Queen Victoria\u2019s musical instruments<\/h2>\nErard piano <\/span><\/h3>\nBuckingham Palace, London<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Royal Collection Trust<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nIt may have been described by none other than Proms director David Pickard as \u2018an impressive piece of bling\u2019 but Queen Victoria\u2019s Erard piano has spent many years sitting demurely in Buckingham Palace\u2019s White Drawing Room. Lemon-tinted sofas are grouped in front of the fireplace, the piano to one side. No flight of fancy to picture Victoria, Albert and any musical guests performing after dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n\u2018Victoria\u2019s journal shows that she played the piano almost every day from her teens,\u2019 says Sally Goodsir, assistant curator of decorative arts at the Royal Collection Trust. \u2018Her musical relationship with Albert was that of equals. He was an accomplished pianist and singer and encouraged Victoria to play, although only for her own satisfaction, or for family and friends.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nThe established Erard piano manufacturer numbered Liszt<\/a><\/strong> and Mendelssohn<\/a> <\/strong>among its devotees. The delivery of Victoria\u2019s 1856 choice was widely reported. The Morning Post <\/i>noted the \u2018delicately executed floral and arabesque surroundings\u2019 enshrouding the symbols for music and dancing painted on \u2018the groundwork of solid gold [sic], highly varnished and polished.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nThis wasn\u2019t Victoria\u2019s first Erard, says Goodsir. \u2018It was what you might call an upgrade. The 1856 instrument has quite a soft tone, which might have appealed to Albert\u2019s temperament.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nLincoln organ <\/span><\/h3>\nBuckingham Palace, London<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n ![\"""\"]( "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div> \u00a9 Royal Collection Trust<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\nThe route through the Palace takes you past the East Gallery\u2019s array of priceless paintings to the plushly appointed Ballroom. The eye is caught by the gallery surmounted by the sizeable early 19th-century organ by Henry Cephas Lincoln. It\u2019s still played at official functions.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n - The English organ: how it evolved through history<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- What are the different parts of a pipe organ?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Six of the best pipe organs in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
The organ started life in Brighton\u2019s Royal Pavilion. When Victoria and Albert decided\u00a0 <\/span>to extend Buckingham Palace for their ever-growing family, the government agreed on condition that the Pavilion was sold. \u2018Victoria and Albert knew the organ well and kept hold of it after the sale,\u2019 Goodsir explains. \u2018They were both organists \u2013 Victoria had an instrument in her private rooms. She pumped the bellows when Albert played.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nFronted by a \u2018spacious orchestra\u2019, the by-now-adapted organ graced the glittering State Concert for the opening of the \u2018Ball and Concert Room\u2019 in July 1856. Disappointingly, says Goodsir, \u2018we have no idea if the royal couple ever crept into the room to play the organ privately!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nBasse de violon (unknown maker)<\/span><\/h3>\nRoyal Collection Trust<\/i><\/span><\/p>\nThough not currently on display, this musical treasure (a relative of the double bass<\/a><\/strong>) is as evocative as any in the Royal Collection. Owned by the first great double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, it was bequeathed at his death in 1846 to Prince Albert, who heard him play it the previous year \u2013 one of several times the pair met.<\/span><\/p>\nThe astounding Dragonetti first made waves in his native Venice, but by the mid-1790s had settled in London. He proved triumphantly that the double bass could be far more than a workhorse. Before him, the instrument seemed \u2018to wage eternal war with melody\u2019, said one observer, but Dragonetti could convey \u2018the charms of soft harmonious sounds\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\nHis compositions for the double bass have been recorded by Leon Bosch, who says \u2018they demonstrate his technique set extraordinary new standards. Works like the famous Solo in E minor, which he surely played for Albert, show there was also an elegance to his playing.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\nAlexandre et Fils harmonium<\/span><\/h3>\nOsborne House, Isle of Wight<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nTake the Lymington-Yarmouth ferry to West Wight and drive across captivating countryside to Osborne House in East Cowes \u2013 a favourite residence of Victoria and Albert. It contains several of their instruments, including this Paris-made harmonium in the Prince Consort\u2019s Dressing\/Writing Room, with its view down to the Solent. It cannot be 100 per cent verified that this is the Prince Consort\u2019s Osborne House 1844 harmonium as mentioned in Victoria\u2019s journals, but it seems very likely.<\/span><\/p>\nThis instrument, with its fetching rosewood case, recalls the harmonium\u2019s huge 19th-century popularity, from countless cheaper examples in chapels and churches to imposing concert hall models. Serious-minded composers like Rossini<\/a><\/strong> and Berlioz<\/a><\/strong> wrote for the harmonium, relishing the orchestral range of sounds available in the grandest examples. Albert\u2019s harmonium has more modest capabilities, but doubtless served its master well.<\/span><\/p>\n - The UK\u2019s most musical monarchs<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- What has King Charles done for classical music?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- Four pieces of music especially composed for kings and queens<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
