The grand piano on display dates back to the mid-19th century and was made by the “Lichtenthal” company.

The grand piano has a classical shape. It has three carved legs at the base. The top of the grand piano is finished with rosewood veneer.

The “Lichtenthal” company was founded in 1840 in St. Petersburg and was based on the Fontanka embankment in Schmidt House. The firm was founded by the Belgian piano maker Heinrich Hermann Lichtenthal. The company lasted only 15 years, until the owner’s death in 1854.

Despite his short period of work in Russia, Lichtenthal had a significant impact on the piano industry and was an innovator in his field. The ingenious craftsman created many different instruments based on the piano. Among them were, for example, the piano-viole, which was created in 1838; the combination of a bowed clavier and a piano was patented in 1843; the small grand piano and the “square grand piano” in 1845; and the “imperial grand piano” with crossed strings in 1846. The latter instrument differed from its contemporary counterparts in its greater sound power. Heinrich Lichtenthal was the first piano maker in Saint Petersburg to use this device.

Lichtenthal’s instruments became the talk of the town soon after the opening of his musical company. It is known that in the mid-1840s “the famous Liszt was the first to emphasize the merits of Lichtenthal pianos to the local public. Not only in Saint Petersburg did Liszt not want to play other instruments than Lichtenthal ones, but he even took them with him from Paris to Madrid, not trusting to find Lichtenthal pianos, which are found in all the capitals of Europe.”

The exhibit displayed in the museum “has long been in the Karabikha estate”. Vera Fedorovna Andreeva, the poet’s niece, confirmed this. It is known that Sophia Ivanovna Nekrasova, the first wife of Fyodor Alexeyevich Nekrasov, the poet’s brother, loved music and practiced it a lot.

The musical instrument has been restored several times — in 2002 and 2013. Today the piano can be heard at concerts and literary and musical evenings.