harmonium and upright piano Harmonicord

Classification: 3 Chordophones / 31 Simple chordophones or zithers / 314 Board zithers / 314.1 True board zithers / 314.1-4-8 True board zithers sounded by hammers or beaters, with keyboard / 314.1-4-8 + 412.132-8 True board zithers sounded by hammers or beaters, with keyboard + Sets of free reeds, with keyboard

Piano maker: Alexandre François Debain

Date: ca. 1854-1855

Village / Town: Paris

Country: France

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1981 from Krystyna Wysocka from Katowice

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-001, formerly PN-VI-60-119

Description: rosewood veneered. Harmonium: four rows of reeds, two foot bellows, 2 knee swell levers, 16 hand stops – T / TREMBLANT, SOURDINE, 0 / FORTÉ / 3 et 4, 4 / BASSON, 3 / CLAIRON, 2 / BOURDON, 1 / COR ANGLAIS, 0 / GRAND JEU, E / EXPRESSION, 1 / FLUTE, 2 / CLARINETTE, 3 / FIFRE, 4  / HAUTBOIS, 0 / FORTÉ / 3 et 4, CÉLESTE, T / TREMBLANT. Upright: Straight-, double-, triple strung. Iron forged frame with five stress bars; hitch pin block fitted with sheet metal. English action with under dampers. Two hand stops: 5 / CORDES DES BASSES, 5 / CORDES DES DESSUS. The upper door’s nameplate and the console’s four pillars missing

Inscriptions: a printed round plate featuring numerous medals and the imperial coat of arms, under glass, placed beyond the keyboard and on the upper door, reading: PIANOS ET HARMONIUMS / DEBAIN A PARIS / F^eur de S. M. L’EMPEREUR. / MÉDAILLES A PARIS, LONDRES ET NEW YORK; illegible oval stamp and the number 5212 pressed on the hitch pin block

Measurements: height 1135, width 1260, depth 160/575 (650) mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: C-c⁴ – 5 octaves, two bellows' pedals, two knee swell levers, 18 hand stops including two extreme for piano

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: B. Vogel, Kolekcja zabytkowych fortepianów Filharmonii Pomorskiej, (Bydgoszcz, ¹1980, ²1987) p. 108; http://catalogue.philharmoniedeparis.fr/doc/MUSEE/0772602/harmonicorde

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