TrioNique with Schiedmayer & Soehne in the South lsland February 2021.

A stunning rare piano Schiedmayer & Soehne

Recording : 15th February 2021 at the Southland Women’s Club in Invercargill

Piano: Gabriela Glapska
Flute: Clare Ellis
Saxophone: Tomomi Johnston

1. Michio Miyagi/
(arr. Erin Fagan)
Haru No Umi
(The Sea in Spring)

2. Francis Poulenc/
Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano

3. Leonard Bernstein/ (arr. Dmitriy Varelas)
Medley on the themes from the “West Side Story”

📝 From our blog

Trionique - Blog

13.02.21
A stunning rare piano!

Arriving to rehearse at the Southland Women’s Club in Invercargill today, Gabriela was thrilled to find a beautiful and unusual antique boudoir grand piano for her to play.

Branded as a piano made by Schiedmeyer & Sohne, Stuttgart, the piano carries the serial number 23699. Roberts Pianos in Oxford, England carries a list of piano serial numbers related to the years of manufacture, which would date this instrument to the first few years of the 20th century.

According to Pianos Balleron, Balthazar Schiedmayer started out in 1735 in Erlangen near Stuttgart, Germany, where he made his first pianos. In 1809, the business moved to Schillerplatz, Stuttgart, and was later named Schiedmayer & Soehne when Balthazar’s descendant Johann Lorenz Schiedmeyer’s own sons joined him in the family business. Although the factory eventually ceased producing pianos altogether in 1980 to focus on building glockenspiels and celestas, during its production years many beautiful pianos were built in the family factory.

Pianos Balleron notes that the pianos were well made, with a stunning build quality and an especially impressive musicality for a small brand. Schiedmeyer pianos from all eras are today prized by connoisseurs for their musical quality, with a sonority that resembles a Bechstein in its depth.

Piano 23699 has been recently restored by its owner, Timaru-based piano tuner John Gray. It has a magnificent walnut case, an ornate music stand and the signet of the firm proudly displayed on the cast plate of the interior. The maker's name is inlaid in delicate golden lettering across the front of the case above the keyboard.

John tells me that he bought the piano about ten years ago from a family in Hamilton, whom he thinks may have owned it for many years. Pianos were regularly brought to New Zealand when families emigrated here from Europe and the UK, , and given its approximate manufacturing date of 1900-1905 this piano was probably a prized possession in the era when every respectable family had a piano in the parlour. John has lent the piano to the Southland Women’s Club while their own instrument is fully restored.

Here is a video about a similar Schiedmeyer instrument, recorded in the USA.    • 1907 Schiedmayer Grand Piano (one of only ...