22/10/2026
Happy Birthday Franz Liszt (b.1811)
In the collection we have this upright piano by Carlo Ducci that was lent to Franz Liszt during one of the composer’s sojourns in Florence. It is inscribed on its wrest plank by Liszt, who also wrote Ducci a warm letter of thanks: ‘Monsieur, You have been kind enough to lend me a pianino from your new factory in Florence. In every way it is excellent and recommendable. One takes pleasure in and is beguiled by both the touch and the sound, because of its responsive keyboard and harmonious sonority…’ Carlo Ducci came from a family of instrument builders but this instrument, stamped No 1, is the only known by the maker. It is also the only piano that is silent in our collection.
