Philip Belt

Philip Ralph Belt (2 January 1927 - 11 May 2015) was a pioneering builder of pianos in historical style, in particular the 18th century instruments commonly called fortepianos. His pianos were modeled on instruments made by historical builders, particularly Johann Andreas Stein and Anton Walter. Belt's pianos played a role in the revival of performance on historical instruments that was an important trend in classical music in the second half of the 20th century and continues to this day.

Life Sources for Belt's life and work include a brief web-posted autobiography from 1996, as well as biographical articles prepared by Luis Sanchez (a fortepianist and academic), Peter O'Donnell (a fellow instrument builder), and journalists Thomas Kunkel and Rachel Sheeley. A brief article about Belt by Sanchez appears in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Early life Belt grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Hagerstown, Indiana, a town of about 2,000 people. In his family there were two younger sisters and an older brother, who was killed in the Second World War. According to O'Donnell, "In high school he took four years of metal shop, and even made a working one-cylinder engine." He first repaired band instruments, then learned the craft of piano tuning from a local tuner, then moved into maintenance and repair of pianos. that he was assigned to tune a piano in the [nearby] Cambridge City home of a childhood sweetheart. On that day in 1959, his former sweetheart showed him a family treasure, an antique German square piano brought to America by the family in the 1700s". O'Donnell writes: "He made drawings, learned what he could about its origin, and decided to build a piano using it as the model: 'Something just clicked in my mind -- that's what I'd like to do.'"

Belt in the meantime left his home town and changed jobs, working in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in a wood shop making fine cabinetry. that he succeeded in making a copy of the Frederici instrument. The Frederici copy led to the next step in Belt's career: in 1965 he was invited by Scott Odell, a curator of musical instruments at the Smithsonian Institution, to disassemble, measure, and make drawings of a fortepiano there, the work of Johann Lodewijk Dulcken. When Belt later took up production of replica instruments, the Dulcken provided the detailed measurements that he needed to serve as his first model. Belt built a number of harpsichords under Hubbard's direction, but he also "moonlighted", setting up a workshop in his basement to work on fortepianos.

O'Donnell continues: "Knowledge of Philip's expertise was growing and he was asked to restore the authentic 1784 Stein piano in the Toledo (Ohio) Museum of Art."

In 1968 Belt loaded his second Dulcken copy into his hearse (Belt's vehicle of choice for transport) and showed it, receiving expert approval, at universities in the Midwest. and launched a new career focusing on the fortepiano. Bilson's (quite successful) career raised the prominence of the fortepiano in the musical world, as well as the reputation of Belt's instruments. Bilson later said of Belt:

There were several builders both here and in Europe engaged in trying to build these instruments, but Philip Belt stands out as the only one at that time to build a totally convincing, well-balanced instrument. It was in no case a curiosity, but a piano as perfect in its own way as any modern piano.

Replicas vs. historical instruments Belt's replicas were not the first historically styled pianos used in 20th-century performance of earlier music; earlier efforts had employed actual historical instruments, restored by technicians to playing condition. This approach proved problematic, as harpsichord builder Carey Beebe has explained:

"Modern interest was aroused in the possibilities of the early piano by European pioneers like Paul Badura-Skoda and Jörg Demus. The recordings of these players were initially confined to too-often tinny and out of tune original instruments, far past their prime or poorly ‘restored’ or prepared: This was sadly characteristic of the 60s and 70s, and despite the impeccable intentions of the musicians concerned, probably spoilt the concept for many otherwise open-minded listeners."

