Jean-Henri Pape was a distinguished French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 maker in the early 19th century.

Pape was born in Sarstedt

Sarstedt

Sarstedt is a town in the district of Hildesheim, Lower Saxony, Germany. It has around 17,800 inhabitants. Sarstedt is close to Hanover.The GEO 600 gravitational wave detector is located nearby....

 in 1787. He arrived in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in 1811 and secured employment with Pleyel

Ignaz Pleyel

Ignace Joseph Pleyel , ; was an Austrian-born French composer and piano builder of the Classical period.-Early years:...

, whose piano workshops he directed for several years. In 1815, he established his own manufacture of pianos, and almost annually for nearly forty years improved them with new inventions. His first grand pianos followed the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 system of Broadwood

Broadwood

Broadwood may refer to:* Broadwood and Sons, an English piano manufacturer* John Broadwood, the founder of Broadwood and Sons* James Shudi Broadwood son of John Broadwood* Lucy Broadwood, an influential collector of folk songs in 19th century England...

 and Tomkinson, though endowed with mechanical genius it was not long before he modified, then completely changed their principles of construction. Pape concentrated on defects in square and grand pianos caused by the structural gap between the sounding board and wrest plank allowing the hammers to strike the strings; the solution of placing actions above the strings had been imagined by Marius, then Hildebrand and finally Streicher in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, but instead of levers and counterweights Pape's arrangement used a coil spring to raise the hammers quickly and with almost no effect on touch. This system was very successful in squares but lacked some lightness and delicacy in grand pianos. The variations he introduced in the forms and actions of upright pianos gave his instruments remarkable power.

The work of this skilled maker was rewarded by favorable reports of his instruments from the Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale on September 19, 1832 and from l'Académie des beaux-arts de l'institut de France

Académie des beaux-arts

The Académie des Beaux-Arts is a French learned society. It is one of the five academies of the Institut de France.It was created in 1795 as the merger of the:* Académie de peinture et de sculpture...

 in 1833, and he earned a gold medal at the National Exposition

World's Fair

World's fair, World fair, Universal Exposition, and World Expo are various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world. The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, United Kingdom, in 1851, under the title "Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All...

 in 1834, as well as a medal of the Legion of Honor

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 in 1839. Skilled in every aspect of mechanics, Pape invented a machine used to saw wood or ivory in spirals, and exhibited its results in 1827. One of his pianos was veneered with sheets of ivory nine feet long and two feet wide. A small pamphlet commemorated his contributions to the instrument ( Notice sur les inventions et perfectionnements apportes par H. Pape dans la fabrication des pianos Paris, Loquin: 11 pages with three lithographic plates).
In 1875 Pape died in Asnières-sur-Seine

Asnières-sur-Seine

Asnières-sur-Seine is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France, along the river Seine. It is located from the center of Paris.-Name:...

, near Paris, where he had continued research into the construction of the instrument that was his life's work. For some time his son and nephew managed the factory he founded.

External links

• Société d’encouragement pour l’industrie nationale
• Cité de la musique, maker's entry