Image: Weber Duo-Art piano - Music House Museum

Description: This Weber piano was made for the Carl Fisher estate in the early 1900s and cost well over $10,000 or the equivalent of four average family homes. Part of the cost came from its ornate decorations but mostly from the Aeolian, Duo-Art mechanism that turned this piano into a reproducing piano. Unlike a player piano, reproducers captured many levels of force used on the keys so that their dynamic range allowed for playback that sounds much more like a human artist. The Fishers donated this unit to the University of Notre Dame who had it installed in the president's office where it remained for many years. At some point, a president had the piano removed and it was put into a student common area. Over the years, Notre Dame students uncaringly removed the gold leaf, destroyed the Duo-Art mechanisms, and carved their names into the wood. The Music House Museum spent many years restoring not only the craftsmanship, but also the electronics. Now it is on display in their museum where you can hear it every day. My favorite part of their tour includes listening to George Gershwin accompanying George Gershwin playing Rhapsody in Blue on this piano. Hearing the composer play his masterpiece is worth the stop.
Title: Weber Duo-Art piano - Music House Museum
Credit: Weber Duo-Art
Author: H. Michael Miley from Schaumburg, USA
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
License: CC BY-SA 2.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Attribution Required?: Yes