Conrad Graf in Vienna

music sample:
(excerpt) Robert Schumann, In der Nacht, Fantasiestücke op. 12, Nr. 5
played by Jörg Demus
Instrument: Conrad Graf, Vienna 1839

When Stein and Anton Walter set the standards for German-speaking piano makers in the 1810s, Conrad Graf did so around 1830 and later.  In Beethoven's and Schubert's late years, but particularly for the important romantic composers like Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Schumann and the young  Brahms Graf's pianos represented the top products available. then. They have Viennese action but grown considerably in dimension and compass compared to instruments around 1800. Their volume competed with English and French contemporary instruments but this level cound hardly be enhanced further without any fundamentally renewed constructions.

The instruments of thies "second Viennese school" were visually discernible from those made made by former generations. When these still had a harpsichord-like case with oblique fronts, slim legs and - particularly fashionable before and in the 1800s - black lower and white upper keys, the later instruments look far more massive and bulky, with corners all rounded, or all rectangular, "only" three but massive legs and modern keyboard colouring, not unlike their English counterparts. The increased sound volume resembled an increased volume of space, into which the mechanisms of the then popular additional sound effects were often added. Some of these instruments had more than half a dozen pedals (or, becoming more impractical by number, knee levers) for special devices. While the still usual ""Forte" (damper lift) and "Piano" (keyboard shift, una corda) were standard equipment, an additional piano pedal was common, the "Moderator" (a strip of felt which could be swiveled over the hammer heads to soften the attack and modify the sound in comparison to the uusal leather covers). Common also was the "Bassoon" (a parchment roll to add a snare to the bass). Rather rare (and expensive) were the "Janissary" pedal to imitate the popular "Turkish music" (early wind bands with lots of battery), like a "Drum" (a hammer or similar to beat the soundboard), the "Triangle" and "Cymbals" (hammers to hit metal bars or little bells).These devices may appear neglectable or tasteless, but then they were considered a charming extra, and hardly any grand did not have at least one or two of them. Only a few composers, however, prescribed these specifically (since they were not omnipresent)- (music dample below).

music sample:
(excerpt) Daniel Steibelt, The Conflagration of Moscow
played by Christoph Hammer
Instrument: Jacob Bertsche, Vienna c1810

During that time first tendencies to use prefabricated components of metal even in Viennese piano manufacture. Besides spreader bars and hammer capsules made of brass also standardized decorative elements can be identified on pianos from quite different workshops, proving that the era of small workshops was declining.