The Piano Shop on the West Bank
Thad Carhart’s book about the piano shop in Paris he often visited not only gives an unusual picture of Paris but also an interesting history of classic pianos from the 1700s to today. At the same time, it tells how an adult can bring back to life his childhood passion for music.
Thad is an American freelance journalist who lives in Paris with his wife and two children. Often while walking home from work he will stop and chat with Luc, the master of a quaint piano shop. In time, Luc finds a used Stingl baby grand piano made in Austria that intrigues Thad and which he finally buys. In Luc’s words, "Now it can stop being a piece of furniture and start to live."
After a very muscular man straps the baby grand on his back and carries it up the stairs to Thad’s apartment, the piano has to be tuned. A man named Jos is recommended for the tuning job. But he works best in the mornings, before he starts drinking. His residence is any empty freight car on the Paris railroad.
Thad encounters many different makes of pianos in the piano shop. Most of them were made in France or Germany, though he mentions two American pianos, Chickering and Steinway. But the Baldwin piano, which runs a close second to the Steinway, is never mentioned.
The piano market has changed a lot in the last century. In 1910, when a piano could usually be found in any respectable home, there were nearly 300 piano makers in the United States. Then, in 1950, there were only 30. But the piano had not lost its value. One 1880 Steinway was auctioned for 1.2 million dollars.
Luc was a great influence on Thad’s born-again musical interests. He could burn the wood from cheap pianos in his stove on cold days. But at the same time, Luc made Thad realize that "the keyboard becomes music’s secret pathway to another world."
Thad’s autobiographical story of The Piano Shop On The West Bank was written in 2000.