The Association of Polish Piano Tuners is implementing the project "Polish Piano. Art - Science - Craft." The aim of the meeting is to show the Polish peculiarities of piano building during 6 lectures held in the capital of the Polish piano, Kalisz.
Project description
As part of the project "Polish Piano. Art - Science - Craft" we will present a series of six concert lectures. Each event will be dedicated to a different Polish piano maker and his works. We will place original period instruments in a colorful narrative and musical context. In the unique sound aura of authentic Polish historical pianos, we will take a fascinating journey through the Polish and European cultural-social-historical landscape of the 19th and early 20th centuries, looking at the successive intertwining of people and things, art, science and industry. It is our hope that our meetings will inspire you to further explorations not only in the area of Romantic pianism, but of "historically conscious" performance in general. We believe that during our journey we will discover together both new musical territories, as well as new horizons of those areas we already know very well.
The lectures are given by Marek Bracha and Dr. Michal Brulinski.
October 12, 4 pm: In the circle of salon music-making (Pehlke, Stettin 1850)
Description: We will dedicate the inaugural meeting of the series to home music-making at the piano, which was one of the most popular and common musical practices in the 19th century. We will be accompanied on our journey through Polish salons by the sound of a unique table instrument from Szczecin, manufactured there in the mid-19th century. We will hear music that resonated in the salons of the time: miniatures, stylized dances, transcriptions of opera arias and symphonic music.
Piano characteristics: A table piano veneered in flame mahogany with the original vintage substance preserved in its entirety. It is a straight-strung instrument with a semi-metal frame, single-action English mechanics with leather-covered hammers. The instrument stretches in the range of smooth bichord strings, bichord bass strings and single strings. One is one of the brand's two well-known table pianos. The keyboard covers 6 and 1/2 octaves (C1-a4). Dimensions: 182 cm x 88 cm x 92 cm. The uniqueness of this instrument is determined by the fact that table pianos were not particularly popular in the circle of Polish lands, while the Szczecin manufacturers were primarily oriented towards the production of pianos.
October 13, 4 pm: Warsaw of Chopin's time and the beginnings of the "Polish piano" (Krall and Seidler, Warsaw 1830/2020)
Description: During the second meeting we will travel together through the Warsaw of Chopin's time, searching together for the beginnings of what we can call the "Polish piano". The most important companion of our trip will be a copy of the oldest known wing piano of the Warsaw firm of Krall and Seidler (1830/2020). Alongside Chopin's music we will hear the greatest "hits" of the time, as well as works that have been almost completely forgotten.
Characteristics of the instrument: A copy of the oldest known Krall and Seidler piano. Built on the basis of the original instrument found in 2019 by Christopher Heyke. The piano built on an "A" frame body made of oak wood, veneered with pyramidal mahogany. It is a straight-strung instrument with a single metal joint in the discant section equipped with a Viennese mechanism, leather covered hammers. Two pedals: muffler lifter and una corda. Keyboard range: F-f (six octaves) Dimensions: 230 cm x 112 cm x 92 cm.
November 9, 4 pm: "Female" piano or "male" piano? (Vishnevsky, Danzig 1842)
Description: Man enters into various relationships with the objects around him by "incarnating" in them in different ways every day. Through the question of the "corporeality" of objects, we are confronted with another one concerning the "sexuality" of an unusual artifact such as the piano. It is the reflection on the "femininity" and "masculinity" of the instrument that will determine the direction of our musical and intellectual journey during the third meeting in the series. We will hear both music considered "feminine" in the 19th century, as well as "masculine" pieces. What's behind it? - This question will be "answered" by a piano from 1842 produced by the Danzig-based maker, Jacob Berndhard Wiszniewski.
