Szilvasi discovered the piano in the cellar of the museum four years ago. It left the Pleyel workshop in Paris in 1898, according to company records, says Szilvasi. It was purchased by the Polish Count Zamoyski, who bequeathed it to Prince Ágost Szász-Coburg. The piano was later brought from Vienna to Budapest, where it spent many years in the mansion of Barron Hermann Groedel.
The piano is just one of three of its type, all made at the same time. One of the others was restored in Paris in 1998, and the other was lost.
After its discovery, the Museum of Applied Arts' Pleyel was made playable and used for a concert at an exhibition opening two years ago. To raise money for a complete restoration of the instrument, an auction was held that raised HUF 2.2 million for the project.
Szilasi says the piano still has its original strings, and the mechanical action is undamaged. Some work must be done on the soundboard, which has a few cracks, but other than this, the instrument is in excellent condition.
The Pleyel piano factory has many connections to Hungarian culture. Its founder, Ignaz Pleyel, was a musician for the Erdődy family and he was a student of Joseph Haydn when the great composer was serving the Esterházy family. Pleyel arrived in Paris with three letters of introduction, from Haydn, from Count Erdődy and from Prince Esterházy, and set up a piano factory and music publisher in 1795. Pleyel's pianos were played by artists all over Europe, among them Liszt and Chopin. Pleyel also opened a concert hall, which is still operating.
Later masters of the art of piano making, from Steinway to Bechstein, all learned from Pleyel.
Szilvasi says that the Museum of Applied Arts also has in store an Érard piano, though in relatively bad condition. He notes that Érard pianos were among Liszt's favourite to play on.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
