Raymond recently mentioned Frank Lloyd Wright in his puzzles thread, and I have just now come home from visiting the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois. The reason I am telling about this is that I saw a piano positioned in a way I have never seen before. Without going into a lecture about Wright’s design principles, I will only say that he was big on building built-in furniture in his homes, because he didn’t want large furnishings taking up space in a room. You see things like long benches running along a wall, built in cabinetry, and closets in the bedrooms which was original at his time because we’re talking about the turn of the century – the Victorian Age when people stored their clothes in armoires and dressers. In one part of his home is the children’s room – a nice open space with a high barrel-shaped ceiling, beautiful art glass windows that shed plenty of ample lighting, built-in seating scaled down lower for kids, and a Steinway grand piano. Except, you only see from the keyboard to the music rack. The back of the piano is hanging cantilevered-like behind a wall. You see it when you walk down a narrow staircase that goes directly under it. Wright took off the back leg and has the piano supported with some metal bracing. So in the actual children’s room, the piano takes up practically no space at all. I tried to see what model Steinway it was, but I couldn’t. All I know is that it was the one in the home up until 1909. So….has anyone else come across a piano in a different position or setting?
OMG, that's one of the most horrible things I have ever seen. It looks like it is throwing up. Yuck! (poor piano :cry: )
Steinway called, they want their piano back! I would hate to be facing a wall to play the piano, and what about projecting the sound into the stairway? I am glad that Victorian experiment didn't succeed! juufa72 wrote: Even the worst sounding piano doesn't warrant a public hanging! Julius, I hope you didn't pay to see that exhibit?
When I wrote "saw" I meant on the internet. And it was that picture too. I draw the line after 1850 for art.
Re: Crazy pianos I've always read that he didn't own a piano, and visited Debussy when he wanted to play ...
If you are still interested, I found a photo of the room inside Wright's home with the piano I was talking about. This is what someone else said about it in a blog: Now here is madness. When you are done considering the huge sunlit playfulness of this arched mega-playroom, and gaping at the massive curved light screen on the ceiling, and mural on the far wall, please look back near the door where you entered... You see the balcony, for the "audience" of parents to watch the shows put on by the children in the theatre below... and the piano stashed below the balcony. That is NOT a wall piano, it is a grand piano. Where, you may ask, is it's massive rear end and third leg? The answer is simple. The rest of the piano, in fact most of the piano sticks out through the wall into a staircase down to the kitchen. You have to bow your head when going down the stairs not to hit the piano, which is over the stairs. And here is a link that shows how they brought in the piano.
Yes - and I think it would be funny if someone was nonchalantly walking down the stairs just as someone else started to play the piano. I bet the person on the stairs would jump ten feet! lol: that cracks me up)