Characteristics of the instrument: Instrument manufactured in Gdansk in the workshop of J. B. Wiszniewski. Straight-strung with Viennese mechanics, frame damper. Lyre equipped with two pedals: muffler lifter and una corda. Piano equipped with half-metal frame, low-voltage iron string tension, 6 and 1/2-octave keyboard (C1-a4). Veneered in mahogany, all its structural and case elements are original, including the keyboard veneer - ivory and ebony. Dimensions: 216 cm x 140 cm x 96. The Wiszniewski family, in addition to their civic virtues - as befitted the Gdansk bourgeoisie - was famous for introducing numerous improvements to the construction of the piano. They presented their products at exhibitions in Berlin and Gdansk, among others.
November 10, 4 pm: Small and large musical and technological breakthroughs (Hofer, Warsaw 1864)
Description: In the course of the first half of the 19th century, the piano underwent a series of (r)evolutionary changes, which we can compare to the dynamics of the IT industry in the last three decades. Successive "technological" changes entailed musical metamorphoses, and vice versa. We will look at these extremely intriguing entanglements in the networks of people, things and sounds during the fourth meeting, the main character of which will be a Warsaw piano produced by Antoni Hofer, one of the most significant piano makers of the time in the Polish lands.
Characteristics of the instrument : The instrument, with serial number 1490, is preserved in its entirety with all elements of its construction, veneered with rosewood. Inside the historic instrument is a semi-metal frame with three connectors. Straight-stringed iron string, Viennese mechanics with hammers veneered with felt. Frame muffler. It was equipped with a keyboard with a range of 6 and ¾ octaves (A1-a4) and two pedals - muffler lifter and una corda. Dimensions of the instrument:198 cm x 138 cm x 90 cm. In total, more than 2,500 instruments came out of Hofer's workshop - an impressive number in the context of all piano production on Polish soil. Hofer readily adapted patents of foreign companies - Erard, Pleyel and Bossendorfer - for his instruments.
Nov. 30, 4 p.m.: In the glow of invention, or local virtuosos and piano-masters in a European context (Kerntopf, Warsaw 1894)
Description: In the nineteenth century, the piano was one of those objects that received the most attention at world exhibitions and numerous exhibitions of handicrafts throughout Europe at the time. In the catalogs of things, this instrument "shone" next to the most sophisticated inventions and technical achievements. In turn, romantic virtuosos shone on the increasingly large and numerous stages, dazzling audiences with their brilliance. One of them was Ignacy Jan Paderewski, whose trail leads us to the Kerntopf label in Warsaw. Looking at the relationship between pianists and piano makers, we will observe various "inventions" in piano music of the late 19th century.
Instrument characteristics: Concert instrument made by Kerntopf and son in 1894, varnished black with numerous woodcarving elements. The instrument has a G-c5 range keyboard, and is equipped with a Schwander repetition mechanism. The hammers of the piano are covered with felt. The cast-iron frame with a cross-arrangement. According to recent discoveries, the instrument was exhibited at the National Exhibition in Lviv in 1894 with the notation "made for Ignacy Jan Paderewski". The piano's dimensions: 261 cm x 159 cm x 98 cm. National exhibitions and inventions, the piano in the land of the unusual, outstanding Polish virtuosos and the relationship of virtuos with the piano. Jan Kerntopf, as a pupil of Buchholtz, continued the Warsaw manufacturing tradition. His son, Edward Konstanty, practiced in several German cities. He was also associated with the Warsaw Conservatory. He was linked by a long-standing friendship with Paderewski, whom he supported spiritually and financially. The presented model was one of the first to implement keyboard extension in the bass register.
December 1, 4 pm: Kalisz center vs. periphery of Romantic pianism (Fibiger, Kalisz 1935)
Description: 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 like the romantic piano tradition, gradually dying 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 crowning meeting of the series full of surprises, including musical ones.
Characteristics of the instrument: Arnold Fibiger concert piano with factory number 19973, 240cm in length, 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, among other things, with the 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 historical instruments come from the Piano and Pianos Workshop of Andrzej Wlodarczyk from Slupno near Radzymin.
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.
