Checklist of surviving clavichords by the Schiedmayer family

Since this list was originally compiled, Boalch-Mould Online, a comprehensive online database of harpsichords and clavichords made between 1440 and 1925 has been launched. It is based on the book by Donald H. Boalch, Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord 1440–1840, as updated and revised by Charles Mould for the third edition published by Oxford University Press in 1996. Boalch-Mould Online has extended its coverage to 1925, and is being continuously revised, updated, and added to. Each instrument in Boalch-Mould Online is assigned an identifying number: these ‘BMO numbers’ have now been added to the present list. The original system of numbering, based on that adopted in Grant O’Brien: Ruckers, a Harpsichord and Virginal Building Tradition, Cambridge University Press, 1990, has been retained for ease of reference.

For sources of information, see the table immediately following the check-list.

Johann Christoph Georg Schiedmayer (1740–1820): Neustadt an der Aisch

Instruments definitely known to have survived:

BMO–1710 (1776 JCGS): Unfretted, FF–a3, 1776. U.S.A., Mrs Carl Parrish, U.S.A. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1776; de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.2.]

BMO–1711 ((1782) JCGS): Unfretted, C–a3, dated c1790 by Väterlein, 1782 by Boalch and Tournay. Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, no. G 4111. (The number is given in Mück as 1994-10) [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1782; de Silva, p. 345 (dated c. 1790); Tournay; Väterlein; Mück: 7.9.]

BMO–1714 (1787a JCGS): Unfretted, FF–f3, 1787. Prague, Jaroslav Tůma. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1787(3); de Silva, p. 345; Čižek; Mück: 7.5.] Jaroslav Tůma purchased the instrument from estate of the former owner, Peter Hapka (thanks to Gregory Crowell for this information).

BMO–1715 (1789a JCGS): Unfretted, FF–g3, 1789. Boston, Mass., U.S.A., Allan Winkler (formerly Eric Herz). [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1789; de Silva, p. 345; Tournay; Mück: 7.7.]

BMO–2217 (1789b JCGS): Unfretted, FF–f3, 1789. Žatek, Czech Republic, Regional Museum, no. P.99. [Čižek 1996; Čižek 2010; de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.6; not in Boalch]

BMO–1716 (1792 JCGS): Unfretted, C–f3, 1792. Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, no. 1994-110. [de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.10; Tournay; not listed in Väterlein, probably because the instrument is not on display. This is probably the instrument listed by Boalch as Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1792, and said to have been destroyed in the Second World War]

BMO–1717 (1793 JCGS): Unfretted, FF–f3, 1793. Wendlingen, Germany, on loan to the Schiedmayer-stiftung from the owner Mrs Vanessa Meynen-Bruhin.  [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1793; de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.11; private; not listed by Tournay]

BMO–1718 (1796 JCGS): Unfretted, FF–g3, 1796, Boston, Mass., U.S.A., Museum of Fine Arts, no. 1977.60 [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1796; de Silva, p. 346; Koster; Mück: 7.12]

BMO–1720 (1800 JCGS): Unfretted, FF–c4, 1800. Regensburg, Stadt Museum, no. K 1972/35. [Mück p.94; Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1800(A); de Silva, p. 346; Wackerbauer, pp. 164–5.]

Instruments by J.C.G. Schiedmayer which have not survived, or about which information is incomplete or doubtful:

BMO–1709 ((c1770) JCGS): Probably unfretted, FF–g3, c1770. Formerly in Stuttgart, property of the firm of Schiedmayer & Soehne. Said by Boalch to have been destroyed in the Second World War. Short description and picture in Eisenmann. [Mück: 7.1; Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1770(A); de Silva, p. 345; Eisenmann]

BMO–1712 (1787b JCGS): Compass and fretting unknown, 1787. Formerly in the Neupert collection; according to Boalch it was bought by Professor Becking in Erlangen in 1930. This may very well be the same instrument as no. 1787a JCGS above. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1787(1); de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.3]

BMO–1713 (1787c JCGS): Probably unfretted, FF–f3, 1787. Formerly in the Neupert collection; said by Boalch to have been destroyed during the Second World War. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1787(2); de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.4]

BMO–1722 (1787d JCGS): Compass and fretting unknown, 1787. Formerly in Boston, U.S.A., property of Frank Hubbard and William Dowd. Present whereabouts unknown. Possibly by one of the other Schiedmayer brothers. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, 1787; not listed by Mück.]

