Anyone heard of dual keyboard pianos?

[pion]

Does anybody have any knowledge of dual-keyboard pianos? Years ago I was invited to give a performance of the Waldstein Sonata at a local Musical Society meeting, and when I was called up to the stage and opened the keyboard lid of their grand piano, I was horrified to discover two keybords staring at me! I'd never seen or even heard of such a thing, and got thoroughly lost in the performance because as I played one keyboard, my eyes kept looking at the one just above it -  it was a most horrible experience from which it took me years to recover. Anyway, I was just recently looking at a documentary of Khachaturian (directed by Peter Rosen - wonderful, I thoroughly recommend it) when during one of the interviews I spotted a dual-keyboard grand piano monster lurking in the background - which brought back all my nightmares. Now I am wondering who made such instruments and what was the purpose for having dual keyboards, except to terrorize unsuspecting pianists?

[pianonut]

hmmm.  sounds like an odd piano alright!  i once went to a church in santa barbara that was in an old mission.  the piano was probably as old as the mission and instead of two pedals, it had 8-9 (can't remember how many exactly).  i was so confused, too!  had to experiment.  but, most were broken.  one of the keys stuck, and the lid threatened to come down on my fingers at any time.  oh, yes, and the music stand wasn't very reliable either.

[thalberg]

oh, yes, yes.  I think it's called the Moore duplex piano or something like that.  Gyorgy Sandor writes about it in his book "On Piano Playing."  Sandor actually really likes it.  He says it was about to catch on but then didn't because of the war or something, and he really hopes it makes a comeback.  He says the technique for that piano would be much the same as for a regular piano, but that it would increase the capability of the instrument tremendously.

But Sandor's comments aside, if I had to play on one I think I would have been just as traumatized as you were.