Chopin's last piano gets its 19th-century features back

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Texas-born adept connected historical pianos, Paul McNulty, renovates the past soft that Frederic Chopin played and composed on, astatine the Chopin depository successful Warsaw, Poland, connected Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021. The 1848 Pleyel soft was offered to Chopin's household aft his 1849 decease by Scottish pianist Jane Stirling, and survived 2 satellite wars successful Warsaw, but had modern strings enactment successful in the mid-20th century, that destroyed the tone. McNulty aims astatine bringing it backmost to its archetypal characteristics. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

WARSAW – The past soft connected which Frederic Chopin played and composed successful Paris is being renovated by a U.S. adept who is giving it backmost its archetypal mid-19th period characteristics.

Paul McNulty is spending days astatine the Frederic Chopin Museum successful Warsaw filling successful immoderate cracks successful the soundboard and putting successful ligament strings similar the ones utilized by Paris soft shaper Camille Pleyel — Chopin's favourite — successful 1848.

“We’re very, precise adjacent to the quality and the individuality of this instrumentality erstwhile we enactment the close strings on, everything other being successful precise bully condition,” McNulty told The Associated Press connected Thursday.

Pleyel made the instrument, with serial fig 14810, disposable to Chopin, already earnestly ailing astatine the time, successful the autumn of 1848. After Chopin's decease successful October 1849, the soft was bought by his Scottish pupil and friend, Jane Stirling, who past offered it to Chopin's eldest sister, Ludwika Jedrzejewiczowa.

The soft arrived successful Warsaw successful 1850 — it inactive bears the reddish customs seal of Russia that ruled Warsaw astatine the time. It survived 2 satellite wars, including the demolition of the 1944 Warsaw Rising.

Given the provenance and the bully information of the instrument, McNulty said it is “priceless.”

Texas-born McNulty says this is the “best preserved Pleyel soft successful the world,” contempt having rather a melodramatic history. It was played, but treated good by Chopin's household and was not utilized for performance performances, besides due to the fact that of a failed renovation attempt.

It had astir of its robust ligament strings changed for overmuch stronger and tighter modern ones during renovation successful the precocious 1950s that destroyed its code and enactment strain connected the full structure.

McNulty and depository authorities judge the existent enactment volition bring it arsenic adjacent arsenic imaginable to the dependable that Chopin heard.

“We anticipation it volition sing for america again,” said Aleksander Laskowski, spokesperson for The Frederic Chopin Institute that houses the museum.

“So an accidental to perceive the dependable of Chopin’s soft arsenic helium heard it erstwhile helium composed is rather likely,” Laskowski said.

McNulty, who has restored and built replicas of hundreds of humanities pianos successful the past 35 years , says the caller dependable “will beryllium wrong the confines, the expectations of the builder.”

The instrumentality volition service arsenic a assets for probe and possibly arsenic a exemplary for a replica, but is not intended for performances.

Among the copies McNulty has made is the 1749 Silberman soft that Johann Sebastian Bach improvised on.

Chopin, Poland’s champion known and beloved classical euphony composer and pianist, was calved successful 1810 successful Zelazowa Wola adjacent Warsaw to a Polish parent and a French father. He near Poland astatine 19 to broaden his philharmonic acquisition successful Vienna and past successful Paris, wherever helium settled, composing, giving concerts and teaching the piano.

He died connected Oct. 17, 1849, successful Paris and is buried astatine the Pere Lachaise cemetery. His sister Ludwika brought his bosom to Warsaw wherever it is successful 1 of the pillars astatine the Holy Cross Church.

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