See Chopin's last magnificent piano

Frédéric Chopin (1810–49) was born in Warsaw to a Polish mother and French father. He lived his short adult life in Paris and won wor­ld­wide fame as a composer and pianist of the Roman­tic era, who wrote primarily for solo piano. Note Chopin playing for the Radziwiłłs. 

Chopin playing for the Radziwiłłs, 1829
by Henryk Siemiradzki, 1887
Course Hero

Piano manufacturer and Chopin had been close friends since 1831, with an agreement between them sim­ilar to a modern spon­sorship deal. Pleyel agreed to supply Chopin with free pianos; Chopin promoted the Pleyel instrum­ents to his pup­ils and fans, receiving 10% commission from any sales.

[Meantime Chopin’s young love affairs with Constantia Gladkowska in Warsaw (1830) and Maria Wodzińska in Dresden (1835–36) failed. Then in 1838 he moved with novelist George Sand and her children to Majorca. They were id­yllically happy until Chopin became ill, then his TB diag­nos­is meant they were ordered out].

Chopin clearly stated that Pleyel's instruments were the only ones id­eally suited to his music. The pianos of today produce lone, sust­aining, liquid notes, whereas with the Pleyel the notes die away much more quickly and this gives a comp­let­ely differ­ent texture to the music. Liszt wrote Chopin really cher­ished Pleyel pianos for th­eir silvery veiled sonor­ity, and their light­ touch. Chopin ch­ose h­is final Pleyel piano soon after it was completed in Jan 1848 which was in his Salon at the Square d’Or­léans, Paris (see photo). The Ple­y­­el led­gers recorded that the composer was billed 2200 francs for it; in letters Chopin referred to it as HIS in­s­trument. Chopin almost cer­tainly used it for his last concert in Pa­ris in Feb 1848 and, as we’ll see, for his first Lon­d­on concert.

 

Chopin flat, first floor in the corner behind the tree.

Square d’Or­léans, Paris

The 1848 February Revolution in France made Chopin anxious. Most of his colleagues and pupils fled Paris and Chopin’s own concerts stop­p­ed. Worse, the composer had TB. A devoted pupil, Scotswoman Jane St­irling, invited him to Britain where she and her sister would find him work. Chopin sailed to Britain for a 1848 tour, bringing his Ple­yel piano for what was to be his last public appearance at Lon­d­on's Guild­hall in Nov 1848. By then he was very ill, under-weight and terminal.

When he left London ret­urning to Paris for the last time, Chopin sold the piano to British aristocrat Lady Mar­­g­aret Trotter, whose daughter Margar­et Lindsay was Chopin’s friend-pupil. His Pleyel stayed with the Lind­say rel­a­tives for decades, the piano end­ing up in a coun­try mansion before be­ing auctioned and sold to a dealer in ant­ique pianos.

Another theory was that the piano was bought to Warsaw in 1850 by his Scottish student and friend, Jane Stirling. She then offered it to Chopin's sis­t­er, Ludwika who sold it on to the National Museum of Warsaw after WW1.

Chopin returned to Paris and spent the winter mainly in bed, but giv­ing some les­sons and social visits. Occ­as­ionally he played, or acc­om­pan­ied the singing of Del­fina Potocka, for his friends. In mid 1849 his friends found him a flat in Ch­ail­lot for which the rent was secr­et­ly paid by Prin­cess Obres­koff. He was visited by Jenny Lind in Jun 1849. Tragically the young artist died in Oct 1849 and was bur­ied in Pere Lachaise cemetery. His sister Ludwika brought his heart back to Warsaw where it was placed in one of the Holy Cross Church pillars.

Photo of Chopin 

by Bisson, 1849

Course Hero

An outstanding Norwegian pianist and composer from Tron­d­heim, Thomas Tellefsen, had studied with Chopin for 4 years. Ch­opin had immediately recognised the Norwegian's talent and became as close a friend with him as Chopin could be with anyone. After Chopin’s death, Tel­l­efsen adopted most of his students and prepared the first full edition of his hero’s works.

***

Alec Cobbe, British collector of antique keyboard instrum­ents, bought a piano from a dealer in antique pianos who’d pur­chas­ed a French-made instrument at an earlier auction for £2000. Neit­h­er of them were ­aw­are of its significance but Cobbe did know that there were only 3 ot­h­er pianos owned by Cho­p­in: in Paris, Majorca and War­saw.

For 160 years, the whereabouts of Chopin’s instruments were un­kn­own, un­til Dr Jean-Jacques Eigeldin­g­er Prof Musicol­ogy at Geneva Uni­ver­sity resear­ched the ledgers of French piano-maker Camille Pl­ey­el. By its se­rial number in Pleyel's led­ger, Dr Eigeldinger id­ent­ified Cob­be's piano as the one Chopin br­ought to Britain in 1848. At a Chop­in conference, Eigel­dinger had the de­t­­ails of all Pleyel pianos made and sold in Paris.  He’d cor­rel­at­ed the sc­attered Pleyel instruments with the firm's arch­ives and finally, af­ter 2 decades, Cobbe could announce he owned a Chopin grand piano.

Once Dr Eigel­dinger had tracked the grand piano down, it went on dis­p­lay in 2007 at Hatch­lands National Trust house, Surrey, with the rest of the Cobbe col­l­ection of mus­ical ins­trum­ents. This very fine music coll­ect­ion boast­ed 20 instruments loved by Pur­cell, J.C Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mahler, Elgar etc. The Cob­be Col­l­­ection Trust in Hatchlands offers musicians and fans the chan­ce to hear music  played as the com­p­os­ers would have heard it.

Chopin's Pleyel piano, 1847

rediscovered and renovated

Michael Moran

A piano ages poorly if the wood loses its flexibility and needs to be restored. However this piano was restored in the 1950s with a wrong type of strings i.e modern strings that destroyed the tone. So the last piano played by Frédéric Chopin had to und­ergo rest­or­ation works to bring it back to its best. Rest­or­­ation expert American Paul McNulty was asked by the Fréd­éric Chopin Institute in Warsaw to restore Chopin’s last ever piano . McNulty filled the soundboard and fitted the correct wire str­ings, sim­ilar to its originals. Once he’d finished, the Chopin Institute displayed the piano, celebr­ating Chop­in’s 200th anniversary (2010). And recorded a CD of piano music on the composer’s own Pleyel piano.

Spring with Fryderyk is a musical festival each March-April, during which piano virtuosos play Chopin’s works. The Hall of Mirrors in Pszczyna Castle, Poland is the perfect location.

Read Classical Music and Musicians and Michael Moran.  

 

 

 

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