A lyraflügel is a Germanic version of an upright piano. As its name suggests, the instrument takes its shape from a lyre which, following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, had been popularized in patriotic poems and songs as a symbol of freedom and liberation.
With its symmetrically arched sides and gilded sticks, imitating lyre strings, decorating its silked front, the lyraflügel became a fashionable fixture in German parlours between 1820 and 1850, driven by demand from a new urban middle class in Europe.
Only two makers produced lyraflügels: Johann Christian Schleip and F.A. Klein, both of Berlin.
This beautiful model from F.A. Klein has a rich mahogany lyreshaped case sitting atop curved legs with majestic lion-paw feet. A facade of green silk embossed with seven golden bars representing the lyre’s strings dominates the front of the case.
Lyre-pianos are extremely rare and are held in only a few museums worldwide, including New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art. Now, with your support, it is Perth’s turn to be the proud host city to showcase a lyraflügel in all its evocatively shapedsplendour.
