Information on a Chickering Piano
The Chickering piano has a long and prestigious history. Jonas Chickering is credited with the invention of the modern piano, and until the early 1920s Chickering pianos were among the highest-quality pianos in the world. After a series of mergers and acquisitions in the early twentieth century, Chickering pianos declined in quality, until the name became associated with cheap construction and poor sound in the mid to late 1900s.
Other People Are Reading
-
History
-
Jonas Chickering began building pianos in 1823 in Boston, Massachusetts, partnered with James Stewart. After four years the partnership ended. Chickering later partnered with John Mackay and three of his own sons: Thomas, Frank, and George.
The company merged with Haines Brothers, Marshall & Wendell, and Foster, Armstrong & Company in 1908 to become the American Piano Company in East Rochester, New York, under Wm. Knabe & Co. of Baltimore. Later, the American Piano Company merged with the Aeolian Piano Company in 1932. Wurlitzer bought the Chickering name in the early 1980s and built Chickering pianos until the Baldwin Piano Company acquired Wurlitzer. The Baldwin Piano Company continued to produce Chickering pianos until 2008, when Baldwin became a subsidiary of the Gibson Guitar Corporation.
Awards
-
Chickering was the first exporter of American-made pianos, with his first shipment to India in 1844. Until Steinway surpassed them in the 1860s, Chickering was the largest piano manufacturer in the United States. Emperor Napoleon III awarded Jonas Chickering's son, Frank Chickering, the Imperial Cross of the Legion of Honour in 1867 for his services to the art of music. More than 200 awards were given to the Chickering piano company in the 1800s.
-
The Chickering Name
-
The company first opened as Chickering & Sons in 1823. In the following decades, as partnerships changed, the name became Chickering & Company and then Chickering & Mackays. In 1853, the company once again returned to being Chickering & Sons. Pianos continued to be labeled as Chickering through a subsequent series of mergers and acquisitions.
Features
-
Jonas Chickering made a major contribution to the technology of building pianos when he invented a one-piece, cast-iron plate to support increased string tension in large grand pianos in 1837. In 1845 he invented over-strung construction, which provided the foundation of the modern piano. These features produced pianos that were notable for their rich tones and powerful bass from the mid-1800s until the early 1900s. For this development, Chickering won several awards at the first International Exposition in 1851.
The Aeolian Piano Company and Wurlitzer, however, used the Chickering name to produce cheap, low-quality pianos in the late 1900s. When Baldwin produced Chickering pianos, a few improvements were made, but the Chickering piano and name never regained its reputation for quality.
Fun Facts
-
Chickering pianos have served several presidents in the White House, including Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The Chickering company gifted the famous Hungarian pianist-composer Franz Liszt with a Chickering piano, and he was so thrilled with the sturdiness and rich sound that he claimed he could hardly stop playing it.
-
References
Resources
- Photo Credit Piano image by Guillaume BAUDRY from Fotolia.com
More Like This
Comments
-
My husband and I recently purchased a1927 Chickering parlor grand piano which we donated to the Mercy Cancer Center in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Its new home is a windowed two-story alcove which looks out on a garden with a waterfall. Its rich sound and physical elegance provides a wonderfully calm atmosphere for the cancer patients, their families and the staff alike.
