Paul McNulty (born 1953) is a builder of historical pianos, described by the ''

New Grove ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theor ...

'' as "famous for the high standard of isinstruments." Within the community of builders, McNulty is noted for his efforts to extend the production of historically informed instruments later into history: while he has built many

fortepiano A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...

s in 18th-century style, he has also progressively sought to span the gap between the fortepiano (the cradle of modern historical-piano construction) and the fully modern piano that emerged around the last third of the 19th century. The expanding diversity of McNulty's productions has thus helped "provide an opportunity to extend keyboard performing practice to include the piano repertory of the 19th century" (''New Grove'').

Life

He was born in 1953 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. In 1976 he attended the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

, studying

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

, then became interested in historical instruments, studying lute performance, etc. In 1978 he entered the New England School of Stringed Keyboard Instrument Technology, where he studied under Bill Garlick. At his final examination McNulty gained the highest possible qualification: "tuning examiner". He attended a seminar at the

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

factory in New York and was recruited to work there as a technician, but chose instead to embark on a career as a

builder, and served his apprenticeship for two years under Robert Smith in

Somerville, Massachusetts Somerville ( ) is a city located directly to the northwest of Boston, and north of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a total population of 81, ...

. In 1986 John Gibbons invited McNulty to accompany his European tour with

Frans Brüggen Franciscus ("Frans") Jozef Brüggen (30 October 1934 – 13 August 2014) was a Dutch Conducting, conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist. Biography Born in Amsterdam, Brüggen was the last of the nine children of August Brüggen, a textile ...

's Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century. Gibbons performed Mozart'sbr>concertos K.491 and K.466
In the same year McNulty moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. The search for the best materials led McNulty to move to the Czech Republic. It was written that Viennese piano makers preferred to get their soundboards from the Schwarzenberg Forest (now

Šumava The Bohemian Forest, known in Czech as Šumava () and in German as Böhmerwald, is a low mountain range in Central Europe. Geographically, the mountains extend from Plzeň Region and South Bohemia in the Czech Republic to Austria and Bavaria i ...

) in

southern Bohemia The South Bohemian Region ( cs, Jihočeský kraj; , ) is an administrative unit (''kraj'') of the Czech Republic, located mostly in the southern part of its historical land of Bohemia, with a small part in southwestern Moravia. The western part ...

. Since 1995 McNulty has been living and working in

Divišov Divišov (german: Diwischau) is a market town in Benešov District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,700 inhabitants. It lies near the rivers Sázava and Blanice, Administrative parts Villages of Dalovy, Kře� ...

, a small Czech town. In 2004 he married Russian-Canadian fortepianist

Viviana Sofronitsky Viviana Sofronitsky (russian: Вивиана Владимировна Софроницкая) is a Russian and Canadian classical pianist. Born in Moscow, her father was the Soviet-Russian pianist Vladimir Sofronitsky. Life and career She star ...

. McNulty's fortepiano was purchased by

Norwegian Academy of Music The Norwegian Academy of Music (Norwegian: ''Norges musikkhøgskole'', NMH) is a university-level music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the co ...

in Oslo. It is worth mentioning that the Austrian pianist

Paul Badura-Skoda Paul Badura-Skoda (6 October 1927 – 25 September 2019) was an Austrian pianist. Career A student of Edwin Fischer, Badura-Skoda first rose to prominence by winning first prize in the Austrian Music Competition in 1947. In 1949, he perform ...

also placed an order, as did

Trevor Pinnock Trevor David Pinnock (born 16 December 1946 in Canterbury, England) is a British harpsichordist and conductor. He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert, which he helped found and directe ...

, ordering a fortepiano for a concert at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. In September 2018 McNulty fortepianos

Graf (feminine: ) is a historical title of the German nobility, usually translated as "count". Considered to be intermediate among noble ranks, the title is often treated as equivalent to the British title of "earl" (whose female version is "coun ...

copy 1819,

Pleyel Ignace Joseph Pleyel (; ; 18 June 1757 – 14 November 1831) was an Austrian-born French composer, music publisher and piano builder of the Classical period. Life Early years He was born in in Lower Austria, the son of a schoolmaster named Ma ...

