Many years ago, we purchased a house that had been owned by the same
family since 1900. The elderly couple was
moving to a smaller home and wanted to leave their piano behind. When we looked at it we could see why: the behemoth was so hefty it had crushed its
original steel casters and sunk into the pine floor. The owners knew nothing about the history of the piano, however,
the collection of tuner’s initials and dates of repairs written on the inside
showed how important it had been to their musical family. We fell in love with
it and agreed to take it with the house.
Evans Bros. Piano Manufacturing Company operated in Ingersoll Ontario from 1887 to the early 1930’s. Apparently they were not known for building
great pianos. Our tuner told us that he "has never met one that could hold a
tuning". But this one is different. It has a wonderful rich voice and stays in
tune very well. By chance we watched a segment on TVO featuring the history of
piano manufacturing in Ontario; as a representative from Robert Lowrey’s Piano
Experts (Toronto) was speaking we spotted a twin to our piano in the background. We contacted Mr Lowrey and shared our
amazement that we both possessed what we thought was a one-of- a- kind instrument. He guided us to Downright Upright
written by Wayne Kelly (the only reference he's been able to find). In the section
on Evans Bros. there is a hint of the piano’s history.
An extremely elaborate, solid mahogany Evan’s
Bros. Piano of limited edition was manufactured toward the close of the first
decade of the new century, receiving honours at the 1910 Chicago World’s Fair.
( A partial photograph- not suitable for reproduction here- details highly
elaborate case carvings and heavy ornamentation on a mahogany mammoth that must
have pushed its weight well over 1,000 pounds.
That certainly sounds like our piano, but the article only raises more
questions. When was it made? Did it travel to a World's Fair? The 1910 World’s Fair was held in Brussels, Belgium. The only Chicago World’s Fair that Evans
could have attended was in 1893. Why such an ornate case? How did it find its way to a front parlour of a remote farmers home? If only it could speak besides in the language of music.
Text by Chris Scrivener
My grandfather & great uncle worked for Evans Brothers Piano company on the hammers, stringing and tuning before the pianos left the factory. I have an Evans Brothers Piano that they both worked on. My grandfather apparently build the cabinet and great uncle placed the strings and hammers. Uncle Ed also tuned the piano at my Grandparents for all the years of his life and my mother, aunt and uncle all learned piano on that cabinet grand. I did have new felts put on the hammers and had it restrung in the 1990's as tuning was starting to cause the old wires to pop. I find it holds its tuning very well and we have moved it and our house 3 times now. Each new tuner who works on it is pleasantly surprised by its nice sound. It has a cast iron harp making it a beast to move. We learned quickly to put it on extra wide and thick casters to keep it from going through the carpet and subfloor. It did go through on initial placement in our 1st house to everyone's surprise. There was a moment when the floor creaked loudly that we thought the piano might suddenly end up in our basement but the floor held. Our grandkids, the 5th generation, are learning to play on it. Friends have made their old Evans piano into an amazing drinks cabinet.
ReplyDeleteI'm the great great grandaughter of William Watterworth...this is so informational
ReplyDeleteMy mom is Lois Watterworth, my name is Susan
DeleteI have one. Very heavy. Stamped 11400
ReplyDeleteI have the same piano, in my family home, in Sept-Iles Quebec!
ReplyDeleteWish I could share a photo. I am wondering if it is worth anything, or if I can also just sell it with the house. Because moving this mammoth is not easy. Thanks.
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