Beebe goes on to say that it was the introduction of pristine-condition replica instruments, as made by Belt and others, that enabled a far more successful revival of historical practice. Similar remarks were made earlier by the musicologist Robert Winter, who like Carey criticizes Badura-Skoda and Demus's use of dilapidated old instruments. Winter also lavished praise on an early recording of Mozart's music (Golden Crest CRS 4097) that Bilson made with the Dulcken replica he purchased from Belt:

The sound [of the Belt Dulcken replica] is ravishing in its clarity and expressive powers. Much of this has to do with an apparent handicap under which American collectors suffer, which has been transformed into an enormous asset by Philip Belt. ... For Europeans it is a great deal easier to locate, purchase, and restore old instruments. These items are scarce in this country, and often the only alternative is to build a copy. If the builder is a master craftsman, the result is a new creation which retains all the virtues of the old. On the Dulcken reproduction one hears nothing of clattering actions or the death-rattles of sainted strings.

For further information on historical piano replicas and their role in contemporary performance see Historically informed performance and Piano history and musical performance.

Recordings Further recordings on Belt instruments followed the one praised by Winter. Perhaps the most notable were the set of all of Mozart's piano concertos with Bilson and the English Baroque Soloists conducted by John Eliot Gardiner. The noted critic Joseph Kerman praised the recordings and described as "beautiful" the 1977 Walter replica by Belt that Bilson owned and used in the recordings.

A Belt discography appears at the end of this article.

Scholarship

Philip Belt was a scholar as well as a builder; his research included extensive study and measurement of historical instruments, both in the Smithsonian Institution (see above) and in the historical musical instrument collections of Europe. Much of this scholarly work was done in collaboration with Maribel Meisel, a trained musicologist who became Belt's fifth wife in 1973.

Historical scholarship played a role in Belt's professional relationship with Malcolm Bilson. The replica of the Mozart Walter that Belt built for Bilson was based, necessarily, on incomplete information. As further research (by others) on this instrument brought more information into public view, Belt continually altered Bilson's piano to reflect this research. Bilson writes:

No one would claim—least of all Belt himself—that [the Mozart Walter copy he first built] was 'an exact copy of Mozart's piano'. Important to the story, however, is the fact that each time information on the Mozart Walter became available, Belt would take my piano into his shop and rework it. ... He completely reworked the action with new parts, new balance points, etc. The bridge was changed, and not only was the instrument releathered but a new type of leather buildup was installed, etc. Yet the soul (if I may use the word) of the instrument never changed—that had been built into the box at the beginning.

Kits Belt also ventured into the area of user-built kit instruments, following the lead of Wolfgang Zuckermann, who had introduced a hugely successful harpsichord kit, and Frank Hubbard, who had created a more demanding but more historically authentic harpsichord kit. Belt sold his first pianoforte kit to Hubbard in 1972.

During this time Belt was living in two locations: Battle Ground, Indiana (1971–1975), to which he moved to escape the cold winters of New Hampshire, then Pawcatuck, Connecticut, a small town not far from Way's headquarters in nearby Stonington.

Later life Belt eventually had a falling out with the Zuckermann firm, departing in 1979. He had some difficulty finding employment at the time, and in 1982 was divorced from Meisel. and the two were married there. In fall 1982, they were living in Pawcatuck, and Belt found stable employment as a piano tuner and technician in New Haven, 60 miles away. This unfinished instrument was later purchased by instrument builder Peter O'Donnell of Iowa City, Iowa, who completed its construction. Belt's eventual return to the United States was motivated in part by the wood issue.

On his return Belt settled briefly in rural Oregon near Eugene He reestablished his workshop in the farrowing pen of a hog barn on the farm of his sister Lucille, and continued to build instruments for a number of years. Near the end of his life, a stroke forced him to retire.

In general terms, it seems that with the passage of time Belt was unable to sustain his initial success at the same level. The peak of his worldly success may have been in 1974, when he had a list of five orders to fill; but when a severe recession hit, three of the orders were cancelled and he was soon without business and forced to work for others. Over the years, there were again periods without orders. In the end, Belt's lifetime output amounted to fewer than 50 instruments, little more than one per year.