BMO–2218 (1790 JCGS): Compass and fretting unknown, 1790. In 1892 it was in Stuttgart, property of Jos. Mühlbayer who offered it to the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg. [de Silva, p. 345; Mück: 7.8.]

BMO–1719 ((1810) JCGS): Compass and fretting unknown, 1800–1810, private ownership, Regensburg, Germany. This may be the same instrument as no. 1800 JCGS above. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.C.G., 1800–10 (said to be in ‘Ratisbon’); de Silva, p. 346; Mück: 7.13]

Unsigned instruments attributed to J.C.G. Schiedmayer:

BMO–121 ((1785)(JCGS)): Unfretted, FF–g3, unsigned and undated. Bad Krozingen, Neumeyer–Junghanns–Tracey collection, no. III.4; formerly no. [18]. This instrument has recently been attributed to J.C.G. Schiedmayer. There are indeed many details which are similar to other Schiedmayer clavichords, and in my opinion the attribution is quite likely to be correct. [Junghanns, p. 22; The clavichord appears in Boalch, p. 607, with an attribution to ‘Carl Christian Schmahl’ which is now discredited]

Adam Achatius Schiedmayer (1745–1817): Erlangen.

BMO–2216 ((c1785) AAS): Unfretted, C–f3, c1785 according to Väterlein. The clavichord was apparently on display at the Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart, in c1993 when the catalogue of the display was compiled; however it is no longer in the museum and its whereabouts are not known. [Väterlein; not in Boalch]

Johann David Schiedmayer (1753–1805): Erlangen.

BMO–1721 (1791a JDS): Unfretted, FF–g3, 1791, Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, no. 1993-208. Said by Boalch – wrongly, as it transpires – to have been destroyed in the Second World War. [Boalch: Schiedmayer, J.D., 1791; de Silva, p. 343; Tournay; Väterlein]

BMO–2124 (1791b JDS): Unfretted, FF–g3, 1791: Germany, private collection; formerly in England, Christopher Hogwood’s collection. [Bavington; de Silva, p. 343; reported in Tournay but not in Boalch]


Sources of information:

Bavington

Peter Bavington: ‘A Clavichord by Johann David Schiedmayer’ in De Clavicordio V: proceedings of the fifth International Clavichord Symposium, Magnano, 5–8 September 2001, ed. Bernard Brauchli, Alberto Galazzo and Ivan Moody, Magnano 2002.

Boalch

Donald H. Boalch: Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord 1440–1840, third edition ed. Charles Mould, Oxford University Press, 1996.

Čižek 1996

Bohuslav Čižek: ‘Clavichords in the Czech Lands’ in De Clavicordio II: proceedings of the International Clavichord Symposium, Magnano, 21–23 September 1995, ed. Bernard Brauchli, Susan Brauchli and Alberto Galazzo, Magnano 1996.

Čižek 2010

Bohuslav Čižek: Historické Klavíry v Čechách a na Moravě/Historical Keyboard Instruments in Bohemia and Moravia, Prague, 2010.

de Silva

Preethi de Silva: The Fortepiano Writings of Streicher, Dieudonné, and the Schiedmayers, Lewison NY, Edwin Mellen Press, 2008.

Eisenmann

Alexander Eisenmann: Schiedmayer & Soehne, Hof-Pianofortefabrik Stuttgart: Vorgeschichte, Gründung und fernere Entwicklung der Firma 1809–1909, Stuttgart 1909.

Junghanns

Rolf Junghanns, Sally Fortino and Markus Zepf: Historische Tasteninstrumente: Die Sammlung Neumeyer–Junghanns–Tracey im Schloss von Bad Krozingen, booklet issued by the Collection [2004]

Koster

John Koster: Keyboard Musical Instruments in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Boston, 1994.

Mück

Wolfgang Mück: Johann Christoph Georg Schiedmayer (1740-1820): Schreinermeister, Orgel- und Instrumentmacher in Neustadt an der Aisch, Neustadt an der Aisch, Geschichts- und Heimatsverein, 2001.

Private

Private communication from various informants.

Tournay

Jean Tournay: ‘Les Clavicordes des Frères Schiedmayer’ in Het Clavichord, year 9 no. 1 (April 1996).

Väterlein

[Christian Väterlein, Josef Maria Wagner et al.]: Musikinstrumentensammlung im Fruchtkasten, Begleitbuch, Stuttgart, Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1993.

Wackerbauer

Michael Wackerbauer, Die Musikinstrumente im Historischen Museum der Stadt Regensburg, Regensburg, Universitätsverlag Regensburg, 2009.

Updated July 2023