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: Arnold Fibiger

Date: 1895

Village / Town: Kalisz

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland / present-day Poland

Owner: Museum of Industrial History, Opatówek, ul. Kościelna 1. Gifted in 2013 by Jadwiga Furmaniak from Kalisz

Inventory number: MHP 77/I

Description: black polished, richly embellished in an eclectic style. Cross-, single-, double-, triple-strung. Full metal frame with hitch pin block’s armour. English sticker repetition action with overdampers

Inscriptions: Arnold Fibiger inlaid in brass on the keyboard cover along with medal plaques reading in Russian: B. M. ALEKSANDR III IMPERATOR I SAMODIERŻEC WSIEROSS. [with tsar’s head]; ZA / TRUDOLJUBIE / I / ISKUSTVO / 1890 [on the wreath]; on the action frame to the right a printed square paper sticker (golden letters on a black background) states: MAISON SCHWANDER / HERRBURGER-SCHWANDER / 16, Rue de l’Evangile / PARIS; on the casing’s back a square paper sticker with remains of the Fibiger stamp reads: FABR [YKA] FORT [EPIANÓW] FIBIGER, besides 1698 is inked and Dnia 23 / 6 / 1895 rok is penciled

Measurements: height 1420, width 1490, depth 350 (690) mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: A₂-a⁴ – 7 octaves, three pedals – piano, moderator and dampers, a hand lever on the right side of the keyboard for blocking the moderator

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), pp. 102-06

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