upright 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: Apollo, Fibiger Brothers (Karol and Aleksander)

Date: ca. 1902-1903

Village / Town: Kalisz

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland, present-day Poland

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1979 from Wanda Babel from Grudziądz

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-043, formerly ST-VIII-80-805-372

Description: black lacquered, richly embellished with grooves and carvings (Art Nouveau motifs on lower doors), projections, Mozart’s head, among other things. Cross-, single-, double-, triple-strung. Full metal frame with pin block’s armour. English repetition action with underdampers

Inscriptions: „APOLLO” / prp. K & A. Fibiger. inlaid in brass on the keyboard cover; „APOLLO” on the pin block to the right; „APOLLO” / № 82 / Br. K. i A. Fibiger / Fabryka fortepianów i pianin / w Kaliszu  painted in black on the soundboard in Russian and Polish

Measurements: height 1300, width 1560, depth 380 (720) mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

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

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: B. Vogel, Fortepian polski. Budownictwo fortepianów na ziemiach polskich od poł. XVIII w. do II wojny światowej, (Warszawa, 1995), pp. 214-17; K. Rottermund, Budownictwo instrumentów muzycznych na terenie Wielkopolski w XIX i 1. połowie XX wieku, (Poznań, 2002), p. 104

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