"The Kalisz center vs. the periphery of Romantic pianism" was the topic of the latest meeting (December 1) - this time devoted to the pianos of Arnold Fibiger.
The Fibiger factory in Kalisz, renamed "Calisia" after World War II, was one of the most important centers of piano manufacturing on Polish soil in history. On the eve of the dark times of wartime turmoil, it reached the apogee of its splendor - just as the romantic piano tradition gradually died out in the following decades of the 20th century. We will devote the last meeting of the series to summarizing various threads related to the historical and cultural resonance of the "piano era." The guest of the meeting wrapped around Fibiger's piano from the 1930s will be its "distant cousin from Vienna," almost 150 years older. We invite you to the series' crowning meeting full of surprises, including musical ones.
Characteristics of the instrument: an Arnold Fibiger concert grand piano, factory number 19973, 240cm long, built in 1935. Construction based on a solid cast iron frame with crossed string arrangement. The frame in windowed form. The bass and violin sections use agraves, two discant fields with screw-post pressure. The body of the piano is based on the form of five cants. Wraps made in the system of gluing the mold and joining at the edges. The inside of the body and the left side of the top lid glued with a light veneer, so called "chechota". On the body, the keyboard cover and the lectern there are visible inserts of root walnut veneer. Legs, lyre and pedestals with rich hand-made wood carving. Keyboard with a range of 74 octaves, white keys covered with original ivory, semitones made of ebony wood. The piano uses a double repetition mechanism, the so-called English system. A major overhaul was carried out in 2020 with, among other things, replacement of the tuner, strings, pegs, hammers and all worn out skins and felts. It is tuned to a camertone frequency of 442HRc. The Arnold Fibiger model 240 piano shown is the only one in the world.
The Arnold Fibiger model 240 piano is from the Kowalczyk Piano collection.
The Association of Polish Piano Tuners is implementing the project "Polish Piano. Art - Science - Craft" subsidized by the National Institute of Music and Dance within the framework of the National Reconstruction and Resilience Plan (investment A2.5.1). The amount of the grant is PLN 81,992.
