Faszinationpianola

12/08/2025

4th GPRM (Global Piano Roll Meeting) 2026 in Stanford, CfP started...
The 4th Global Piano Roll Meeting (GPRM) will take place at Stanford University, August 7–9, 2026. The program committee invites proposals for individual papers, organized sessions, lecture-recitals, panel discussions, posters, and performances.
This bi-annual meeting, which follows the 3rd meeting held in Sydney, Australia 2024, is an international forum that fosters community and supports inquiry among professionals, students, and enthusiasts working with paper rolls and pneumatic roll-playing instruments. GRPM is an initiative supported by Stanford University, University of Sydney, Faszinationpianola and Hochschule der Künste Bern HKB.
Music rolls and pneumatic instruments are a vital part of the history of recording and mechanical music. They provide a rich window into the technological, musical, cultural and economic history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Recent projects to preserve rolls by scanning and digitization have sparked wider interest in the field. This work has allowed for technical studies of rolls, which are an early digital record of music making. Archival documents are also yielding insights into the business and technology of roll manufacturing.
The committee looks forward to receiving proposals that build upon and expand these areas of inquiry. Topics may include but are not limited to the historical study of piano and organ rolls, performers, audiences, and repertoires; pneumatic instruments; roll manufacturing; archival preservation and access; roll collections; performance studies; and performance practices.
The conference will be conducted in English. Proposals (including category) must be sent to [email protected] by 11:59pm, October 31, 2025
https://www.hkb-interpretation.ch/global-piano-roll-meeting
https://gprm.net/

13/07/2025

Worth a visit: Brussels Musee des Instruments de Musiques...
We recently had the chance to visit Brussels and the Musee des Instruments de Musiques. The art nouveau style building itself is spectacular. The collection of instruments has many nice pieces. When it comes to player (piano) instruments, the presentation esp. in the basement is a bit disappointing. Nevertheless, if you are in Brussels, it is worth to visit this museum. Unfortunately the beautiful cafe and the roof top had been closed.

12/07/2025

Further rare Philipps DUCA rolls acquired...
We aim at finding and digitizing all still existent reproducing rolls of Welte, Hupfeld, Philipps, Popper, etc.. We already have found the majority of all ever published Philipps Duca/rtist rolls. Still, great to find some rolls filling the gaps, especially such rare recordings of Alice Ripper, Frederic Lamond, Conrad Ansorge etc..

06/07/2025

Just arrived: Another very nice 1922 Feurich Welte Piano...
We are happy to have found this beautiful Feurich Welte Piano from merely first hand. Again with a typical ca. 30 Welte rolls collection. Some very rare titles. This concert type piano (height 1.48m) has an amazing tone. In 1922 it had been delivered with French descriptions to a Belgium customer. With that piano we currently have a selection of ca. 25 different Welte instruments for sale.

28/06/2025

Making Unika rolls really is true craftsmanship...

We are producing rolls of various formats. Even though we have a lot prepared materials, and the roll punching is fully automatic, it is still a lot handwork to produce such rolls. Esp. the heavy Unika rolls. And we love it. It's so good to see the boxes of rolls, ready to be delivered.

21/06/2025

Great success: 1909 Welte Kabinett and Yamaha Disklavier...
We had the honor to present two instruments, the rich history and a lot music to the concert visitors at the Duisburg Philharmonie Mercatorhalle on June 18th/19th. Many had never seen such instruments, it felt a bit like being at the 1904 Leipzig exhibition, when people first time encountered such instruments. People enjoying the music, having tears in their eyes, dancing to the dance music rolls, having many questions. We had a good choice of rolls, original ones and our iDMP recuts to present - incl. the two Paul Hindemith pieces, he had done for the 1926 event in Donaueschingen. All of these - and much more as emulated rolls for the Disklavier. It's quite an effort to do such events, but it's so much worth it.

21/06/2025

Just arrived: Beautiful 1879 C. Bechstein...
We made a lot miles to collect this beautiful piano. It is an 1879 C. Bechstein 2m grand piano in an exceptional burl-wood design. The previous owner is a descendant of the F***y Mendelssohn (Hensel) family. We got told, that this piano had been bought by the son of F***y Mendelssohn. By now, we have no documents that prove it, as the piano had been delivered from Berlin to a Bechstein dealer. We will keep looking for details. Nevertheless - it is just a wonderful grand piano! By the way, F***y never saw a C. Bechstein piano, as she had died early in 1847, and C. Bechstein started to built pianos in Berlin 1853. This piano is still playable, but requires a restoration, depending on what the future owner prefers.

21/06/2025

1916 Hupfeld invoice with interesting details...
We have recently found this invoice. A Feurich Phonola Piano had been sold Dec 20th, 1916. Feurich Phonola (73note) had been quite rare, as Feurich co-operated much more with Welte, Popper, Philipps, etc.. The invoice includes free of charge piano rolls at a value of 150Mk, which would be 20-30 rolls (average price 5-10Mk). This might explain why we find most first-owner instruments with 20-30 rolls. The invoice template just has: 'Invoice to Mr.', women as buyers had not been considered - or they had a separate template (which I doubt).

11/06/2025

Nächste Woche in Duisburg: Welte Kabinett und Disklavier...
Next week we will support an event at the Duisburg Philharmoniker with a 1909 Welte Kabinett and a 2014 Yamaha Disklavier. We will have the Hindemith Welte rolls 4107 & 4108 as well as a collection of other pieces to entertain the audience of the marvelous concert program.

Kober, Kanneh-Mason spielen Werke von Scheinpflug, Hindemith, Beethoven, Stephan (Mi 18. / Do 19. Juni 2025, 19:30 Uhr, Philharmonie Mercatorhalle)

01/06/2025

Large Collection of French Aeolian documents digitized...
Over the past years we have acquired many French Aeolian Pianola documents. Most of them are digitized now. Amongst roll catalogues, etc., I like the 65pages 'Extrait du Livre d'Or' with early statements of famous pianists, e.g. Paderewski 1900, etc.. Does anybody know if the complete Livre d'Or du Pianola is still existent somewhere?

30/05/2025

Giant Orchestrelle Pianola Roll Catalogue digitized...
We now started to digitize the large number of Aeolian Pianola roll catalogues in our collection. Starting with this giant Orchestrelle catalogue, having > 1,300 pages. Most likely the biggest roll catalogue ever published. The foreword says: 'The present volume, the preparation of which has occupied some eighteen months, is a compilation of all the catalogues, supplements and bulletins of Pianola, Metrostyle and Themodist rolls, both of 65 note and full scale or 88 note that have been issued up to the end of June, 1914.' An amazing book.

27/05/2025

Further Welte-Mignon catalogues digitized...
We keep working thru collections of catalogues and supplements. Now we completed the pdfs for the 1914 and the 1925 Welte-Mignon catalogues as well as supplements of 1925-32. Much more to be done. With all this data we plan to offer a complete Welte-Mignon catalogue having the latest details on rolls, music pieces, composers, pianists, recording sessions, etc.. Same for Hupfeld and Philipps piano music rolls.