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Grand Pianos and Pianos
”That the
grand piano can sing –
Société Wilhelm Furtwängler:
www.furtwangler.org
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Beethovens Leonore Overture No.3, Op.72a.mp3 Wilhelm Furtwängler – Wilhelm Kempff – Conrad Hansen At the charity concert on 2 October 1940 in Berlin with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra for the benefit of the Red Cross Wilhelm Furtwängler participated both as a conductor and a pianist in Bach's concerto for 3 pianos in D-minor, BWV 1063. |
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From a Home with Pianos
Grand piano, Hagspiel & Comp. Hof-Lieferanten, Dresden, 1900
As a flutist and a chamber
musician I am absolutely enthusiastic about antique grand pianos and pianos
because they have such a beautiful look and especially sound. I have two
interesting instruments - a grand piano by Hagspiel & Comp. Hof-Lieferanten
Dresden, serial No. 3480, made between 1890-1900, given a complete overhaul
in 1995.
The instrumentet has mechanism by the once leading company Detleff, which
e.g. also supplied mechanisms for Blüthner, Bechstein and others. In
addition I have a Danish piano with a light and sparkling sound – a Hornung & Møller square piano, serial No. 6583 from about 1871, given a complete overhaul in 1992.
Both instruments I have used for concerts at various manor houses in Denmark.
Furthermore I have a piano Ritmüller Gegr. 1795 and a modern pianoforte Steen-Nielsen 1974.
Square piano, Hornung & Møller about 1873
Hornung & Møller Grand Piano from about 1860 at the Manor House Museum Selsø Castle
On the Owners of the Grand Piano
In the registers of the Museum of Musical Instruments in Copenhagen from the firm Hornung & Møller it says that on 24 April 1860 the grand piano was bought by music teacher Ravnkilde, Copenhagen for 400 rix-dollars.
Furthermore it appears that later it comes to Th. Schou at the manor house Gl. Antvorskov in 1891. When the unmarried son Vilhelm takes over Gl. Antvorskov, one can assume that the grand piano as well as the other furniture is also passed to him. After Vilhelm Schou's death in 1922 the grand piano is sold at an auction held at the manor house Gl. Antvorskov, and it is bought by the book-keeper at the distilleries at Slagelse, Peter A. Vogler and his wife Christa P. Vogler. In 2000 their son, dentist Erik Vogler gave the instrument to the Manor House Museum Selsø Castle, where it is used for concerts.
On the Manufacture of the Grand Piano
The instrument maker Hornung was born at Selskør at the end of the 1780s, and he was apprenticed as a hatter. This work did not interest him very much, and as a skilled man he decided to learn instrument making, especially the manufacture of grand pianos and pianos in which he was very interested. He went to Germany and learned the trade from scratch from some of the best instrument makers. At the beginning of the 1800s when Hornung came back to his native town, he established himself as an instrument maker with his own workshop. Soon his instruments, which were of a high quality, were in great demand, and for business reasons he later moved to Slagelse to a bigger workshop and a few years later to Copenhagen with several employees. In the 1850s Hornung's workshop was passed to the instrument maker Møller who continued the firm under the name of Hornung & Møller, which in its days of glory had more than 100 employees.
Both in Hornung's and in Hornung & Møller's days the firm received many gold medals at international exhibitions of instruments in London in 1851 and 1862 as well as in Paris in 1855 and 1889 at the time when the pianists Chopin and Liszt were much admired by the aristocracy. The company Hornung & Møller at Dehn's Palace, Bredgade, closed down in 1972.
In the beautifully made book ”The Danish Pianoforte until 1914 – a Craft and an Industry”, a doctor's thesis by Dorthe Falcon Møller, the history of the Danish piano is described brilliantly and very thoroughly. In the book there are also two very descriptive accounts of journeys from the period 1889 - 90 on the manufacture of pianos in Europe - a description of the piano-maker Søren Jensen's visit to Dresden at Hagspiel & Comp. Hof-Lieferanten and an account by Vilhelm Petersen, who both call on the leading German factories in Berlin, Lepzig, and Dresden – besides the world exhibition in Paris in 1889.
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Schubert: Impromptus Ges Dur.mp3, Dwv. 899 6:30
live recording - Ulla Kappel, grand piano, Hornung & Møller 1860
Restoration of Grand Pianos: www.lindebladpiano.com
