In 1930, Maison Pleyel decided to change the design of its concert pianos and to move from the big round feet that were its signature until then to the fine square feet art deco that we all know.
But what to do then with the "old-fashioned" pianos, all of high quality that remained in its warehouses?
Not wanting to put them on sale, Pleyel decided to give these pianos in concert to charitable works, and so in 1930, the old "Œuvres des Sanatoriums Populaires de Paris" Of which the Bligny Hospital is the direct heir received in donation the famous piano Pleyel Grand-Concert AL 1928, the one that is today at the Theatre of Bligny.
You can see it in a few rare photos from the '50s in the theater, but that’s about it.
We know that he "lived" in different parts of the hospital until the theatre closed in 1971, and then we forgot about him .
In the first months of the twenty-first century, he was "found" on the wall at the bottom of the orchestra pit, buried under a mountain of old mattresses, the theatre serving in those years as a warehouse for hospital scraps.
But what then to make of this sublime instrument, relatively degraded by years of sleep?
The President of the Bligny Hospital Center had it examined by the Maison Labrousse - a world reference - who, after a long and meticulous examination, declared it "alive".
Indeed, the burial under old mattresses "saved" it by protecting it from thermal shocks in an abandoned building and not heated in winter.
It was still necessary to invest €20,000 to restore it: the fonts were rebuilt according to Pleyel’s plans; the wooden crate was sent to Poland to be revernie in the rules of the art, and finally, after many adventures and expert work, he made his triumphant return to the hospital from which he had left two years earlier.
Just in time for the reopening of the Théâtre de Bligny, also saved from oblivion after two years of work and the complete redesign of the interior spaces: the theatre we know today.
It is an exceptional instrument from a musical point of view.
An instrument as we make more, with a mechanism called "nose" (note by note) as opposed to the contemporary model called "drum" (octave by octave) which equips all contemporary concert pianos.
It is an exceptional instrument from a historical and heritage point of view,
There are only four left to run in the world: One at the Brooklin Academy of Music in New York; one in the Pleyel collection; one in a private home, and one in Bligny.
This historic Grand-Concert Pleyel AL 1928 piano is the main treasure of the Bligny Theatre. He is as well protected as the Queen of England: "One does not approach, one does not touch!"
Only virtuoso musicians who have tamed the instrument have the right to touch his ebony and ivory keyboard for study sessions or concerts.
Except during the European Heritage Days where musicians of all ages have the right to play on it in maximum increments of 40 minutes.