1830 and Buchholtz 1826 were used in the first International Chopin Competition on Period Instruments.

McNulty's fortepianos

At present, McNulty builds fortepianos suitable for performances of piano works from

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

to Chopin,

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

and

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

. In 2009, McNulty produced the first modern copy of a French piano, a

, which was Chopin's favorite brand. In 2011, at request of

Klassik Stiftung Weimar The Klassik Stiftung Weimar (''Classical Foundation Weimar'') is one of the largest and most significant cultural institutions in Germany. It owns more than 20 museums, palaces, historic houses and parks, as well as literary and art collections, ...

he reproduced one of Liszt's personal pianos, the Boisselot op. 2800. This instrument was made in 1846 for Liszt's 1847 Russian tour. In 2015 McNulty extended his list of first modern copies with Streicher piano,

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

' favourite piano model. In 2020 Paul McNulty produced his first Silbermann fortepiano for prof.

Malcolm Bilson Malcolm Bilson (born October 24, 1935) is an American pianist and musicologist specializing in 18th- and 19th-century music. He is the Frederick J. Whiton Professor of Music in Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. Bilson is one of the foremost playe ...

. Since 1985 McNulty has made more than 300 pianos, with customers from different countries. USA:

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

, Robert Levin,

Vladimir Feltsman Vladimir Oskarovich Feltsman (russian: Владимир Оскарович Фельцман, ''Vladimir Oskarovič Feltsman'' (born 8 January 1952) is a Russian-American classical pianist of Lithuanian Jewish descent particularly noted for his devo ...

; England: Kristian Bezuidenhout, Pawel Siwczak (whose instrument was played by Sir

András Schiff Sir András Schiff (; born 21 December 1953) is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist and conductor, who has received numerous major awards and honours, including the Grammy Award, Gramophone Award, Mozart Medal, and Royal Academy of Musi ...

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

Glyndebourne Festival Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, ...

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

(London),

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

(London); Austria:

Nikolaus Harnoncourt Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music ...

, Wien Konservatorium Privatuniversitat,

Vienna Volksoper The Vienna Volksoper (''Volksoper'' or ''Vienna People's Opera'') is an opera house in Vienna, Austria. It produces three hundred performances of twenty-five German language productions of opera, operetta, musicals, and ballet, during an annual s ...

; France:

Opera National de Paris Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

, Paris Conservatoire CNSMDP, Katia & Marielle Labeque. Australia:

Geoffrey Lancaster Geoffrey Lancaster (born 20 August 1954) is an Australian classical pianist and conductor. Born in Sydney, he was raised in Dubbo, New South Wales before moving to Canberra. He attended the Canberra School of Music where he studied piano with ...

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

, Melbourne Recital Center. Poland: Chopin's Institute Warsaw; Germany:

, Trossingen, Koeln and Hannover

Hochschule für Musik A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

; Switzerland:

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that have ...

; Netherlands:

Ronald Brautigam Ronald Brautigam (born 1954) is a Dutch concert pianist, best known for his performances of Beethoven's piano works on the fortepiano. Born in Amsterdam, Brautigam studied there with Jan Wijn (1971-79), then he left to study in London with John B ...

Amsterdam Conservatory The Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA) is a Dutch conservatoire of music located in Amsterdam. This school is the music division of the Amsterdam University of the Arts, the city's vocational university of arts. The Conservatorium van Amsterdam ...

, the

Royal Conservatory of The Hague The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Netherl ...

; Denmark: The Royal Danish Opera; China: Central Conservatory Beijing etc.

