Percy Grainger Museum at Melbourne University
By John Semmens
Further to Darrell Clarke's post regarding the Grainger Museum at the
University of Melbourne [190323 MMDigest], I can add that I have had
a long albeit patchy association with the museum and the Weber Duo-Art.
I currently volunteer at the museum and can report that the Weber is
not on display in view of the current temporary exhibition "Objects
of Fame", a fascinating array of items from Nellie Melba and Percy
Grainger -- Australia's first two international super stars!
I hope the Weber returns though the instrument itself is somewhat
problematic as a demonstration piano and rarely played. It's a later
Duo-Art (the tubing is routed around the action) and from memory has
a rather unconventional stack -- though I'm more an Ampico man and my
Duo-Art knowledge is limited.
The museum is a lovely small space in a great building designed by the
university architect, John Gawler, in association with Percy and built
between 1935 and 1939. I understand that Percy bought the Weber in the
1940s as an aid to his free music experiments and not primarily to use
as a Duo-Art.
John Semmens
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(Message sent Mon 25 Mar 2019, 21:37:18 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.) |
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