Near the end of Belt's life, Bilson offered a defense of his work in light of later developments:

“The early work of Philip Belt can hardly be overestimated in helping the entire musical endeavor move forward. There are now many fine builders, producing copies of virtually all the greatest masters of the past, makers whose pianos were praised and treasured by Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin and Liszt. One of those fine builders was in my house recently, and I played him a recording I had made in 1972 on my first Belt piano. His mouth fell open, and he said, ‘My whole idea of this movement has changed. I thought that no one could make such a good piano before the mid-1980s!’”

He died in Hagerstown ... and numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren." Wolfgang Zuckermann met Belt on a visit to his workshop in Center Conway, part of the research for his book The Modern Harpsichord (1969). Along with a positive review of Belt's professional work, Zuckermann (a steadfast New Yorker) remarked that Belt "had the air of a farmer about him". Given where Belt chose to live, it seems indeed likely that he preferred rural locales.

Belt loved his instruments and found it difficult to relinquish them to their new owners.

He could not read music, He also had perfect pitch, and could tune an instrument by ear alone, although sometimes he would use a middle "C" tuning fork to get his bearings.

His biographers (Sanchez, Sheeley, O'Donnell, Kunkel) mention an interest in "spiritual" matters. Sanchez observed that at the time of his interview with Belt the builder had been reading a book by the medium Elwood Babbitt.

According to Kunkel and Sheeley, Belt believed in reincarnation. Sheeley wrote, "His relationship with music and musical instruments is spiritual for him and he believes his past lives helped shape his work. He said that as a boy in a past life, he worked in a piano-maker’s shop carving tiny and delicate pieces."

Often overlooked was his interest in woodworking. Many beautiful cabinets, shelves, and dressers were built during his lifetime, and are still in use.

Discography (1973) Malcolm Bilson, solo; Stein replica. Mozart: Sonatas in B♭ major, K. 281; C Major, K. 330; A Major, K. 331; B♭ Major, K. 570; Adagio in b minor, K. 540 and Eine Kleine Gigue, K. 574. Golden Crest Records. (1978–1980) Haydn piano sonatas, played by Malcolm Bilson on a Mozart-Walter replica. Sonata in F major, Hob. XVI: 23. Sonata in C minor, Hob. XVI: 20. Sonata in A♭ major, Hob. XVI: 43. Sonata in B minor, Hob. XVI: 32.--Vol. 2. Sonata in A major, Hob. XVI: 26. Sonata in E minor, Hob. XVI: 34. Sonata in A♭ major, Hob. XVI: 46. Titanic Records. (1982) Mozart sonatas and rondos, performed by Mary Sadovnikoff on the 1969 Belt Dulcken replica. Titanic Records. (1982) works of Haydn, Mozart, and C. P. E. Bach, performed by Malcolm Bilson on his 1977 Belt Walter replica. Nonesuch. (1982) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The complete keyboard fantasias, recorded by Evelyn Garvey using a Philip Belt copy of Mozart's Walter fortepiano, Vienna, 1786. Spectrum SR-146. Source: . (1983) Haydn, piano sonatas in E flat H.49 and 52. Malcolm Bilson plays the former on a Stein copy built 1972 by Thomas McCobb "after drawings by Philip Belt" and the latter on his 1977 Walter copy by Belt. Nonesuch 9 78018–4. (1984) Mozart piano concertos 9 and 11, with Malcolm Bilson playing a Mozart-Walter replica and John Eliot Gardiner directing the English Baroque Soloists. Archiv. (1988) Mozart piano concertos 22 and 23, with Malcolm Bilson playing a Mozart-Walter replica and John Eliot Gardiner directing the English Baroque Soloists. Archiv. (1989–1991) Bilson, 1977 Walter replica. Piano sonatas by Mozart: D major, K 311 (= 284c); G major, K 283 (= 189h); B♭ major, K 281; A major, K 331; F major, K 280 (= 189e); C major, K 330 (= 300h). Hungaroton. (1994) Quentin & Mary Murrell Faulkner playing various composers including Mozart on a harpsichord and an unidentified Belt replica. Pro Organo. (2009) John Khouri performing works of Anton Eberl. Pedal piano by James Kandik and Philip Belt. .