grand piano

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


Alexander Melnikov © The Fryderyk Chopin Institute

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: Antoni Zakrzewski

Date: ca. 1837-1838

Village / Town: Warsaw

Country: Congress Kingdom of Poland / present-day Poland

Owner: Andrzej Szwalbe Collection, Ostromecko Palace near Bydgoszcz. Bought in 1986 from Janusz Pągowski from Łowicz. In the 19th century, owned by the Ruszkiewicz family – in the Osiek estate before the January Uprising and in Kalisz after the uprising; then – during World War II – by Teresa Ruszkiewicz in Łowicz, and later by Ksawery Stadnicki, violinist with the National Philharmonic in Warsaw

Inventory number: MOK-VII-FZ-003, formerly PN-VI-60-150

Description: mahogany veneered. Straight-, double-, triple-strung; two metal frame stress bars and a capo tasto bar for the upper half of the stringing. Viennese action with rack dampers. Stringing later changed to single, double and triple

Inscriptions: over the keyboard, an oval printed paper label embellished with a floral ornament, in an ormolu frame, under glass: Z uprzywilejowanej od Rządu / Fabryki / ANTONIEGO ZAKRZEWSKIEGO / przy Ulicy Miodowey pod No 489 / w Warszawie; penciled on the label’s back: 24 [x] / 10/[=]240 4 / 24 [x] / 9/[=]216 3; penciled in the recess for the label: No 1 / A. Z.

Measurements: height 330 (1020), width 1290, depth 2400 mm

Materials: wood, metal, ivory

Keyboard compass, stops: C1-g4 – 6½ 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. 277-278



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