Swiss physicist identifies Chopin's Pleyel grand piano
The Swiss physicist Alain Kohler has identified a Pleyel grand piano that spent some time in Frédéric Chopin's Paris apartment. The instrument was restored by Edwin Beunk and Johan Wennink in the Netherlands in 2009 and is currently in private ownership in Germany.
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- Photo: zVg
- Alain Kohler and the Pleyel No. 11265
As Kohler himself writes, he has examined all the documents of the Pleyel firm relating to the period between 1839 and 1847 for grand pianos that may have been made available to Chopin in his Paris apartments during this time, and has come across the serial numbers of several grand pianos to which this certainly applies.
He was able to locate grand piano no. 11265 because it had been advertised for sale by the Edwin Beunk repair workshop. The discovery was confirmed by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, professor emeritus at the University of Geneva and a proven expert on Chopin. The instrument was in Chopin's apartment on the Square d'Orléans in Paris between December 1844 and June 1845. Chopin gave piano lessons there. The Sonata for Cello and Piano op. 65 was certainly composed on this instrument.
Five Pleyel grand pianos are known to have been used by Chopin. They are in museums in Mallorca, Paris, Stockholm, Krakow and Warsaw. Nine years ago, Eigeldinger discovered another grand piano in the Alec Cobbe collection in England. The grand piano discovered by Alain Kohler has the advantage that the original mechanics are well preserved. It will be made available for artistic projects in the future.
Inquiries are possible under www.fortepiano.nl to be addressed to Edwin Beunk.
