Mel Williams, Visitor Services
On display in the museum at Kiwi North is one of our most popular treasures with visitors, a Bechstein Piano.
This particular piano was made in 1914 in Berlin by renowned piano company C. Bechstein and was brought to Northland in 1949 by Shakespearian actor and accomplished classical and jazz musician, Barbara Eleanor Webb (nee Story). It was among the items she brought to her new life as a farmer’s wife, one of her most prized possessions.
The piano did not sit idly in a farmhouse. For decades it was used by Barbara to teach many children in the Whangārei district how to play. Then in 2013, the piano was donated to Kiwi North by Barbara’s daughter Virginia Craig and her son Michael Webb for the continued enjoyment of others.
This brand of piano dates back to 1853 when the C. Bechstein Piano Factory was founded in Berlin, Germany by Carl Bechstein. His pianos rose quickly in popularity and with endorsements by prominent composers and conductors they became a staple in many concert halls and private mansions by 1870.
In 1881 C. Bechstein began supplying pianos to the many residences of Queen Victoria and five years later was awarded a royal warrant as a supplier to the Queen. For the next three decades the company went from strength to strength. A London branch, built in 1885, became the largest showroom in Europe and the list of European royalty and aristocracy to become clients was extensive.
Carl Bechstein passed away in 1900 but the company continued to operate and thrive under the management of his sons.
Things took a downturn during World War I. Anti-German sentiment was growing and C. Bechstein suffered huge property losses. The royal warrant was cancelled in 1915 and the company was forced to close its British arm after the “Trading with the Enemy Amendment Act” was passed in 1916. All C. Bechstein property in London, including a concert hall and showrooms were seized as enemy property and 137 pianos were confiscated.
Once World War I was over things began to look up and by the 1920s the factory had resumed full scale production once more.
Carl Bechstein’s son Edwin managed the company from 1900-1923. He was married a German socialite named Helene who was also the etiquette tutor for Adolph Hitler. She often stated she would have liked to have had Hitler as a son. When Edwin Bechstein died in 1934, he was given a state funeral in Berlin attended by Adolf Hitler and other Nazi officials.
World War II would deliver another blow to the company. Allied bombing raids in 1945 destroyed the factory in Berlin and for several years production was down to just a few pianos per year. It wasn’t until the 1950s that annual production increased to around a thousand.
Many early Bechstein pianos were coloured black or rosewood, but some were walnut, as is the one here in the museum. Variations in colour and pattern of the upper front board and legs indicate that they may have been replaced at some point. The panel on the front board always makes me smile because within the markings I can clearly see a face smiling back at me.
When I started researching this story I looked forward to learning of the journey our piano had made around the world and about how it ended up in Northland. Never did I expect to be taking a detour through two world wars and a close, personal friendship with Adolph Hitler.
