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As the birthplace of Patti LaBelle, Meek Mill, The Roots and other musical legends, Philly is a musical city.
And with those accolades comes one more – the birthplace of the American-made piano and sousaphone.
The piano came first, thanks to John Berent, or Behrent – who had several different ways of spelling his name.
He came to Philadelphia from Lisbon, Portugal after spending time in London. While his nationality is still a mystery, there was one thing for certain – he was good at his craft.
“Why travel when it’s super inconvenient in the 1700s?” said Josh Gold, one of Historic Philadelphia’s ‘Once Upon a Nation’ storytellers.
“Because he’s a skilled maker of instruments and he’s learning how to make a relatively new style of instrument – the piano forte,” he said.
When he arrived in 1770, he began to make other musical instruments to sell. By 1775, he had introduced the piano. It was modeled after a harpsichord – a similar instrument that is plucked, rather than hammered like a piano.
Berent placed an ad for the piano in a paper in 1775.
“He takes out an ad on March 5, 1775 that he has just finished an extraordinary fine instrument of the name piano forte,” said Gold.
Berent died shortly after from yellow fever. Although his time making instruments in Philly was short-lived, his legacy eventually led to a popular instrument.
“Its [popularity] is a roller coaster of sorts…” said Johanna Dunphy, the artistic director for Historic Philadelphia.
“By the time we get into the Civil War era, the piano is about to reach its most important time.”
The sousaphone came next.
John Philip Sousa was a popular composer in the late 1800s. He commissioned J.W. Pepper, a Philadelphia-based instrument maker, to create the instrument for him.
“He had a band that would tour around, and he wanted to have a top-notch sound in his band, and he didn’t like the bass instruments that were available to him at that time,” said Dave Detwiler, a sousaphone historian.
The instrument is a part of the tuba family. Although some say it is a more mobile version of the tuba, designed for marching and moving around, Detwiler said Sousa originally commissioned it for its specific sound.
“[It’s] a shoulder-borne horn that has a huge bell that points straight up,” he said. “[Sousa] wanted that deep, mellow sound.”
Detwiler said the rest is history.
“It became super popular and by the time you get to the 1920s, there’s sousaphones in every kind of band, like dance bands, jazz bands, marching bands and concert bands,” he said. “Everyone wanted a sousaphone and they’re still super, super popular today.”
A musical city
Music has continued to have an important place throughout the city, Dunphy said.
“There are so many times in history where things get tough and things get scary, and the thing that we always come back to is community and music is always that,” she said.
Detwiler agrees. Though he now plays recreationally, he said he has had his own journey with the sousaphone.
“I started playing a sousaphone that looked like this in my college marching band,” he said. “I actually played it in the 1984 Olympic opening ceremonies as well.”
These two specific instruments also have a special place in Philly’s history, said Leslie Patterson-Tyler, the senior VP of Community Impact & Civic Engagement for the Philadelphia Orchestra and Ensemble Arts.
“We have more than 170 years of history here in Philadelphia of bringing together more than one million visitors annually to come to our spaces,” she said. “And they come to hear music. In the modern day, they come for Broadway, they come for jazz, they come for R&B, and at the center of a lot of these performances are pianos, brass instruments and strings.”
In true full-circle fashion, the original sousaphone eventually made its way back home to Philly. It was discovered for sale at a flea market in the late 1900s, and eventually made its way back to the J.W. Pepper headquarters in Exton, where it normally remains on display.
And the owner of the first American-made piano contacted a South Carolina museum back in 2020 to verify its authenticity. The piano, which was verified, is now on display at the Sigal Music Museum in Greenville, South Carolina.
“These instruments are very different, but they also have a lot in common,” said Gold. “They both served a useful need, they were both lost and found and they both were first made here in Philadelphia.”
You can celebrate this week’s firstival on Saturday, May 2 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts at 300 S. Broad Street.
First Mother’s Day, hospital in America and World’s Fair on American soil coming up
Here is your full guide to all of this year’s firstivals – including where you can find this upcoming Saturday’s Firstival dates and location.
