Organized Piano

Date1799

Maker Longmen, Clementi & Company

MediumMahogany, pine, oak, spruce, fruitwood, limewood, lead, iron, ebony, ivory, brass, copper, leather, silk

DimensionsOverall: 106 1/2 × 84 × 37in. (270.5 × 213.3 × 94cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase. Conservation of this instrument is made possible by a gift from Constance Tucker and Marshall Tucker in memory of N. Beverly Tucker, Jr.

Object number2012-150

DescriptionThe piano portion is in the form of an upright grand piano, as patented by Stodart in 1795, on a support with delicately carved frame with three organ stops projecting on each side and mahogany panels to hide the organ bellows. The organ portion extends another 18" behind the piano and 20" on both sides. The lower portion of the instrument, from keyboard down, is covered with mahogany panels. Above the keyboard the piano and organ are covered by four hinged mahogany door frames, originally with green silk fabric. A cornice surrounds the top of the entire instrument.

The bellows occupy the full depth under the keyboard, with one pedal for pumping the bellows by the player. Two other conventional piano pedals lift the dampers and shift the keyboard for una corda. The wind chest sits above keyboard level and behind the piano; pipes can be accessed through the hinged doors flanking the piano and from behind. The instrument is supported by an overall plinth, with heavy iron casters which facilitate pulling the instrument away from the wall for tuning and maintenance.

The keyboard compass is FF to C4. Both organ and piano use this full compass.

The left stop knobs control a Principal 4', Fifteenth 2', and Cornet (12th). The right stop knobs control Stopped Diapason 8' Treble, Stopped Diapason 8' Bass, and Open Diapason 8' Treble. A hand stop in the right keycheek shifts from piano to organ.
InscribedOn enameled plaque on nameboard: "New Patent/ LONGMAN, CLEMENTI & COMPY / CHEAPSIDE / London"

Markings"Davis musicall instrument maker north Street fitchroy Sqr. London /1799" handwritten in pen on a batten attached to the organ behind the piano.
Various internal labeling of stops.
An inscription inside the organ’s feeder bellows reads “Repair’d by C. Veltenair Jany 1, 1805.”
174 stamped on the yoke of the piano's tuning pin block (serial number)
ProvenanceOriginally purchased by St. George Tucker for his daughter Fanny, arriving in Williamsburg in 1799. Some evidence suggests that it was purchsed next by Charles Carter of Shirley, c. 1802. The organ was at Castle Hill in Albemarle County, owned by the Rives family by 1815, where it remained until c. 1947, when it was purchased by an unknown individual in the Richmond area. In the 1950s, ownership transferred to DeVeaux Riddick and Robert Watkins; they sold it to CW in 2012.

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