Piano 62

Piano 62 was captured in the church of St. Martin in Dorking, a large rebuild from the Established Church revival of the middle of the 19th century. Sporting the tallest spire in Surrey. A time when there seemed to be a great deal of money around to spend on large churches, established or otherwise. Nothing else to spend it on? Concentrated in the wrong hands?

The keyboard was locked and neither of the trusties present had a key, so the maker of this piano remains a mystery. Although one of the trusties thought that it was a fairly ordinary piano, not a Broadwood or a Steinway or anything like that.

I tried asking Bing, but he was determined to tell me about St. Martin in the Fields in Trafalgar Square. No help at all. I tried asking Google, and he did rather better, willing and able to tell me about this St. Martin's. And while this did not go so far as to tell me the name of the maker of the piano, he did tell me of concerts held in the church which involved pianos, quite probably this one, as hiring a Steinway for a performance in a provincial parish church would be rather expensive - and, in consequence, rather exceptional. Although, that said, we did once attend several concerts given there by the subsequently Premier League Quartet, now retired, called the Endellion. This at a time when Dorking Halls was being given a makeover. Quartets, however, unlike most pianists, bring their own tools.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2022/08/piano-61.html.

Reference 2: https://dorkingconcertgoers.org.uk/.

Group search key: pianosk, dka.