Mikhail Glinka’s grand piano was made by Johann August  Tischner, a famous keyboard instruments maker in St. Petersburg in the second half of the 19th century.
The body is made of mahogany decorated with bronze plates, it has got turned carved legs. It is an Empire-style music stand that gives the instrument special grace, stylized bows and arrows are used in its composition.
The structural feature of this instrument is contained in original system of dampers that are divided into two independently controlled groups: upper (right) and lower (left), which makes it possible to use dampers alternately or together. Extreme clarity of sound, dynamic diversity was a characteristic feature of the Tischner’s pianos.
Glinka got this piano at the time when the future composer was studying at the boarding school of St. Petersburg Main Pedagogical Institute. Then it was transported to the Novospasskoye estate.
It is the instrument, which the composer played fragments of his first opera ‘A Life for the Tsar’ (‘Ivan Susanin’), romances on poems by great Russian 19th century poets Pushkin, Zhukovsky, Baratynsky and others. The instrument echoes musical chronicles of the Fontanny House, its chamber and choral concerts which were often attended by Mikail Glinka.
After the composer’s death, his sister Shestakova handed the piano over to the Museum.