| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 1728; 297 years ago (1728) |
| Founder | Burkat Shudi  |
| Headquarters | London ,England |
Key people | |
| Products | Pianos |
| Website | www |
John Broadwood & Sons is an Englishpiano manufacturer, founded in 1728 byBurkat Shudi and continued after his death in 1773 byJohn Broadwood.[1]
John Broadwood (1732–1812), a Scottish joiner and cabinetmaker, came to London in 1761 and began to work for the Swissharpsichord manufacturer Burkat Shudi.[2] He married Shudi's daughter eight years later and became a partner in the firm in 1770. As the popularity of the harpsichord declined, the firm concentrated increasingly on the manufacture of pianos, abandoning the harpsichord altogether in 1793.[3]
Broadwood's son,James Shudi Broadwood, had worked for the firm since 1785, and, in 1795, the firm began to trade as John Broadwood & Son.[2] When Broadwood's third son, Thomas Broadwood, became a partner in 1808, the firm assumed the name of John Broadwood & Sons Ltd, which it retains to this day.[2] The firm's busiest time period was during the 1850s, when approximately 2,500 instruments were produced annually.[4]
Broadwood produced his firstsquare piano in 1771, after the model ofJohannes Zumpe, and worked assiduously to develop and refine the instrument, moving thewrest plank of the earlier pianoforte, which had sat to the side of the case as in theclavichord, to the back of the case in 1781,[5] straightening the keys, and replacing the hand stops with pedals.[2] In 1785Thomas Jefferson, later to be third President of the United States, visited Broadwood in Great Pulteney Street,Soho, to discuss musical instruments.In 1789, atJan Ladislav Dussek's suggestion, he extended the range of hisgrand piano beyond fiveoctaves to CC in the treble, and again to six full octaves in 1794.[6]The improved instruments became popular with musicians such asJoseph Haydn, who used them on his first visit to London in 1791.[6]
Ludwig van Beethoven received a six octave Broadwood in 1818, a gift from Thomas Broadwood,[7] which he kept for the rest of his life. Although his impaired hearing may well have prevented him appreciating its tone,[8] he seems to have preferred it to hisErard which had a similar range. Above the company label on the front edge of the pin block the following text can be read: ″Hoc Instrumentum est Thomae Broadwood (Londrini) donum propter ingenium illustrissime Beethoven.″ [This instrument is a gift from Thomas Broadwood of London in recognition of the most illustrious genius of Beethoven.]
Frédéric Chopin played Broadwood instruments in Britain, including at the last concert of his life given at Guildhall, London, in 1848. Although he liked Broadwoods, he appears to have preferred the French makePleyel.[9]
After a long period of decline ending in near bankruptcy, the business was rescued in the mid 1980s by a consortium headed up by Geoffrey Simon,[10] a keen amateur pianist and successful businessman from Birmingham. Mr. Simon took on the mantle of CEO and under his stewardship John Broadwood & Sons entered a period during which a number of innovations were developed. These included the limited edition 'Linley piano'[11] an upright piano designed byViscount Linley and his partner Matthew Rice, plus the design and patenting of the 'barless' grand piano in 1997[12] which was manufactured by Birmingham firm of Ladbrooke Pianos, who produced half a dozen a year.
The company holds aroyal warrant as a manufacturer and tuner of pianos.[13] Following the death of Geoffrey Simon in 2006, the company was acquired in 2008 by Alastair Laurence, a piano builder and technician with family ties to the Broadwood firm dating back to 1787. To coincide with the change in ownership, new restoration and conservation workshops are now located atFinchcocks, Goudhurst, Kent, England.[14]
The company's archives are held at theSurrey History Centre.[15] They featured in a 2024 episode ofFake or Fortune?, which investigated whether a Broadwood grand piano, owned byChesney Hawkes, had once belonged toJohn Lennon.[16] The theory remained unproven, but it was shown that he once owned a Broadwood upright piano.[16]
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