{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":59790,"auction_id":186,"set_id":220,"lot_number":"75","artist":"The Benito Legarda Grotrian-Steinweg Nachf Grand Piano","title":"Model P 680 Grotrian-Steinweg Nachf","starting_price":400000,"signed_dated":"ca.1970s - 80s <br/>\nSerial Number: No. 243399<br/> \nIvory Keys <br/>\nColor: black<br/> \nwith upholstered stool","medium":"piano size:<br/> \nH: 72\" (183 cm)<br/> \nL: 58\" (147 cm)<br/> \nW: 88\" (224 cm)<br/>","size":"piano bench:<br/> \nH: 19\" (48 cm)<br/> \nL: 15\" (38 cm) <br/>\nW: 30 1/2\" (77 cm)","property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"Benito Justo “Beniting” Fernandez Legarda, Jr. was a polymath: a historian, economist, newspaper columnist, writer, rare book and map collector, a scholar and foremost authority on a wide array of subjects from nineteenth-century Philippine economic history to World War II history in the Philippines to Philippine colonial church architecture, and a music lover. Born on 6 August 1926 to lawyer Benito Roces Legarda and civic leader/ diplomat Trinidad Fernandez Legarda, he had the benefit of a well-rounded education, was well-travelled, and had the means to indulge in his many passions. \n\nBeniting earned a Bachelor of Social Science degree from Georgetown University in 1948, and while at Georgetown, he was a member of the Glee Club and Choir from his 2nd to 4th years. Thereafter, he proceeded to Harvard University, where he earned his Master of Arts in Economics in 1950 and a PhD in Economics in 1955. His doctoral dissertation at Harvard University was published as the book After the Galleons: Foreign Trade, Economic Change, and Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth-Century Philippines (1999). Among his other books were The Hills of Sampaloc (2001), Occupation ’42 (2003), Occupation: The Later Years (2007), and The Eight Rizalian Miniatures (2011). \n\nIn 1960, Beniting was already Assistant Director of the Department of Economic Research and Statistics of the Central Bank of the Philippines when he was featured in the Weekly Women’s Magazine, 30 September 1960 issue, as one of Manila’s most eligible bachelors. In the picture with him was a beautiful young pianist named Carminda de Leon, who would have made a good match for him, but fate had other plans. Carminda married Atty. Teddy Regala of ACCRA Law, while Beniting married Dra. Angelita “Lita” Forés Ganzon, the daughter of UP Department of History Chairperson Guadalupe Forés Ganzon, who shared his love for music. They were wed in 1971 and had a daughter, Isabel Cristina “Tweetie,” born in 1972, who would become a doctor like her mother and a writer like her father. \n\nAfter retiring from the Central Bank, where Beniting rose from the ranks to become Deputy Governor for Research, Beniting’s family moved to Bethesda, Maryland, in 1981. He served on the executive board of the IMF, as a consultant to the World Bank, and as economic counsellor of the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. He was also a founding member of the Philippine Statistical Association, Inc. and the Philippine Economic Society. The family eventually returned to the Philippines and went back to their Greenhills, San Juan home. \n\nWhen Lita passed away in 2015 after battling cancer, Beniting dedicated a concert to her featuring Brahms, her favorite composer. A Manila Symphony Orchestra quartet played at her wake. Beniting died on 26 August 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. \n\nChit Roces-Santos, Beneting’s relative on the Roces side of the family, once mused on where or when Beniting Legarda’s love of music began. She had a ready answer: “My guess is it’s in his DNA.” The Legarda-Roces-Valdés Tuason clan was a musical family. Beniting recalled in his essay, “Lolo Bitong and Lola Menang,” (Benito de la Paz Legarda,1876-1933, eldest son of Don Benito Legarda Tuason and Teresa de la Paz, and wife, Filomena Roces y Gonzalez, 1872-1967): “Lola Menang was quite cultured, with good taste in music. She had been educated in the Convent of Jesu Maria in Barcelona, and spoke and read French. She also accompanied her father to Paris, and at the Paris Exposition on the Centennial Revolution in 1889, she was escorted by José Rizal to the Exposition…” In his essay, “A Christmas Concert in Wartime,” originally published in the Philippines Free Press, 27 December 2003, republished in his book, “Occupation 1942-1945”, Beniting Legarda further recalled that it was Dr. Herbert Zipper of the Manila Symphony Orchestra who hit upon the idea of greeting Grandmother Filomena on her birthday with something until then unimaginable–presenting the Vivaldi-Bach four piano concerto with members of the family playing the instruments. The venue was the Legarda-Roces Residence at Calle San Rafael, San Miguel, Manila, which later housed La Cocina de Tita Moning. His Uncle Pepito, a concert pianist, was assigned Piano I, which was a little more demanding than the rest because of a short, wonderful cadenza in the third movement. Beniting’s father, Ben, was on Piano II, Beniting on Piano III, and his Tia Bombona Legarda Valdés (culinary expert wife of General Basilio J. Valdés) on Piano IV. Pianos used were from the former Academy of Music in A. Mabini was stored in the Calle R. Hidalgo office of Beniting’s father, while a string orchestra composed of Restie Umali on the contrabass and Honrado Domingo on the cello, with Maximino Isla and Jose Robles as violinists, was assembled by Dr. Herbert Zipper via bamboo telegraph. The concert was such a success that there was clamour for a repeat, but with the Battle of Manila fast approaching, it was not meant to be. \n\nRamon “Bomboy” Valdés Araneta, son of Rita “Manchi” Valdés Araneta, recalls that Doña