Music & Musical Instruments - Overview
The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.
"Music & Musical Instruments - Overview" showing 170 items.
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Chickering & Sons Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This grand piano was made by Chickering and Sons in Boston, Massachusetts in 1865. This piano is identical to the one that Chickering won a gold medal with at the Paris Exposition in 1867. The piano is serial number 27733 and has a compass of AAA-c5, Edwin Brown patented action, copper-wound and plain steel strings, 1, 2, or 3 strings per note, layers of felt hammers, 2 pedals: una corda and damper lifter, a one-piece cast-iron frame, straight-strung, and a rosewood veneer case.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1865
- maker
- Chickering, Jonas
- ID Number
- 1981.0625.01
- accession number
- 1981.0625
- serial number
- 27733
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Babcock Square Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This square piano was made by Alpheus Babcock in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1820s. Babcock’s invention of a one-piece iron frame allowed piano makers to use higher-quality string, ultimately of steel, which provided the basis for greater depth of sonority and more volume, and the metal, being unaffected by changes in humidity, helped greater stability of tuning. This piano bears a plaque that reads “For R. Mackay, Boston.“ The Mackay family bankrolled Babcock, and their names are often found on his pianos. This piano is serial number 278, and has a compass of FF-c4, English double action, leather, basswood core hammers, double-strings throughout, 2 pedals: damper and harmonic swell, and a mahogany veneer over pine case with rosewood cross banding.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1825-1829
- maker
- Babcock, Alpheus
- ID Number
- 1982.0434.01
- catalog number
- 1982.0434.01
- accession number
- 1982.0434
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Vogel Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This grand piano was made by Sebestyén Antal Vogel around 1812. Vogel was a Hungarian furniture maker whose factory in Pest brought him much renown. This piano was possibly a gift to Beethoven, as it is inscribed “Louis Van Beethoven / S.A. Vogel Möbelfabrich / in Pest. No 152A.” The piano has a compass of FF-f3, Viennese action, brass and steel strings, double- and triple-strung, 5 pedals: Janissary, bassoon (stop missing), moderator (stop missing), dampers, and keyboard shift. The piano has a wood frame, straight-strung, with a walnut or fruitwood veneer case.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1812
- maker
- Vogel, S. A.
- ID Number
- 1982.0740.01
- accession number
- 1982.0740
- catalog number
- 1982.0740.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Chickering & Sons Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This piano was made by Chickering & Sons in Boston, Massachusetts in 1857. Chickering called this type of piano a “parlor grand,“ but today it has come to be known as a “cocked-hat grand” because its shape from above is like that of a cocked hat. The piano is serial number 17390 and has a compass of CCC-c5, Edwin Brown, leather and felt hammers, wound and plain steel strings with 1 or 2 strings per note, 2 pedals: una corda and damper lifter, an iron frame, straight-strung, and a rosewood veneer case.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1857
- maker
- Chickering & Sons
- ID Number
- 1983.0377.01
- accession number
- 1983.0377
- catalog number
- 1983.0377.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Virgil Tekniklavier
- Description (Brief)
- This clavier is a practice instrument made by Mrs. Antha M. Virgil around 1910, in New York, New York. Practice claviers such as this one were often stringless or muted, but had piano “action” to train young pianists. Mrs. Antha Virgil was married to Almon Virgil, and together they started producing several practice books, pianos, and lessons in New York. After their divorce around 1900, they started competing in the practice piano market, and Mrs. Virgil produced this Tekniklavier. It has a compass of AA-c5.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1909-1911
- maker
- Virgil, Antha M.
- ID Number
- 1983.0482.01
- accession number
- 1983.0482
- catalog number
- 1983.0482.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Virgil Practice Clavier
- Description (Brief)
- This practice clavier was made by Almon Kincaid Virgil in New York around 1896. Practice pianos such as this were popular for their ability to weight the keys, forcing the pianist to press them harder and in doing so building up finger strength and enforcing muscle memory. The inscription reads Virgil/ Perfected/ Practice Clavier/ New York, and has patent dates of June 29, 1888, Oct. 23, 188, July 19, 1892 on it. The piano is serial number 3614 and has a compass of AA-c4.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1896
- maker
- Virgil, Almon K.
- ID Number
- 1983.0485.01
- accession number
- 1983.0485
- catalog number
- 1983.0485.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Steinway & Sons Reproducing Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This reproducing grand piano was made by Steinway & Sons in New York in 1930. This model “AR” grand has a Duo-Art reproducing mechanism in a remote concertola cabinet. This cabinet holds multiple player rolls in a location away from the piano, and allows these rolls to be played consecutively and automatically. The piano is serial number 271205(?), and has a compass of AAA-c5, repetition action, felt hammers, 1, 2, or 3 steel strings per note, 3 pedals: una corda, sostenuto and dampers, a one-piece iron frame, cross-strung, and an English oak case, ornately carved with spirally-twisted carved legs, and no curved sides.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1930
- maker
- Steinway & Sons
- ID Number
- 1983.0587.01
- catalog number
- 1983.0587.01
- accession number
- 1983.0587
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Knabe Square Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This square piano was made by the William Knabe & Company in Baltimore, Maryland around 1860. The factory, located at Eutaw and West Streets in Baltimore was five stories high and covered most of a city block. Knabe exhibited grand, upright and square pianos at the Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876. This piano has a compass of AAA-a4, felt hammers, first 11 strings are single and the rest double, tuning pins at rear, 2 pedals: una corda and dampers, iron frame, and a mahogany case.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1860-1865
- maker
- William Knabe & Co.
- ID Number
- 1985.0799.01
- accession number
- 1985.0799
- catalog number
- 1985.0799.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Steinway & Sons Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This grand piano was made by Steinway & Sons in New York in 1936. Called the “Medium” grand, this piano is 5'7" in length and offers the best of both worlds, a professional quality piano appropriate for a home both in size and acoustics. This piano is a model M with serial number 288983. The piano has a compass of AAA-c5, Steinway accelerated action, felt hammers, steel strings, single-, double-, and triple-strung, 3 pedals: una corda, sustention, and dampers, a one-piece-iron frame, cross-strung, and a dark mahogany veneer case.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1936
- maker
- Steinway & Sons
- ID Number
- 1985.0935.01
- catalog number
- 1985.0935.01
- accession number
- 1985.0935
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Graf Grand Piano
- Description (Brief)
- This grand piano was made by Conrad Graf in Vienna, Austria in 1832. Except for the number of pedals, this piano is essentially a twin of the instrument that Graf presented to musician and composer, Clara Wieck on her marriage to composer Robert Schumann in 1840. The piano is serial number 1594 and has a compass of CC-g4, Viennese action, leather over wood core hammers, brass and steel strings, double- and triple-strung, 5 pedals: una corda, bassoon, moderator, dampers, and janissary, an oak laminated and interlocked bars frame, straight-strung, and a walnut veneer case.
- date made
- 1832
- maker
- Graf, Conrad
- ID Number
- 1986.3187.01
- catalog number
- 1986.3187.01
- nonaccession number
- 1986.3187
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center