In 1854, Richard Pohl, editor of the Neue Zeitschrift
für Musik, reported hearing Franz
Liszt in Weimar, Germany, play a combination piano-harmonium, a newly developed
instrument built to Liszt’s specifications. In September of that year
Liszt wrote to Bernhard Cossmann, the first cellist in the Weimar orchestra:
“My monster instrument with three keyboards arrived about a fortnight ago
and seems to be a great success.” Apparently, the instrument was never
heard in concert until 150 years later when Joris Verdin, the Belgian harmonium
virtuoso, presented a concert in Vienna on the same newly restored instrument.
The three-manual piano-harmonium is described in detail in
“Liszt’s Monster Instrument: the Piano-Harmonium” (The Diapason,
August 1970, pp. 14-15) by the present author. The instrument, weighing
3,000 pounds, resembles the shape of a concert grand piano. The piano keyboard
is the top manual and contains seven octaves. Located below that, in stairstep
fashion, are two harmonium manuals, each having a range of five octaves. The
original bench and pedalboard of twenty notes, C-g, were apparently
missing in 1912 and have not been reconstructed. There are sixteen stops, four
of which are assigned for the use of the piano keyboard. Two large pedals to
pump the bellows for the harmonium are placed to the left and right of two
piano pedals. Two vertical levers
placed between the knees and pressed together sustain tones of the lower harmonium
manual. A slightly different sustaining device that pertains to the piano is
operated by two horizontal knee levers. When a piano reed stop is drawn and the
horizontal levers are raised, a piano note or chord will also sound in the
reed. It will continue sounding until the levers are cleared, even though the
notes may have long since been released and the piano sound may have faded
away. A lever placed in the left side wall enables a second person to pump the
bellows when the player is using the organ or piano pedals.
Early in 2004, in a publication of the Vienna Gesellschaft
der Musikfreunde (Society of the Friends of Music), Otto Biba wrote:
“After Liszt’s death in 1886, Princess Caroline of
Sayn-Wittgenstein administered his estate. In 1887, her daughter Marie, married
to the Prince of Hohenlohe, gave the piano-harmonium to the Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde in Vienna to include in its collection.” In 1938, the entire
collection of instruments of the Gesellschaft was seized by Nazi authorities.
After World War II, when it was placed on exhibit in the Vienna Museum of Art
History, the instrument was not in playable condition. Many stop knobs were
missing, the mahogany case needed to be refinished and the interior mechanism
needed repair.
In 1994, it was decided by the Gesellschaft to restore the
instrument with the financial aid of an anonymous donor. The ten-year
restoration was entrusted to Patrick Collon of the Manufacture d’orgues
de Bruxelles, Belgium. After the restoration was completed, Mr. Collon stated:
Although it is a difficult and complicated instrument, the
restoration has been a great experience . . . it is slightly disappointing to
realize that this instrument had little or no influence on Liszt, or indeed on
anyone. I think that the main reason was that it rapidly became unplayable, and
Liszt lost his initial enthusiasm. For correcting even the smallest hitch the
piano had to be lifted off, an almost impossible operation. We have solved this
problem by putting the whole instrument on a steel platform, with three
discreet pistons inside, which can effortlessly raise up the piano. Purists may scream and yell, but it was
the only possible solution to an otherwise insoluble problem.
Joris Verdin presented the first recital on the restored
instrument in the Vienna Musikverein on April 15, 2004. He included on the
program two compositions that Liszt had played for Richard Pohl in 1854:
“Ave Maria” by Arcadelt and Liszt’s adaptation of the
“Dance of the Sylphs” from The Damnation of Faust by Berlioz. A review in Die Presse had the headline,
“A Synthesizer without Electric Power . . .” An article in the
Musikverein magazine stated: “Anyone listening to the instrument will
understand Liszt’s fascination with it: His music sounds ‘more
modern’ by decades, as Liszt’s extremely progressive harmonies in
this previously unknown sound combination produce musical colors that we might
have attributed to Debussy. We thus get to know an entirely new Liszt and also
works by other composers for whom this instrument provides authentic options of
interpretation.” Perhaps the reviewer refers particularly to the effects
of the knee levers, the most innovative feature of the instrument.
Dr. Hanns Hermann Bühler, my friend, translator and
correspondent, attended the Verdin concert and says, “As to the
instrument, it looked beautiful, newly polished and perfectly played by Joris
Verdin. I would say, however, that its sound is that of an instrument to be
played in a music parlor rather than a concert hall. Maybe the acoustics in the
hall were not too good . . . but then it stands to reason that the piano part
of the instrument on top of the harmonium cannot have the resonance of a
regular concert grand.”
While the instrument failed to live up to Liszt’s
expectation, it is an interesting experiment and it is to be hoped, now that
the instrument has been restored and improved, it will not remain silent for
another 150 years.
