Perth Concert Hall recently exhibited a number of interesting Steinway & Son’s pianos, including an interesting reproduction of Engelhard Steinweg’s(the founder of Steinway Pianos) legendary No. 1 piano.
Perth Concert Hall. Grey concrete in all it’s glory.
Apparently Engelhard Steinweg built this first piano in his kitchen, of all places! He must have had a very understanding wife at the time, imagine all that saw dust getting mixed in with the food…uggh! Nothing is known about how many times he was married but I suspect after his first marriage he subsequently moved his piano building activities to the games room. It makes me wonder now…did Henry Ford build his first car in the kitchen as well… perhaps not?
Steinway No. 1. Finally out of the kitchen.
Chris Maene, an expert piano restorer from Belgium was granted permission from Steinway & Sons in New York where the original No.1 is kept in their Queens factory(finally out of the kitchen), to make detailed digital drawings using a specialized X-ray equipment. He then set about the painstaking process of building an exact copy down to the smallest detail. Perhaps he built this in his kitchen as well?
Was this piano also built in the kitchen?
The exhibit also included a number of other Steinway pianos, including a 1887 Grand Piano, a Square Piano from 1883, a modern 9 foot grand piano and a few others.
Nice legs on this 1877 lady
The pedals
Square pianos were fashionable in 1883
Yes, you were allowed to touch these pianos
Cast iron frame with Steinway & Sons
What I really liked about this exhibit was they allowed people to touch and play the pianos. This was a real hands on exhibit and certainly the first time I’ve even touched a Steinway piano. My hands will never be the same after that. My rendition of ‘Goin to Chicigo Blues’ however went un-noticed amongst the very other talented visitors who were more into classical music thing. Makes me want beat hoven and Bach.
Shiny or what? Combined piano and mirror.
These guys didn’t skip piano lessons. They were good.
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