Chopin newsflash

[ada]

The piano chopin took on his last concert tour in 1848 has reportedly been found by British collector who bought it twenty years ago for 2000 pounds.

The collector had been unaware of the treasure he possessed until meeting and talking to a French expert at a Chopin conference.

The piano was made by French pianomaker Camille Pleyel. It's being kept in a National Trust House in Surrey.

[henrah]

Wonder if it still has his finger prints on it

[ada]

Wonder if it still has his finger prints on it

Or his DNA - maybe some of his skin cells fell between the keys. We could clone him back to life.

[pianistimo]

watch it get stolen sometime soon.  you know - like that famous vermeer at the gardener museum.

apparently this one art thief stole a rembrandt or some such from the metropolitan museum of art because it was kept near the front door.  he simply unhung it and walked out the back door.  he was in lampoc jail the last interview (on tv).  very matter-of-fact.

although, disassembling a piano for a quick exit might prove to be a nighttime job.  this guy said the vermeer job was probably 2 hours.  i think they had to cut and paste.  (probably no pasting - but cutting).

btw, i'm not suggesting this or anything.  but, once people find out how much something is worth - or look at it and fall in love with it - they become obsessed with owning it.  at least this is what one of the documentary people said about stolen artwork.

ps don't you ever wonder about replicas, too.  i mean - if you are looking at the original or a replica.  who can really tell you without fingerprints?  someone can say 'chopin played this.'  suddenly the value goes up 500,000 dollars or more.  yes.  the old 'sell it for a better price' trick.

[allthumbs]

Yes, I heard about this the other day when listening to the radio. A well known concert pianist (name escapes me at the moment) has recorded The 'Raindrop' Prelude on that very piano.

The piano sounded pretty good for its age, but it did need tuning quite badly. Perhaps it had a wooden harp and not the cast iron ones of the modern piano. The former was notorious for not holding tune very well.

Anyway, it was interesting to hear what perhaps Chopin's listeners heard when he was playing.


Cheers

allthumbs