Square piano

Square piano (Fr.: piano carré; Ger.: Tafelklavier; It.: pianoforte da tavola), piano in rectangular form, originally about the size of an 18th-c. clavichord, finally an unwieldy giant with a 7-oct. compass. Claims for invention of the square piano in favor of Friderici of Gera or Zumpe of London have been abandoned, as a square piano dated 1742 by Johann Socher has come to light, the oldest known so far. With the immigration to England of Johann Christoph Zumpe, a former Silbermann pupil, the…