Completed
Week 1: Successful balloon flight in America (1793)
Week 2: The Mummers parade, the nation’s first folk parade (1901)
Week 3: Volunteer fire company (1736)
Week 4: Professional basketball league (1898)
Week 5: Public Girl Scout cookie sale (1932)
Week 6: African Methodist Episcopal congregation (1794)
Week 7: Abolitionist society in America (1775)
Week 8: Authentic Chinese gate built in America (1984)
Week 9: Public protest against slavery in America (1688)
Week 10: Flower Show (1829)
Week 11: Women’s medical college (1850)
Week 12: Matchbook (1892)
Week 13: Medical school (1765)
Week 14: Stadium (1895)
Week 15: Circus performance (1793)
Week 16: Botanical garden (1728)
Week 17: Postmaster (1737)
Upcoming
• American-made piano and sousaphone (1775 and 1893)
May 2, Ensemble Arts Philly, 300 S. Broad St.
• Mother’s Day (1908)
May 9, Historic St. George’s Museum & Archives, 326 New St.
• Hospital in America (1751)
May 16, Pennsylvania Hospital, 800 Spruce St.
• World’s Fair on American soil (1876)
May 23, Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic
• Steamboat for passengers and freight (1787)
May 30, Independence Seaport Museum, 211 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd.
• American flag (1777)
June 6, Betsy Ross House, 239 Arch St.
• U.S. Army (1775)
June 13, Museum of the American Revolution, 101 S. 3rd St.
• Annual Reminder demonstration (1965)
June 20, Philly Pride Visitor Center, Lombard St. and S. 12th St.
• Paper maker in America (1690)
June 27, Rittenhouse Town, 6034 Wissahickon Ave.
• Bank of the United States (1791)
July 4, First Bank of the United States, 120 S. 3rd St.
• Organized baseball team (1831)
July 11 (location TBD)
• Ice cream soda (Oct. 1874)
July 18, Franklin Fountain, 116 Market St.
• American art school (1805)
July 25, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118-128 N. Broad St.
• Scientific Society of Natural History (1812)
Aug. 1, at Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Zoo in America (1874)
Aug. 8, Philadelphia Zoo, 3400 W. Girard Ave.
• U.S. Mint (1793)
Aug. 15 (location TBD)
• Selfie (1839)
Aug. 22, Love Park, 1501 John F Kennedy Blvd.
• Slinky (1943)
Aug. 29, Philadelphia Art Museum, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Signing of the Constitution (1787)
Sept. 5, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St.
• Continental Congress (1774)
Sept. 12 at Carpenters’ Hall, 320 Chestnut St.
• Naming of the United States (1776)
Sept. 19, Independence Hall
• Ronald McDonald House (1974)
Sept. 26, Ronald McDonald House, 3925 Chestnut St.
• Penitentiary in America (1829)
Oct. 3, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Ave.
• The First Peoples
Oct. 10, Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
• U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (1775)
Oct. 17, Arch Street Meeting House, 320 Arch St.
• Public showing of a motion picture (1870)
Oct. 24, Philadelphia Film Society, 1412 Chestnut St.
• Modern detective story written (1841)
Oct. 31, Edgar Allan Poe House, 532 N. 7th St.
• Thanksgiving Day parade in America (1920)
Nov. 7, Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• University in America (1740)
Nov. 14, Houston Hall, The University of Pennsylvania, 3417 Spruce St.
• Children’s hospital in America (1855)
Nov. 21, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Main Building, 3401 Civic Center Blvd.
• Pencil with an attached eraser (1858)
Nov. 28, National Liberty Museum, 321 Chestnut St.
• Weather bureau (1870)
Dec. 5, The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St.
• Electronic computer (1945)
Dec. 12, The University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut St.
• Public lending library in America (1731)
Dec. 19, The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St.
• Philly food firsts: Cheesesteaks (1930s), water ice (1932) and bubble gum (1928)
Dec. 26, Reading Terminal Market, 1136 Arch St.
