Whether overtly or obscurely, the piano has become an object of focus in literature and art for more than two centuries. It has been featured in movies too often as an icon and for its unmistakable timbre. The humble upright or a glittering grand piano can confidently be the centrepiece around which a piece of art develops.
What is it about the instrument that gives it such status and appeal?
An informative article in the Arts Observer (April 2012), opens the doors of artistic possibilities. It discusses art installations in the city of New York that use the piano in an exciting variety of ways. The use of the pianos is described as symbolic and sculptural, and this neatly encapsulates what the artists have aimed to present.
Piano Symbolism In Literature and Art
Piano Symbolism in Historic Arts
Two exhibits from the collection stand out to me as particularly striking and provocative pieces of art. The first is called Blossom by Sanford Biggers and dates back to 2007. Here the piano appears to be growing out of a tree, or maybe the tree has created a piano. There is a sense of organic symbiosis, of the perpetual and the possible.
Biggers aims to challenge American stereotypes in his thirteen pieces in the exhibition. Interestingly, in this particular work, the piano is functional as Biggers has converted the baby grand into a MIDI piano that plays the music he’s composed.
The second piece is aptly named Dualing Pianos: Agapé Agape in D minor by Maurice Ancalmo. This is a wonderfully comic and thought-provoking work.
Two player pianos face one another, ready to battle, whilst a mediating word processor occupies the space between them. A continuous loop of music passes from one piano, through the word processor, to the other piano and returns over the top of both to the first. It appears to be an eternal duel of words and music.
Some of the world’s most celebrated painters have been drawn towards the piano. Vincent van Gogh’s Marguerite at the Piano (1890), I find a fascinating portrait. Many stories have circulated regarding the reasons for the portrait of Marguerite whose extended, yellowy-white fingers seem to be almost breaking on the keys.
According to some sources, Marguerite was very much in love with van Gogh however, the picture appears to simply capture the musician deep in concentration at the piano without any deeper meaning.
A Chemist Lifting with Extreme Precaution the Cuticle of a Grand Piano is an oil painting by surrealist Salvador Dali. The painting dates from 1936 and has many of the typical characteristics we have now become familiar with in his work.
Several important cultural figures come to light in the painting including composer Richard Wagner towards the centre and Vladimir Lenin. Frederic Nietzsche is the chemist and an individual Dali much admired.
The painting deals with Dali’s curious feelings about Judaism and the apparent rebirth of the Jewish Nation. The piano is depicted almost as if made of light fabric, nebulous and drained of energy. Lenin is effortlessly lifting the left corner of the grand piano as if searching for something.
Max Ernst’s painting from 1923 titled Saint Cecilia (Invisible Piano), is as complex a work as the Dali above. The piano is only represented by the place in which it should be and the nimble fingers of Saint Cecilia who is playing the absent instrument. It is a profound and ambiguous painting that has attracted significant comment.
The invisible piano, the ruinous landscape and the encased Saint are thought to represent destruction. It is as if Saint Cecilia is the only bastion of hope in a world full of loss, held together by only metal pins and rope.
Piano Symbolism in Historic Literature
Many books feature the piano, each approaching its use inventively and differently. Player Piano (1952), is a novel by author Kurt Vonnegut. This was Vonnegut’s first novel and it paved the way for his iconic style of narrative. It is a book that is deeply satirical and examines the destructive impact technology often has on the quality of human life.
In the novel mechanisation increasingly replaces the need for human workers. Following the Third World War, thousands of people find themselves jobless as a result of mechanisation. The player piano symbolises the terrible changes that happen almost before we notice the cost.
The Forrest of Wool and Steel (2015) by Natsu Miyashita is a tale of mystery and intrigue. The narrator of the book is called Tomura. He is captivated and haunted by the sound of a piano being tuned at his school. The experience propels him on a life-making journey with the piano at its heart.
Alongside engaging factual information about the piano, the instrument is the forest with steel as its strings and wool or felt on its hammers that strike the string and create sound. It’s a warming, sensitive book with fairy tale qualities, honesty and charm.
Piano Symbolism in Historic Films
The 1994 film titled The Piano is one of the most moving and dramatic period pieces you can watch. It is written and directed by Jane Campion.
A mute Scottish woman Ada McGrath promised in marriage to a New Zealand frontiersman, Alisdair Stewart. She is with her daughter Flora who interprets for Ada. Mother and daughter, unfortunately, become stranded on a remote beach in New Zealand with a few possessions and their beloved upright piano.
The piano becomes symbolic of Ada’s struggles with the two men in her life and her desire to express herself. George Baines, one of Alisdair’s crew, helps Ada rescue her abandoned instrument that Alisdair left at the beach. George exchanges keys for piano lessons as he grows increasingly fond of Ada.
Jealousy and violence ensue eventually leading to George and Ada leaving the island with the piano. Ada asks George to cast the piano into the sea perhaps to rid herself of the terrible memories of her life with Alisdair. Ada becomes caught in the rope attached to the piano and is thrown into the depths of the ocean only escaping with her life by luck.
Another amazing film not to be overlooked is Roman Polanski’s award-winning movie The Pianist (2002). The film takes its inspiration from Wladyslaw Szilman’s 1946 autobiographical novel with the same title.
The film like the book focuses on the remarkable story of Szilman a gifted pianist and composer, who is credited with giving the final radio performance in Warsaw before the Nazi attack on the city.
It’s a harrowing tale of survival against all odds during one of the darkest periods of human history. All the time, the piano remains key to the survival of Szilman. It is a beacon of hope at a time when any possibility of a happy outcome must have seemed impossible.