in some particulars, but the tone, with all the delicacy of Schroeter's (see below) touch, lost the spirit of the harpsichord and gained nothing in sweetness". Nevertheless, one of his harpsichords was owned and played by the naturalized English castrato, Giusto Fernando Tenducci, an intimate friend of Johann Christian Bach and an associate of world-renowned castrato Gaspare Pacchierotti, a regular visitor to London between 1778 and 1791. Tenducci published a set of sonatas for the harpsichord or pianoforte not heard since the 18th century. (A recording of one of these pieces exists on a CD by David Leigh playing the actual restored 1766 Backers harpsichord in question.) A Covent Garden play bill from 1767 amongst the Broadwood family memorabilia dated 16 May for that year announces "End of Act 1. Miss Brickler will sing a favourite song from Judith, accompanied by Mr Dibdin on a new instrument called Piano Forte." There is some speculation that Backers was the maker of this novelty. Americus announced the first exhibition of this "new Forte Piano" in February 1771. Subsequent Backers pianos were used by J.C. Bach and his protégé Johann Samuel Schroeter for concerto performances in London and would certainly have been known by Muzio Clementi. This was played at the Thatched House in St James's Street, London, in 1773. Cesare Ponsicchi, a 19th-century piano restorer who had himself worked on original Cristofori pianos, found a Backers grand piano at Pistoria, Italy dated 1778, indicating that Americus's pianos were exported abroad. This piano can no longer be traced. Role in development of the grand piano We know from the history of the Broadwood family that John Broadwood and his fellow Scot Robert Stodart – both apprentices to the harpsichord builder Burkat Shudi (Anglicized) – would spend evenings at Americus's Jermyn Street home and workshop, helping him to perfect his escapement for his pianoforte action based on, but differing in several important factors, from Silbermann's design that was in turn developed from Cristofori's original. Americus's innovation was the addition of an "escapement" to Silbermann's realization of a string striking action design. Unlike Cristofori's design (to which of course Americus had no access) which interposed an intermediate lever between the lever that the key lifts and the striking hammer, Americus placed an upstanding wooden "jack" pivoting from this lever acting directly on a leather clothed notch in the hammer butt. An adjustable screw mounted underneath