Zoltán Kodály’s piano is completely restored

One of the missions of Liszt Academy is to preserve the intellectual and material legacies of great professors and also develop them. This includes the preservation and maintenance of Zoltán Kodály’s instruments, which is also the purpose and task of the Memorial Museum located in the composer and music teacher’s former home on Andrássy Avenue.

With the help of a grant from the National Cultural Fund (NKA), the complete interior and exterior restoration of the Bösendorfer piano with English action and metal case, opus no. 18335, has recently been completed. Zoltán Kodály’s widow Sarolta Péczely and the museum’s parent institution, the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, commissioned the work to Tamás Lendvai, a renowned and laureate master with decades of experience.

The first phase of the overhaul (source of the photo: Kodály Museum)

In the first phase of the major overhaul of the instrument, Liszt Academy financed the repair of the body with HUF 1 million with the help of the grant. The second phase, wich also cost cca. HUF 1 million, was made possible thanks to the substantial financial support of Sarolta Péczely. As part of the work, almost every part inside and outside was completely renewed.

The second phase of the overhaul (source of the photo: Kodály Museum)

Theodóra Sebestyén, the museum’s leader, said that thanks to the renovation, the piano, which Zoltán Kodály had often used for teaching as well, was ready to be played for the first time since the opening of the museum, and thus Kodály’s works would be performed on his own instrument. “We are planning to make Kodály’s piano works available in the future for house concerts and for posterity on the very piano on which they were first performed,” he added.