PAULA BAR-GIESE SOPRANO & PIANIST
SCHEPENZAAL ROYAL PALACE AMSTERDAM
MEINCKE & PIETER MEIJER PIANO 1808
Magistrates’ Chamber
The piano in the former Magistrates’ Chamber, now the Throne Room, of the Royal Palace formed part of the furnishings and accessories that were installed in the Palace in 1808-1810, when King Louis Napoleon took up residence in what had previously been Amsterdam’s Town Hall. Music was important at the court of Holland’s French king—musicians were actually members of the Royal Household. Chamber music was played at intimate gatherings and light dance music at balls in the Grande Salle, the Citizens’ Hall. In fact, there were several pianos in the Palace in the early nineteenth century, all of them manufactured either in France or the Netherlands. This rectangular table piano was made at the leading Amsterdam workshop of Meincke and Pieter Meyer. The Meyer brothers produced three pianos in all for Louis Napoleon, two of which were for the Palace in Dam Square. After completing the commission they were honoured with a Royal Warrant to call themselves Pianoforte Manufacturers by Appointment to Their Majesties.
