HISTORY OF CHICKERING PIANOS

Chickering - Won the highest award ever given any piano fortes.  Once owned by many presidents such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Pierce, and Theodore Roosevelt.  It was the only piano that Franz Liszt was willing to play on stage.  Chickering was the first American piano manufacturer having begun manufacturing pianos in the U.S. in 1823.

Jonas Chickering entered the factory of a well-known piano maker of those days and pursued a course of study in piano making in its then primitive stage. It was not long before the genius of Jonas Chickering manifested itself, and he introduced a series of changes and improvements which have since become standard and which revolutionized the methods then prevailing. His name from the earliest times has been constantly linked with the Americanizing of the piano by methods of such importance and value that both America and Europe today admit their worth by universal adoption.

To him must be ascribed the invention of the full iron plate for grand pianos recorded in 1837. This invention was accepted by the scientific world as one of far reaching importance; indeed, it proved to be the foundation of all modern piano construction, for without it the sonorous grand pianos of today would not have been impossible. It successfully solved the problem of the proper support for the great strain of the strings and defined a new era in the history of piano-making. In 1843, Jonas Chickering invented a new deflection of the strings and in 1845 the first practical method for over stringing in square pianos, that is, instead of setting the strings side by side, substituting an arrangement of them in two banks, one over the other, not only saving space but bringing the powerful bass strings directly over the most resonant part of the sound-board, a principle which obtains to this day in the construction of all pianos, both grands and uprights. Until the year 1852, Jonas Chickering superintended each department of his business with his usual scrupulous care but was relieved of much of this responsibility upon his taking into partnership his three sons, all of whom had received under their father a practical training of the highest order. The genius of C. Frank Chickering as a "scale" draftsman soon became internationally know and acknowledged and to his extensive scientific research is to be attributed much of the renowned beauty of the Chickering tone. Not content with retaining this invaluable knowledge himself he imparted the secrets of his studies to those in the factory in whose gifts he had confidence, thus insuring their perpetuation. In addition to the many patents taken out by Jonas Chickering, his sons and their successors, various methods exclusive to themselves have also been employed and there are in constant use operations of an abstract character which may be described as mechanical subtleties possessing great value and which are an integral part of the Chickering system.

The above outline of the significant importance of the Chickering system will appeal to the practical minded but to those who would know more of the romance and charm which the Chickering story holds for the student of America's musical development. The significance and historic value of the Chickering in the development of the pianoforte in America are seen in the preservation at the Ford Museum at Dearborn of several important Chickering including the very first instrument made by Jonas Chickering in 1823. Others are: the first Chickering upright made in 1830 and the first Chickering grand completed prior to 1850. Chickering & Sons have received upwards of 200 first medals and awards. These have been received from States and sovereigns, and international expositions and learned societies in all parts of the world embracing every known method of honoring distinguished merit. C. Frank Chickering was personally vested with the Imperial Cross of the Legion of Honor at the hands of Napoleon. The significance of this high honor is the more appreciated because of its extreme rarity, very few such honors having been bestowed for accomplishments in the fine arts.

There are men who worked with Jonas Chickering, a long life time of service which the house has been glad to honor. There are also scores who have been engaged in the Chickering departments for periods a running from 25 to nearly 50 years. This implies loyalty and esprit de corps invaluable in this art industry, and which is a reflection of its atmosphere.

The list of pianists, composers, and musicians who have since its inception used and endorsed the Chickering piano is much to long to include here. Several decades ago, this great house of pianos, content with its already rich background of achievement on the concert stage, turned its attention to the perfection of the smaller piano. The Chickering is essentially a piano for the home. With its high profile brand-name and its quality workmanship, Chickering became the number one competitor for the Steinway Company, especially after Chickering added a full size concert grand piano to its line of production. In 1908 the company merged with the Knabe Piano Company to become the Aeolian American Piano Company. Production lasted for more than a century.

By 1851 Chickering was the leading American piano firm, producing ten percent of the 9,000 pianos built in the U.S. that year (Richard Crawford, America's Musical Life, p. 235).