Reger 1873 - 1916

WELTE push-up player
at a Reger Grand Piano
Theatre Hildburghausen

17th October, 2008    7.30 p.m.

THE BECHSTEIN GRAND PIANO

The BECHSTEIN Grand belongs to the stock of the theatre.
The instrument was built circa 1910.
It is known, that Max Reger played the grand piano. Reger was a composer,  pianist and conductor. He was born in 1873 and lived until 1916.

It was the task of the company “Klavier-Zergiebel” in Rodewisch to set the grand piano in a state that would make it possible to play concerts on it.
Thanks to the sponsors, everything was repaired whereby a lot of time, money and energy was needed.

Strings, pegs, hammers, the mechanism of the sounding board - actually everything needed for playing the piano, was replaced or repaired.
The casing was in a very poor state. Lid, legs and pedals were replaced. Finally the surface was completely renewed.

WELTE MIGNON

The Freiburg company “M.WELTE & Söhne, Freiburg i.Br.” (founded in 1832) is credited with the invention that allows pianists’ performances, with all their changes in dynamics and rhythm, to be recorded on a paper roll by means of a hole-punching system. This music can then be faithfully reproduced in line with the original performance. Nobody has yet carried out detailed research into the exact recording process. A fire at the Freiburg factory destroyed all the documentation.
The are two kinds of “WELTE” mechanical pianos, the push-up player and integral models. The push-up player can be placed in front of any piano instrument. 80 wooden “fingers”, covered with felt, activate the keys on the piano, so simulating and replacing the pianist. The integral version, however, was a permanent fixture in the instrument, which meant instruments became much larger. An electric motor drives the device. All the functions are scanned and carried out pneumatically by means of a “blower” and control pulses read from holes in the paper roll.

THE PIANO-MAKERS

Peter Zergiebel, MASTER PIANO TECHNICIAN               KLAVIER-ZERGIEBEL
Norman Zergiebel, PIANO TECHNICIAN                           repair, tuning & service
            Rodewisch/Vogtland                                                
www.klavier-zergiebel.de                                                      03744 48509

PROGRAMME

11. Scherzo No. 2, G minor, Op. 31  
composer: Frédéric Chopin          pianist: Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler