Re: the Chickering

[Dominic Lesnar <domjin@earthlink.net>]

On Tuesday, December 04, 2001 Juozas Rimas wrote:

> Could you enlighten me about what "Chickering" is? Is it a brand of
pianos or a
> nickname for a Gould's piano? Sorry for the ignorance.

Greetings Juozas!

I'm not sure if anyone has replied to your query offline.  Chickering
was an esteemed Boston piano manufacturer founded in 1823, making
high-quality pianos which even rivaled Steinway during the 1860's and
1870's, surviving until 1908 when they merged with a number of other
piano brands.  Over the years the Chickering name has been owned by
various companies such as Aeolian, Wurlitzer and most recently Baldwin,
whose inferior Chickering line holds absolutely no resemblance to the
illustrious hey-day of those 19th century instruments.

Gould's love affair with his 1895 Chickering F Grand piano has been well
documented.  GG loved its light, loose action and its thin tone,
especially for the music of Bach, and was the piano to which all others
were compared throughout his life.  It had long been thought that GG's
nostalgia for his Chickering was because it had been his boyhood piano,
but recently discovered documents show almost certainly that Gould
acquired the piano only after the time he became a recording artist.

Gould's Chickering can be heard (and seen) in the "On/Off the Record"
DVD and video. After many years of neglect (even during Gould's
lifetime) it was historically restored in 1999.

Hope that isn't too much information! Ask a simple question...

Dominic