Although eighteenth-century Viennese keyboard music, especially by such composers as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, is among the most popular ever written, there has been surprisingly little serious research into the instruments for which it was composed. Consequently myths and guesses abound, while accurate and reliable information is hard to come by.

This book fills that gap. Based on evidence from primary source material, much of it previously undiscovered or neglected, Maunder traces the history and development of the various keyboard instruments available in Vienna throughout the eighteenth century—harpsichords, clavichords, and pianos—and their use by composers and performers. There are detailed descriptions of many surviving Viennese instruments, several of which have only recently come to light; contemporary newspaper
advertisements for over 1200 keyboard instruments are reproduced, in the original German as well as in English translation; and an alphabetical list of eighteenth-century Viennese makers includes much newly-discovered biographical information as well as some previously unknown names.