Keyboard instruments have been around in Europe since at least the 14th century. The harpsichord was much favored by Queen Elizabeth, who was acutally quite a talented performer.
But it was not until 1709 that Bartolemeo Christofori of Padua developed the instrument that made music by striking strings with a soft hammer producing soft or loud tones depending on the pressure--the piano-forte (meaning soft-loud). This was the instrument upon which Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven composed their piano music.
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| Cristofori piano at the Metropolitan Museum |
By the 18th century, the building of cases for these instruments was a well-recognized art. The cases were elaborately designed often by prominent artists, full of inlaid wood and gilt decoration.
In America, the art got off to a slow start, mainly because so few people could afford the instruments, and those who could afford them often looked with suspicion on local products, preferring the prestige of imported goods. After the War of 1812, however, business picked up because the economic depression in Europe brought a flood of craftsmen to America.
Joseph Hiskey (the 6X-great-grandfather of my grandchildren Henry and Harper Agee) was one of those craftsmen, landing in Baltimore in December 1816. Hiskey was born in Vienna in 1783, the son of Joachim and Ludmilla Hiskey. By 1818, he was listed as a piano maker in the Baltimore Directory.
In 1824, he married Helen Geisenderffer, with whom he had three daughters: Josephine, Mary, and Helena, and a son John Joseph. (Josephine later married Sea Captain William Hamlen and became the 5X-great-grandmother of my grandchildren.) Joseph's wife Helen died shortly after the birth of her third daughter and Joseph married her sister Elizabeth in 1831 and had five more children with her. Elizabeth died in 1844 and Joseph died in 1850. Both are buried in Baltimore's Green Mount Cemetery along with several of their children.
Joseph Hiskey was among the first instrument makers in Baltimore and it was substantially due to his work that Baltimore became a hub for piano manufacture, fame later heightened by the work of William Knabe. Establishing himself first at Water Street and then moving to various locations in the city, Hiskey finally settled in a small workshop on Light Street.
Before coming to Baltimore, Hiskey had worked as an apprentice to European artisans and had been thoroughly educated in the fundamentals of pianoforte construction. As an artist, he strove for perfection and while his business was never noted for size and quantity of output, his skill and attention to detail earned him an enviable reputation and a good living for his large family.
This ad, appearing in Baltimore in 1822, indicates Hiskey's desire to compete with Europe:
Joseph Hisky thanked patrons of his pianoforte manufacturing establishment. . . for the encouragment since beginning here. He has worked in some best European factories and spared no pains to make his output superior to any other in this country and equal to best produced in London, Paris, Vienna; grand, upright, grand square and other varieties of piano.
Joseph Hiskey's pianos were quite different in style from the spindly early instruments as this one from about 1840 illustrates (currently located at the National Museum of American History).
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| This square piano was made by Joseph Hisky in Baltimore, Maryland about 1843. Hisky was a Viennese piano maker who became one of the earliest piano manufacturers in Baltimore. The nameboard on this piano is inscribed “Joseph Hisky / from Vienne / Baltimore.” This piano is serial number 9629 and has a compass of FF-f4, Viennese action, single-strings FF-C, double-strings C#-b2, triple-strings c3-f4, tuning pins in the front, 4 pedals: bassoon, dampers, moderator, and Janissary (drum and bells), an iron string plate frame, and a mahogany case. |
Here is a later Hiskey ad (1838) from the Baltimore Sun that emphasizes his pride in his skills.
SUPERIOR PIANO FORTES. JOSEPH HISKEY No 5 South Calvert street, Baltimore, respectfully invites his friends and the ladies in particular, to call and see his assortment of splendid PIANOS. They are of various patterns, and in a variety of scarce and choice wood. In addition to MAHOGANY, there are ZEBRA, ROSE and WALNUT. Such a variety cannot otherwise than please. Many of them have six octaves and a half. The wood of all is well seasoned, and the workmanship superior, and the tones not exceeded by any made in this country or elsewhere, as proved by the approbation of most of the first professors of music in this city. My terms will be liberal, and as usual I warrant the Instruments.
The piano maker was apparently a stubborn and independent sort as this story suggests. Once when he was shipping a number of his hand-made instruments to South America, a broker tried to convince him to buy insurance on the lot in case the ship went down on route. The old German is reported to have replied in somewhat broken English that if the ship went down, he would simply make some more pianos. The ship, by the way, did go down and Hiskey suffered a rather significant loss. However, he never did succumb to the pleas of the insurance brokers.
Sadly, none of Hiskey's children followed him into his craft and at this death, his inventory of pianos was put up for sale. Only a few of Hiskey's creations survive today, including the one shown above at the National Museum of American History.
