Liszt's Italian Upright Piano

The instrument was lent by its maker to Liszt during one of the composer’s sojourns in Florence. Carlo Ducci came from a family of instrument builders. The instrument, stamped No 1, is inscribed on its wrest plank by Franz Liszt. No further instruments by Carlo Ducci are currently known, though an earlier instrument survives by his brother, Giuseppe. Mounted on the front of the instrument is a photographic copy of a letter from Liszt to Ducci thanking him for making the piano available to the composer during his stay in Florence. Ducci left Florence in 1881 for London where he died in 1900 having been active there as a composer of songs. Given to the Cobbe Collection Trust by Dr Vernon Harrison.