grand piano

photo: Waldemar Kielichowski © Institute of Music and Dance, Warsaw


Wojciech Świtała © The Fryderyk Chopin Institute
(01:30 english translation: “straight from the grave” should be “straight-strung”)

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: Józef Budynowicz

Date: ca. 1847-1850

Village / Town: Warsaw

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland / present-day Poland

Owner: Museum of Industrial History, Opatówek, ul. Kościelna 1. Bought in 1988 from Aurelia Jarząbkowska from Siedlce. Originally the piano had been bought by her grandfather in the second half of the 19th c.

Inventory number: MHP 16/I

Description: pyramid mahogany veneered. Straight-, double-, triple-strung; composite frame with four stress bars and a capotasto bar for the upper part of stringing. Viennese action with lever dampers

Inscriptions: a namelabel inlaid in brass, tin and cooper on the keyboard cover and decorated with geometric floral motifs reads: Patentowana-Fabryka / J. BUDYNOWICZ / w Warszawie; 211 (?) is featured on the hitch pin block

Measurements: height 360 (920), width 1375, depth 2400 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: A2-a4 – 7 octaves, two pedals – una corda 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. 205; B. Vogel, Polskie fortepiany XIX-XX w. Kolekcja Muzeum Historii Przemysłu w Opatówku, Opatówek 1994



<< Back