Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Thesis
Date of Award
2026
Degree Name
Master of Music (MM)
Department
Music
First Advisor
Darryl Martin
Abstract
The better one can understand what influenced and inspired a composer, the more informed and authentic one’s understanding and performance of that composer’s music will be. The musical world which influenced Mozart was a vastly different one from the musical world of the twenty-first century, and the pianos which Mozart was inspired by and wrote for were designed according to entirely different musical ideals than those according to which the modern piano was created. In order to understand the piano music of Mozart, it is important first to understand not only the musical world in which he wrote and the pianos he played and wrote for, but also the history behind Mozart’s musical world and the pianos which inhabited it. To that end, this thesis will: discuss the history of the first few centuries of the piano – from 1440 to the late eighteenth century – and how the tradition of the piano originally oscillated between and eventually combined the ideas of a harpsichord with hammers and a keyed hammered dulcimer; and examine the pianos Mozart is known to have played and appreciated, and how these instruments relate to his music and musical tastes, before considering how the construction aspects of their action contribute to their defining characteristics. Ultimately, it will be demonstrated that while there is no one Mozartian piano, the variety of instruments which connect most strongly to his music are all those which adhere to the musical aesthetics and ideals of late eighteenth-century Germany and Austria.
Subject Categories
History | Music
Keywords
Eighteenth-century, Fortepiano, Mozart, Tangentenflügel
Number of Pages
149
Publisher
University of South Dakota
Recommended Citation
Benoit, Adele, "In Search of Mozart: A History and Analysis of the Pianos He Knew and Wrote For" (2026). Dissertations and Theses. 423.
https://red.library.usd.edu/diss-thesis/423