Music can transcend boundaries but here is a musical instrument that has crossed continents and surpassed centuries to reach this coastal heritage town. On a sultry Friday evening at French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP), musician Stéphane Charles introduced a piano made in the early 20th-century by playing it to the audience.
Stéphane Charles and Tapabrata Mitra enchanted the audience playing the Carnatic mode 51 on a 45-minute piano and sitar concert at the new conference hall of the IFP on April 8.
Made in 1901 in France, the piano of ‘Pleyel et Cie’ brand was brought to Puducherry in 2000. One of the most celebrated names in history, Pleyel et Cie is a Paris-based piano manufacturing business founded in 1870 by Austrian-born French renowned composer and piano builder Ignaz Pleyel. He was one of the most celebrated composers of the late 18th and early 19th Century.
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Nadine Delphine, who resides at Bommayapalayam near Auroville, had gifted this piano to Stéphane Charles, husband of French Lycée Proviseure (Lycée Francais School principal), Aline Charles.
Revealing the rich history of the piano, she said that her grandparents gifted the piano to her father Francois Delphin. “They wanted to give this piano made in 1901 on his 14{+t}{+h}birthday because my father was born in 1902,” she added.
Nadine’s father, though a banker by profession, was a great musician and pianist. “The piano was in our family beginning from the First World War in 1914 till the end of 2015. Nadine Delphin, who worked as a horse riding teacher at Red Earth Horse Riding School in Auroville for 10 years, says: The piano was damaged when it was shipped from France to Puducherry in 2000. When I gave it to Stéphane Charles, he told me the cost required to repair the piano. After talking to my family, I decided it would be good if we gifted it to an institution in Puducherry as a present from my father and family,” she said.
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Initially, they had planned to give it to Lycee Francais School. Since they did not want it, the piano was given to the French Institute of Pondicherry.
Pierre Grard, director of the IFP, ordered the restoration of this grand piano.
“After the restoration, the music concert was organised to celebrate and now it is in good shape,” said Stéphane Charles.
Nadine added that she was glad that the piano is in Puducherry, the place where her great grand-uncle four generations back named Claude Antoine Delphin had visited in the 1700s. “He came along with Francois Martin, the first governor-general of Puducherry. He returned to France rich after spending 20 years here. I am proud that after 200 years of my great grand-uncle’s visit to Puducherry, the legacy still continues with this piano. He had found his happiness here and we felt it is good to give it back to this place,” she said.
Stéphane Charles said that the instrument was conceived and made by a 19{+t}{+h}century craftsman and played by 20{+t}{+h}and 21{+s}{+t}century musicians. Aline Charles added that Jerry James from Cochin, the third generation of a family of organ makers, piano tuners worked on the restoration.
The piano weighing 300 kg was carried to the first floor of the institute to preserve this material heritage. The music concert started with a piano theme, followed by sitar solo ‘alap’, piano solo ‘prelude’ and a final duo ‘jod’.
The audience at the French Institute of Pondicherry was spellbound watching the piano that has traversed through centuries, continents and cultures to reach Puducherry.