harding lists 1900 as the year their last entry in the London directories as piano manufacturers.[65]

[edit] References

  1. ^ David Crombie Piano GPI Books, San Francisco. 1995. p.105
  2. ^ "Ralph Nicholson Wornum" Dictionary of National Biography vol.63. Smith, Elder & Co., London. p.31
  3. ^ The Musical Directory for 1794 p.71, quoted in William Sandys and Simon A. Forster, The History of the Violin William Reeves, London, 1864. p.283
  4. ^ Alfred J. Hipkins "Robert Wornum" A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol.4. Macmillan & Co., London. 1889. p.489
  5. ^ advertisement. The Times London, Aug. 22, 1809. p.1
  6. ^ the average exchange being given as 40 dollars to 9 pounds sterling; "Exchange - The United States of America" C. T. Watkins A Portable Cyclopaedia Richard Phillips, London 1810
  7. ^ Henry Broadhurst Wilkinson. Souvenir of the Broadhurst Wilkinsons Manchester. 1902. p24-26
  8. ^ "Retrospect of the state of Music in Great Britain" A. F. C. Kollman, ed, Quarterly Musical Register, No. 1, January 1, 1812, quoted by Edward F. Rimbault The Pianoforte. Robert Cocks & Co. 1860. p.402
  9. ^ "Piano-forte" Penny Cyclopaedia vol.18. Charles Knight & Co. London, 1840. p.142
  10. ^ Rosamond Harding, The Piano-Forte Gresham Books, Old Woking, Surrey. 1977. p.226
  11. ^ Harding p. 230
  12. ^ Lawrence M. Nalder The Modern Piano Gresham Press, Old Woking, Surrey. 1927. p.117
  13. ^ piano collector C. F. Colt identified this as a device to aid in tuning because the arrangement of the action prevented the strings to be muted off in the ordinary manner. C. F. Colt. The Early Piano Stainer & Bell, London. 1981 p.58, 118
  14. ^ advertisement The Times October 16, 1812 p.1
  15. ^ advertisement The Times October 27, 1812 p.1
  16. ^ Broadhurst Wilkinson, p.25-27
  17. ^ advertisement The Times November 11, 1812 p.1; John Watlen was a composer, music seller and tuner, whose business at Edinburgh had failed 1798, and had set up on his own in London by 1807. By 1811 he advertised he had sold over 1,000 pianos, and offered newly patented six octave oblique pianos, "having superiority over all others, being only 19 inches deep", priced from 45 to as much as 80 guineas ($210 to $375) which he later indicated he "always had the advantage of the inventor of the above to superintend his manufactory", and following the fire at Oxford street advertised "the Patentee informs the Public, Merchants..., &c. that the Oblique cannot be had any where else but at his house". Watlen's piano manufactory failed in 1827 - Frank Kidson "John Watlen" Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol.5, The MacMillan Company, New York 1911. p.438; advertisement The Times September 5, 1811, p.1; advertisement The Times November 11, 1812; advertisement The Times August 15, 1815, p.1; advertisement The Times February 28, 1823 p.1; George Elwick The Bankrupt Directory...December 1820 to April 1843 Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., London, 1843. p. 433
  18. ^ two early pianos also bear the nearby address 3 Welbeck street, by 1817 occupied by booksellers C. and J. Ollier - Arthur W. J. Ord-Hume "Robert Wornum" Encyclopedia of the Piano Taylor & Francis, London. 2006 p.427
  19. ^ Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte D. Spillane, New York. 1891, p.