- The music of Queen Elizabeth II<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Main image: Queen Victoria watching Prince Albert playing the organ to Felix Mendelssohn. \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Andrew Green explores Queen Victoria’s musical treasures <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24112,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own.jpg",1890,1682,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-300x267.jpg",300,267,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-768x683.jpg",768,683,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-1024x911.jpg",800,712,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-1536x1367.jpg",1536,1367,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own.jpg",1890,1682,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Andrew Green explores Queen Victoria's musical treasures","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Buckingham Palace, London<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It may have been described by none other than Proms director David Pickard as \u2018an impressive piece of bling\u2019 but Queen Victoria\u2019s Erard piano has spent many years sitting demurely in Buckingham Palace\u2019s White Drawing Room. Lemon-tinted sofas are grouped in front of the fireplace, the piano to one side. No flight of fancy to picture Victoria, Albert and any musical guests performing after dinner.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Victoria\u2019s journal shows that she played the piano almost every day from her teens,\u2019 says Sally Goodsir, assistant curator of decorative arts at the Royal Collection Trust. \u2018Her musical relationship with Albert was that of equals. He was an accomplished pianist and singer and encouraged Victoria to play, although only for her own satisfaction, or for family and friends.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n The established Erard piano manufacturer numbered Liszt<\/a><\/strong> and Mendelssohn<\/a> <\/strong>among its devotees. The delivery of Victoria\u2019s 1856 choice was widely reported. The Morning Post <\/i>noted the \u2018delicately executed floral and arabesque surroundings\u2019 enshrouding the symbols for music and dancing painted on \u2018the groundwork of solid gold [sic], highly varnished and polished.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n This wasn\u2019t Victoria\u2019s first Erard, says Goodsir. \u2018It was what you might call an upgrade. The 1856 instrument has quite a soft tone, which might have appealed to Albert\u2019s temperament.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Buckingham Palace, London<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n The route through the Palace takes you past the East Gallery\u2019s array of priceless paintings to the plushly appointed Ballroom. The eye is caught by the gallery surmounted by the sizeable early 19th-century organ by Henry Cephas Lincoln. It\u2019s still played at official functions.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> The organ started life in Brighton\u2019s Royal Pavilion. When Victoria and Albert decided\u00a0 <\/span>to extend Buckingham Palace for their ever-growing family, the government agreed on condition that the Pavilion was sold. \u2018Victoria and Albert knew the organ well and kept hold of it after the sale,\u2019 Goodsir explains. \u2018They were both organists \u2013 Victoria had an instrument in her private rooms. She pumped the bellows when Albert played.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Fronted by a \u2018spacious orchestra\u2019, the by-now-adapted organ graced the glittering State Concert for the opening of the \u2018Ball and Concert Room\u2019 in July 1856. Disappointingly, says Goodsir, \u2018we have no idea if the royal couple ever crept into the room to play the organ privately!\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Royal Collection Trust<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Though not currently on display, this musical treasure (a relative of the double bass<\/a><\/strong>) is as evocative as any in the Royal Collection. Owned by the first great double bass virtuoso, Domenico Dragonetti, it was bequeathed at his death in 1846 to Prince Albert, who heard him play it the previous year \u2013 one of several times the pair met.<\/span><\/p>\n The astounding Dragonetti first made waves in his native Venice, but by the mid-1790s had settled in London. He proved triumphantly that the double bass could be far more than a workhorse. Before him, the instrument seemed \u2018to wage eternal war with melody\u2019, said one observer, but Dragonetti could convey \u2018the charms of soft harmonious sounds\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n His compositions for the double bass have been recorded by Leon Bosch, who says \u2018they demonstrate his technique set extraordinary new standards. Works like the famous Solo in E minor, which he surely played for Albert, show there was also an elegance to his playing.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n Osborne House, Isle of Wight<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Take the Lymington-Yarmouth ferry to West Wight and drive across captivating countryside to Osborne House in East Cowes \u2013 a favourite residence of Victoria and Albert. It contains several of their instruments, including this Paris-made harmonium in the Prince Consort\u2019s Dressing\/Writing Room, with its view down to the Solent. It cannot be 100 per cent verified that this is the Prince Consort\u2019s Osborne House 1844 harmonium as mentioned in Victoria\u2019s journals, but it seems very likely.<\/span><\/p>\n This instrument, with its fetching rosewood case, recalls the harmonium\u2019s huge 19th-century popularity, from countless cheaper examples in chapels and churches to imposing concert hall models. Serious-minded composers like Rossini<\/a><\/strong> and Berlioz<\/a><\/strong> wrote for the harmonium, relishing the orchestral range of sounds available in the grandest examples. Albert\u2019s harmonium has more modest capabilities, but doubtless served its master well.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p><\/div> <\/section> Main image: Queen Victoria watching Prince Albert playing the organ to Felix Mendelssohn. \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n Andrew Green explores Queen Victoria’s musical treasures <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":24112,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own.jpg",1890,1682,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-300x267.jpg",300,267,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-768x683.jpg",768,683,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-1024x911.jpg",800,712,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own-1536x1367.jpg",1536,1367,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2023\/01\/what-instruments-did-queen-victoria-play-and-own.jpg",1890,1682,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Andrew Green explores Queen Victoria's musical treasures","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/24111"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/24\/2023\/01\/Erard2426cmyk-e6c1eea.jpg?quality=90&resize=325%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Lincoln organ <\/span><\/h3>\n
![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/24\/2023\/01\/LincolnOrgan94783cmyk-5f8fbf5.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C552"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Basse de violon (unknown maker)<\/span><\/h3>\n
Alexandre et Fils harmonium<\/span><\/h3>\n
","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"