List of instruments

* Fortepiano after Silbermann 1749 * Fortepiano after

Johann Andreas Stein Johann (Georg) Andreas Stein (16 May 1728 in Heidelsheim – 29 February 1792 in Augsburg) was an outstanding German maker of keyboard instruments, a central figure in the history of the piano. He was primarily responsible for the design of the ...

ca. 1788 * Fortepianos after

Anton Walter Gabriel Anton Walter (5 February 1752 – 11 April 1826) was a builder of pianos. The '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most famous Viennese piano maker of his time".Latcham (2009) Life Walter was born in Neuha ...

1792 and Walter & Sohn ca.1805 * Fortepiano after J. Fritz 1812 * Fortepianos after

Conrad Graf Conrad Graf (17 November 1782 in Riedlingen, Further Austria – 18 March 1851 in Vienna) was an Austrian-German piano maker. His pianos were used by Beethoven, Chopin, and Robert and Clara Schumann, among others. Life and career Graf began his c ...

1819, 1822 and 1836 * Fortepiano after Buchholtz 1826 * Fortepiano after Ignaz Pleyel 1830 * Fortepiano after Boisselot 1846 * Fortepiano after Streicher 1868

Recordings made with McNulty's instruments

. Ludwig van Beethoven. ''Complete works for solo piano''. Vol.2. Played on Graf, Walter and Stein piano copies. Label: BIS * Kristian Bezuidenhout. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ''Keyboard Music. Vol.2.'' Played on a copy of Walter piano. Label:

Harmonia Mundi Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group. Its Latin name ''ha ...

with Warsaw Chamber Opera Orchestra on Period Instruments. ''Complete Mozart Piano Concertos (11 CD box).'' Played on a copy of Walter piano. Label:

Etcetera ''Et Cetera'' ( or (proscribed) , ), abbreviated to ''etc.'', ''etc'', ''et cet.'', ''&c.'' or ''&c'' is a Latin expression that is used in English to mean "and other similar things", or "and so forth". Translated literally from Latin, means 'an ...

* Viviana Sofronitsky. Franz Schubert. ''Wanderer Fantasy, Impromptus opp. 90 & 142.'' Played on a copy of the 1819 Graf piano. Label: CAvi * Neal Peres De Costa. ''Pastoral Fables. Works for cor anglais and pianos.'' Played on a copy of Streicher piano. Label:

ABC Classics ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

Rudolf Buchbinder Rudolf Buchbinder (born 1 December 1946, Litoměřice, Czechoslovakia) is an Austrian classical pianist. Biography Buchbinder studied with Bruno Seidlhofer at the Vienna Academy of Music. In 1965, he made a tour of North and South Americas. In ...

. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ''Piano concertos No. 23&25.'' Played on a copy of Walter piano. Label:

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

with

Musica Florea Musica Florea is a Czech Baroque music ensemble in Prague, founded in 1992 by conductor and cellist Marek Štryncl. Profile The group of young professionals with a common interest in the study and authentic performance of Baroque music engag ...

. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ''Piano concertos K.271, K.414.'' Played on a copy of Walter piano. Label: Arcana * Robert Levin with the

Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...

Christopher Hogwood Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically info ...

. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. ''Piano Concertos K271 & K414.'' Played on a copy of Walter piano. Label: L'Oiseau-Lyre * Krzysztof Książek. Fryderyk Chopin, Karol Kurpiński. ''Piano Concerto No.2 f-moll (solo version), Mazurkas, Ballade; Fugue & Coda B-dur.'' Played on a copy of Buchholtz piano. Label: NIFCCD * Music video: Pawel Siwczak, Ludwig van Beethoven, ''Adagio sostenuto "Quasi una fantasia"'' from Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 27 No. 2 (''"Moonlight Sonata"''). Played on Walter & Sohn piano copy. Label: Bach Club * Viviana Sofronitsky,

Sergei Istomin Sergei Istomin (russian: Сергей Хохлов, or Истомин, Сергей Николаевич) is a cellist and a viola da gamba player. He began his violoncello studies at the age of six at the Gnessin School for gifted children in Mo ...

. Fryderyk Chopin. ''Complete works for cello and piano.'' Played on copies of the 1830 Pleyel and 1819 Graf pianos. Label: Passacaille

References

External links