  20. ^ Harding. p.229
  21. ^ "Recent Patents" The London Journal of Arts and Sciences vol.1, no.5. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, London. 1820. p.340
  22. ^ "Wornum's Patent Pianoforte" John E. Hall, ed. The Port Folio, vol.9. Harrison Hall, Philadelphia, 1821. p.129
  23. ^ Harding. p.231
  24. ^ Nalder p.119
  25. ^ Nalder. p.120
  26. ^ although one reviewer stated this was "for the purpose of withdrawing them from the wires" - "Recent Patents" London Journal of Arts and Sciences vol.14, no.79. Sherwood, Gilbert & Piper, London. p.358
  27. ^ Harding, p.232
  28. ^ advertisement The Musical World, new series vol. 2, London, 1838, p.299, reproduced by Harding, p.398
  29. ^ Alfred J. Hipkins "The History of the Pianoforte" Scientific American Supplement no. 385. Munn & Co. New York. 1883
  30. ^ Brinsmead indicates incorrectly that the tape check action was patented in 1842, although it is illustrated as fig. 12 on p.142 in the Penny Cyclopaedia, and described as "the invention of Mr. Wornum, and patented by him some ten or twelve years ago." - Edgar Brinsmead History of the Pianoforte. Novello, Ewer & Co. London 1879. p.167; see specification, The Record of Patent Inventions W. Lake, London. 1842 p.42-44
  31. ^ Oscar Commettant "Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande." La Musique, Les Musiciens et les Instruments de Musique chez les Différents peuples du monde. Michel Lévy Frères, Paris. 1869. p.652
  32. ^ Crombie p.42
  33. ^ Rapport du Jury Central sur les Produits de l'Industrie Française éxposés en 1834 tome 1. Imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1836. p.286
  34. ^ "N.23 - MM. Pleyel (Ignace) et compagnie" Exposition de 1834, sur la Place de Concorde: Notice des produits de l'industrie française Everat, Paris 1834 p.15
  35. ^ H. Lichtenthal, "Piano picolo" Belg. No. 538, Order no.113, reproduced by Harding p.247
  36. ^ although the tied action apparently continued to be referred to as the "English action" in France - Nalder p.121
  37. ^ Alfred J. Hipkins "The Pianoforte" A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol.2. MacMillan & Co., London, 1880. p.719
  38. ^ The Wendover Estate: Counterpart leases and associated correspondence relating to nos. 15 and 17 Store Street, a piano manufactory and premises. Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies ref. D 146/95, 1830-1837
  39. ^ Harding, p.425; the hall seated between six and seven hundred, and in 1879 cost £4 4s ($18.70) to rent, or £5 5s ($23.30) with the use of a piano - Charles Dickens, Jr. "Public Halls" Dickens's Dictionary of London Charles Dickens & Evans, London. 1879
  40. ^ "Exchange - Great Britain" Michael Walsh The Mercantile Arithmetic, adapted to the Commerce of the United States Charles J. Hendee, Boston. 1836 p.186
  41. ^ Harding p.175b
  42. ^ advertisement The Musical World, new series vol. 2, London, 1838, p.299, reproduced in Harding, p.398
  43. ^ J. J. Kent "The Dining Room; The Dwelling-rooms of a House." The Architectural Magazine, and Journal. cond. C. Loudon, vol. 2, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, London. 1835. p.232-3
  44. ^ Harding p.169, 175b
  45. ^ Colt. p.118
  46. ^ Harding p.246
  47. ^ "Fig. 9. Mr. Wornum's new Grand Action" Penny Encyclopaedia p.141
  48. ^ "Musical Instruments in the Great Exhibition" London Journal of Arts, Sciences and Manufactures vol.39 conjoined series, W. Newton, London. 1852 p.38
  49. ^ Harding p.263
  50. ^ patent specification, The Record of Patent Inventions, W. Lake, London. 1842 p.42-44
  51. ^ "Additional List of Exhibitors in the Glass Palace." Daily News April 29, 1851 p.2
  52. ^ "Musical Instruments in the Great Exhibition"
  53. ^ "Awards - Class Xa." The Annual Register F. & J. Rivington, London. 1852. p.521
  54. ^ "Obituary" The Gentleman's Magazine, vol.38, John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London. 1852. p.549
  55. ^ Ord-Hume Encyclopedia of the Piano p.427
  56. ^ "Specifications of Patents Recently Filed" Mechanics Magazine vol.66, no.1754. Robertson, Brooman & Co., London. 1857. p.280
  57. ^ John Timbs The Industry, Science, & Art of the age: Or, The International Exhibition of 1862 Popularly Described from its Origin to its Close Lockwood & Co. London, 1863 p.150; Robert Hunt, Handbood of the Industrial Department of the International Exhibition, 1862 vol.2, Edward Stanford, London, 1862 p.133
  58. ^ "Class XVI - Musical Instruments" International Exhibition, 1862 - Medals and Honourable Mentions Awarded by the International Juries second edition. George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, London. 1862. p.218
  59. ^ Frederick Clay "Report upon Musical Instruments (Class 10) - Pianofortes" Reports on the Paris Exhibition, 1867 vol. 2. George E. Eyer and William Spottiswoode, London. 1868 p.200
  60. ^ "Groupe II, Classe 10 - Instruments de Musique" Exposition Universelle de 1867, à Paris. Liste Générale des Récompensese Décernées par le Jury International Imprimerie Impériale, Paris 1867. p.54
  61. ^ Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection p.164
  62. ^ "Class 14 - Musical Instruments" Official Catalogue of the British Section part I, second edition. George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, London. 1878. p.65-66
  63. ^ Gustave Chouquet, "Rapport sur les instruments de musique" Exposition universelle internationale de 1878 à Paris. Rapports du jury international Imprimerie Nationale, Paris. 1880. p.34
  64. ^ Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1889 p.489
  65. ^ Harding, appendix G, p.425