|
Greg's Antique Piano
Collection
Julius Blüthner started the Julius
Blüthner Pianofortefabrik in Leipzig, Germany in 1853. He lived from 1824 to 1910. The
factory was burned to the ground during World War II. It was rebuilt and opened in the
same location in Leipzig. (which was East Germany) Today, the company is being run by the
great-great-grandson of Julius. Blüthner pianos are known around the world for their
extremely high quality and degree of workmanship. Blüthner pianos are still mostly
handmade instruments, and it is estimated that the total number of Blüthners ever
manufactured is around 150,000 instruments. (Compare that with the 100,000+ manufactured each
year by makers such as Yamaha!) Blüthner also manufactured some of the most beautiful
Grand Pianos ever made.
The Blüthner piano that I have was made in 1910. Blüthner pianos are considered
by many to be one of the best made pianos available. Johannes Brahms is known to have
played on a Blüthner (among other makes) in concert. This instrument has a wonderful
sound and extremely deep bass for an upright. It is Mahogany, but has an ebony finish. The
inside of this instrument is very colorful, with different bright colored felts, and
polished brass plates covering the pinblock. The fallboard has the Blüthner name script
made out of inlaid brass.
This instrument is fitted with a Hupfeld player, and was known as the
"Phonola". This player only plays 73 notes, from lower F to upper F. Hupfeld
built some of the best players ever, but they are not well known outside of Europe. My
piano is one of a few Bluthner upright pianos that were fitted with Hupfeld players, and
were sent to London in 1910. These instruments caused a considerable amount of interest
from player piano fans at the time. Also, at the 1910 World's Fair in Brussels, Belgium
Hupfeld displayed many of its instruments. Hupfeld at this time made a large number of
different automatic musical instruments, including the "Phonoliszt-Violina", a
player piano with as many as 4 self playing violins. My piano has a large orange decal on
the soundboard that reads: "Brussels 1910" which leads me to wonder if this
instrument was one of the ones displayed in Brussels. The 73 note rolls are quite hard to
come by in the U.S. I am lucky to have a small collection of about 50 rolls for this
instrument. This instrument was brought to the US from Austria in the mid '80s and I have
owned it for over two years.
We have completed all of the mechanical restoration work, and it
plays wonderfully. Here is a cutaway view of the
piano, from a technical leaflet circa 1911.
Click on an image for a full size photo:
     
    
Make a donation to
help protect and preserve old pianos! Visit
www.paypal.com and make a
donation to me at
greg@oldpianos.com.
Your donation will help insure this website stays up, and will help me to
acquire additional old pianos in danger, and restore them.
               |