Teresa “Tata” Tuason took care of many Legarda nieces and nephews, some of whom lived with her in her mansion at the corner of Calles Aviles and Aguado, and ensured each child learned to play a musical instrument. At every family celebration, the nephews and nieces performed together. Beniting’s family remains a staunch supporter of the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) to date. His grandmother, Filomena Roces Legarda, was its f irst president. His mother, the civic leader, suffragist, and Ambassador to South Vietnam, Trinidad Fernandez Legarda, was president of the MSO from 1933 to 1958 and did much to raise funds to sustain its existence. She was also behind the historic staging of the first Manila Symphony Orchestra Concert at the ruins of Santa Cruz Church on 9 May 1945. \n\nThe piano at hand is a Model P 680 Grotrian-Steinweg Nachf. Grand Piano with a black gloss finish. The embossed marking on its cast iron plate indicates that it was made at the Grotrian-Steinweg factory in Braunschweig, Germany. The piano was most probably bought in Europe or commissioned in Germany, as Grotrian Steinweg pianos were handcrafted in Braunschweig and had limited distribution in the United States due to competition from Steinway & Sons, New York. \n\nIt is not known whether any distributors carried Grotrian Steinweg pianos in the Philippines. The only other Grotrian Steinweg piano which comes to mind belonged to the late Ilongga piano diva, Leonor Kilayko, whom her friend, fellow Ilonggo social chronicler Édouard Garcia, fondly called “The Madwoman of Taliwood.” Leonor acquired her Grotrian Steinweg piano during her 17-year stay in Germany and had it installed in her South Sy-Quia Apartments unit in Malate, Manila and later at her Marbella Condominium flat, where she would hold a series of private concerts for her friends The Grotrian-Steinweg Piano Factory was founded in 1835 by Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (1797-1871), who in 1850 migrated with most of his family to the U.S., changed his name to Henry Steinway, and founded Steinway & Sons, New York. He left his eldest son, C.F. Theodor Steinweg (1825 1889), to manage the factory in Braunschweig. Theodore moved the factory to nearby Wolfenbüttel for several years. Soon after, he met Friedrich Grotrian, who had previous experience running a piano business in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and entered into a partnership with him in 1856. In 1857, partners Theodor Steinway and Friedrich Grotrian moved the factory to Braunschweig, setting up shop in the former mayor’s mansion at 48 Bohlweg Street. In 1860, Friedrich Gortrian passed away and was succeeded by his son, Wilhelm. In 1865, Theodor was summoned by his family to help run Steinway & Sons in New York after the deaths of his two siblings, Henry and Charles. Thereafter, Wilhelm Grotrian was joined by two of his workmen and bought off C.F. Theodor’s share of the business. In addition, they paid for the right to use the trademark, “C.F. Th. Steinweg Nachf,” which means “Successor to C.F. Theodor,” nachf. being the abbreviation for the German term, nachfolger, or successor in English. \n\nIn 1880, Theodor Steinweg, now Theodor Steinway, returned to Germany for good and set up the Steinway & Sons Hamburg factory, which competed directly with Grotrian Steinweg Nachf. Braunschweig. Soon, Grotrian-Steinweg pianos were gaining renown as among the finest premium pianos worldwide and the piano of choice for great musicians such as Johannes Brahms, Franz Liszt, Clara Schumann, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ignace Paderewski, Vladimir Horowitz, and Arthur Rubenstein. Grotrian-Steinweg pianos became known for “their light responsive action with warm, mellow tone and clarity among the registers, making it the perfect piano for playing fast, delicate passages as well as big, powerful ones.” \n\nIn the 1920s, Grotrian-Steinweg reached its peak, producing 3,000 pianos annually and employing 1,000 workers. More stores were opened in Germany, and a London shop was established. However, as the Great Depression set in, sales plunged. During WWII, the factory was ordered to shift to the fabrication of aircraft parts. In 1944, the factory was destroyed during the bombing of Braunschweig and was rebuilt in 1948. \n\nSince 1895, Steinway & Sons of New York had resisted Grotrian-Steinweg’s entry into the U.S. market, which erupted into a long-drawn-out legal battle that ended in 1975, when the U.S. Court of Appeals decided to forbid Grotrian-Steinweg from selling its pianos in the U.S. using the Steinweg name starting in 1977. Grotian-Steinweg pianos continued to be made in limited quantities over the years, without compromising quality. \n\nThe Benito Legarda Grotrian Steinweg The Rolls-Royce of Pianos for the Eminent Scholar by ISIDRA P. REYES In 2011, Larry Fine, a piano expert and author of The Piano Book. stated that modern Grotrian-Steinweg pianos are among the “highest quality” pianos, on a par with the Bösendorffer, Steinway Hamburg, and Fazioli, and of a higher quality than Steinway & Sons New York pianos.","lot_group":"OBJET D' ARTS","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":2200000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":2200000,"userBid":34,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":15202,"reserve_price":0,"hammer_price":2643520,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":65285,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/186/220/lot/75.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":65624,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/186/220/lot/75a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":74,"next":76,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}