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: Jacob Becker

Date: ca. 1896

Village / Town: St. Petersburg

Country: Russian Empire

Owner: Museum of Industrial History, Opatówek, ul. Kościelna 1. Gifted in 1994 by Monsig. Józef Ambroziak, St. Joseph parish, Łódź-Ruda

Inventory number: MHP 40/I

Description: black polished. Cross-, single-, double-, triple-strung; full metal frame with hitch pin block armour. English double repetition action with over dampers

Inscriptions: J. BECKER grooved on the keyboard cover; BECKER J.B.S. BURG woven into the openwork on the music stand (in Russian); PURVEYOR OF THEIR LORDSHIPS PAN-RUSSIA’S EMPEROR, AUSTRIAN EMPEROR / DUTCH CHARLES / / J. BECKER / S. PETERSBURG painted in black in Russian on the soundboard with images of eagles and tsarist, imperial and royal coats of arms; J. BECKER cast in Russian on the stress bar; 15205 pressed on the frame and many other parts; Herman & Grossman / DEPÔT GÉNÉRAL DE PIANOS ET ORGUES / S^t Petersbourg Moscou Varsovie printed in gold letters against a black background inside a square sticker on the right side; N 35 12/96 / 30 penciled on the keyboard cover's back; 15205 pressed on the casing’s beams and S1 Łódź Kal written in white chalk

Measurements: height 360 (950), width 1470, depth 1850 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

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

Catalog card by: Benjamin Vogel

Bibliography: R. V. Cugunnikov, Katalog fortepiannych priedpriniatij (1492 g.-1832 g.), (Belgorod, 1972); M. Cranmer, A. Swartz, Becker, in: The Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, 2nd ed., ed. L. Libin, vol. 1, (Oxford, 2014), p. 288

<< Back