Detail from an 1890's Webber (Sorry, no full pix available):



And a small, but color pic of the first Egyptian style piano:

quote:

Originally posted by Zorba:

And a small, but color pic of the first Egyptian style piano:

How cool! It's the same piano - looks a little different because the fallboard's up in the color photo. I guess it's still around.

An 1886 Bechstein model E:

A gilt Steinway art case:

A crystal piano, including a see-through soundboard?!!

A noisy room at the Mason Factory

The kids (and sometimes the parents)get the biggest kick out of seeing the inside of thier piano!

Nah, we don't need a hoist...

Looks like the red head is directing...
(How 'bout those sharps!)

Tomorrow?

A "tall" Bluthner on ebay:

Patriotic enough?

Waiting for the match:

A Bosie Imperial with 97 keys at George Fox University, in Lincoln City, OR. It's a small, wealthy Quaker college. I almost went there for my sophomore year of school. Here's a link where you can hear it: George Fox Music Department

The Optophonic Piano was an electronic optical instrument created by the Russian Futurist painter Vladimir Baranoff Rossiné (Born in 1888 at Kherson ,Ukraine - Russia, died Paris, France 1944). Rossiné started working on his instrument c1916. The Optophonic Piano was used at exhibitions of his own paintings and revolutionary artistic events in the new Soviet Union, Rossine later gave two concerts with his instrument (with his wife Pauline Boukour), at the Meyerhold and Bolchoi theatres in 1924. Vladimir Rossiné left the Soviet Union in 1925, emigrated to Paris where he continued to hold exhibitions of paintings and concerts of his instrument.

The Optophonic Piano generated sounds and projected revolving patterns onto a wall or cieling by directing a bright light through a series revolving painted glass disks (painted by Rossiné), filters, mirrors and lenses. The keyboard controlled the combination of the various filters and disks. The variations in opacity of the painted disk and filters were picked up by a photo-electric cell controling the pitch of a single oscillator. The instrument produced a continuous varying tone which, accompanied by the rotating kaleidascopic projections was used by Vladimir Rossiné at exhibitions and public events