Pleyel (1847)

This full-size concert grand piano made in Paris by Pleyel in 1847 was originally supplied to the French musician and composer Louis-Françoise-Alfred Lair de Beauvais (1820–1869). It has the serial no. 13418.

It has a seven-octave range, AAA–a´´´´ and is veneered in ‘plum-pudding’ mahogany

Chopin’s favourite keyboard maker was the Austrian Ignaz Josef Pleyel (1757–1831), who settled in Paris and founded a piano-making dynasty which would last until 1961. "Pleyel’s pianos are the last word in perfection", Chopin noted in 1831, and "when I feel in good form and strong enough to find my own individual sound, then I need a Pleyel piano".

This piano was purchased by the School of Music in 2012 after partial restoration in the United Kingdom by David Winston of the Period Piano Company. Further work was undertaken by Canberra technician Chris Leslie, including the rebuilding of the back action (replacing the screw-in underdamper wires with barrel type), and replacing the damper hinge leathers and the damper pads themselves. The keys were also rebalanced with lead to reduce touch weight, and one of the long centrepin banks required its hammer butts to be rebushed.

The instrument was for some time detuned and awaiting possible restringing, yet a decision was subsequently made to retune the instrument with the wire installed during its English restoration.