One of Beethoven’s favorite pianos is being meticulously copied in time for the 200th anniversary of his death next year. The maker has previously reproduced two other pianos used by Beethoven.
Chris Maene, from Belgium’s West Flanders region, has built or restored over 150 ‘ancient’ pianos, was given special access to the original at the Beethoven House in Bonn, which will eventually own and use the replica. The original has become unplayable, partly due to time and to Beethoven himself.
The piano was built for the composer and pianist in early 1826 as something of a rush order, because Beethoven’s favorite Broadwood piano had to be shipped to its English maker for repair. The replacement, by leading Viennese piano maker Conrad Graf, was an innovative design: it used four strings for each note in place of the usual two or three. The change gave it unusual volume and resonance, useful especially as Beethoven was less and less able to hear what he was playing.
It was a period when the piano was a relatively new instrument, and both makers and composers were testing its limits and trying new variations; Beethoven had a reputation for being especially hard on pianos. Playing and writing in styles that called for greater and greater tension on the frame is largely why the original is no longer a playable instrument.
Maene told a Brussels Times reporter that “Beethoven was all about Sturm und Drang,” says Maene. “He pushed instruments to their limits, sometimes literally, reaching for the very highest and lowest notes. Builders knew that a fuller sound required greater tension – more strings, more power.”
Beethoven was apparently sufficiently pleased with his new Graf that he continued to use it even after the Broadwood returned. Both originals are now at the Beethoven House. As for Maene himself, he said that “I’m not a great pianist. I’ve always been better at tinkering and drawing. But then – how many pianists can say they’re an excellent piano builder?”
The Broadwood Piano (foreground) and the Graf (behind it) Image by Leonce49/Wikimedia Commons
