Tea at Trianon: The Queen's Piano

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, January 8, 2019

The Queen's Piano

It seems the golden piano in the royal drawing room has been remarked upon by the usual suspects. From World Piano News:

The piano was built in London by the leading French piano-makers S&P Erard. Sébastien Erard (1752-1831) was a remarkable craftsman and technician. He built his first piano in 1777. He subsequently produced instruments for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and for many of the great composers including Chopin and Liszt. Erard was also responsible for a host of important innovations in piano design—many of which are still utilised today.

In 1791 Erard had to move from Paris to London to escape the French Revolution. On this death, his nephew, Pierre, continued his pioneering work, and the company renamed S&P Erard, produced many of the finest pianos of the 19th century.

The 1856 gold piano was ordered by Queen Victoria to be placed in the State Rooms of Buckingham Palace. Both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert played the piano and they had instruments installed in all their private residences. (Details of another piano owned by Victoria can be found here). This, however, was the grandest and most elaborate piano in the collection.

The piano is constructed using gilded painted and varnished mahogany, satinwood and pine, with brass and gilt bronze mounts. Three incurving cabriole legs with intricate carvings support the case.

The instrument is decorated in an early eighteenth-century French style. It features comical depictions of monkeys and cherubs playing musical instruments. These paintings are by François Rochard a French miniature painter. He used polychrome colours to provide a visually powerful impression. Parts of the case are taken from an earlier instrument owned by Queen Victoria. She so liked the imagery that she wanted it transferred to her new piano. (Read more.)