grand piano

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

Piano maker: Carl Bechstein

Date: 1862

Village / Town: Berlin

Country: Prussia / present-day Germany

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1978 from Zdzisława Kołaczkowska from Częstochowa

Inventory number: PN-VI-60-109

Description: black polished. Straight-, single- double-, triple-strung; composite frame with five metal stress bars; English repetition action with overdampers

Inscriptions: C. BECHSTEIN / Hof-Lieferant Sr. Majestät d. Königs / BERLIN inlaid in brass on the keyboard cover with Prussian coat of arms in the centre; on the soundboard, a transfer with Prussian coat of arms in the centre reads: Pianoforte-Fabrik / von / C. Bechstein / Hoflieferant Sr. Majestät / des Königs von Preussen / BERLIN / Behren - Str. N^o 56. / N^ọ 577. 

Measurements: height 350 (910), width 1390, depth 1920 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: A₂-a⁴ – 7 octaves, two pedals – una corda and dampers

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: H. Henkel, Lexikon deutscher Klavierbauer, (Frankfurt am Main, 2000) p. 41-4; B. Vogel, Kolekcja zabytkowych fortepianów Filharmonii Pomorskiej, (Bydgoszcz, ¹1980, ²1987), p. 28

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