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Piano, 1887 Steinway & Sons Designed by Francis H. Bacon The magnificently inlaid grand piano in the Glessner House parlor is the product of renowned piano maker Steinway & Sons and furniture designer Francis H. Bacon. Heinrich Engelhardt Steinweg immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1850. Upon arrival he changed his name to Steinway, and established a piano manufactory on Long Island, which he operated with his sons. Within a decade Steinway & Sons was producing more than 2000 pianos a year.Two of Heinrich's sons, Theodore and William, propelled the company's instruments to worldwide prominence. Theodore, a gifted scientist and craftsman, redesigned the piano, revolutionizing its form and tone. Over his twenty-year career in the United States, forty-one patents were registered to him. William marketed Steinway pianos internationally and built their reputation for superiority by associating the instrument with great musical talents. Anton Rubinstein and Ignace Paderewski, among others, made worldwide appearances with Steinway pianos, thus building Steinway & Sons into one of the largest and most well-known piano makers in the world. Francis Glessner had wanted to purchase an upright piano for her new home on Prairie Avenue, but she was such an accomplished pianist and music lover that her husband determined she should have "the finest piano that could be made." On May 15, 1887, Francis Glessner noted in her journal that she "made arrangements for a Steinway piano." Nahum Stetson, Chief of Sales and member of the Board of Steinway & Sons, supervised the production of this piano, indicating that the company considered this a very important commission. The mechanics selected for this piano "was the best they [Steinway] could produce," John Glessner noted. This piano is an early example of Steinway's Model C Parlor Concert Grand Piano, the second largest of Steinway's seven grand piano models. Model C was first produced in 1886 and was continuously manufactured until 1905. It could be produced on special order until 1936, and is still manufactured in a Steinway & Sons branch factory in Hamburg, Germany. The piano's 7 foot, 5 inch length is only a few inches shorter than a concert grand piano, and longer than most parlor grand pianos. Its 5 foot wide keyboard accommodates seven octaves, or 85 notes. When the instrument was finished, Theodore Thomas, founding conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, traveled to the Steinway factory, and tried out the instrument, giving it his approval before delivery for decoration to A. H. Davenport and Company's chief designer, Francis Bacon. Thomas was the first of many noted musical talents -- Paderewski, Dvorak and Rachmaninoff among them -- who would visit the Glessners and play this instrument. Francis Henry Bacon had received a degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1877 and spent several years working with such architecture firms as the prestigious McKim, Meade and Bigelow in New York. During these years he also traveled and studied in Europe, working on the excavations of Assos, Turkey during two years of travel with the Archaeological Institute of America. Francis Bacon first designed furniture for Herter Brothers, the firm engaged by William H. Vanderbilt to decorate his New York City mansion. In 1883, Bacon began working in the office of celebrated American architect H.H. Richardson. By 1885 he had become principle designer for A. H. Davenport and Company, where he later served as vice-president. There he translated the handcraft ideals of the late 19th century into machine-produced furniture designs. Because of Bacon's earlier affiliation with Richardson's firm, and because Richardson's office was extremely busy at the time, Bacon, and in turn Davenport and Company, were given furniture commissions for many of Richardson's late buildings. Such commissions included the Converse Memorial Library and the Glessners' house, for which furniture was designed and executed under the supervision of Richardson's architects. On August 12, 1887, an unvarnished piano with no legs, lyre (pedal apparatus), or music desk was shipped to A. H. Davenport for finishing. There Francis Bacon designed and, workshops executed, elaborate floral and scrolled carved detailing completed with satyr masks to embellish the instrument's mahogany cabinetry. The underside of the keyboard was inlaid with floral and diamond patterns in walnut, birch, and mother-of-pearl covered with gold foil. The finished piano cost $1,500 and weighed 900 pounds. It was shipped from Davenport and Company to the Glessners' home on December 23, 1887, a suitable Christmas present for a family who had just moved into their new house three weeks earlier! John Glessner later remembered that "the case made by Davenport of Boston form design[s] of Francis Bacon, has remained a beautiful & satisfactory instrument all these years." His son recalled that his piano had been "a source of never failing happiness and satisfaction to my mother." |