A Steinway piano returns home to Ventfort Hall

Sarah and George Morgan’s Model A grand had remained within the family

Sarah and George Morgan’s Model A Steinway piano.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY VENTFORT HALL

BY FELIX CARROLL

LENOX — Born in the spring of 1895, it spent its formative years at Ventfort Hall, the Morgan family’s country estate in Lenox.

Then, in the 1920s, it set off on an odyssey spanning thousands of miles and nearly 100 years. No small feat for a 6-foot grand piano.

During that century away, the piano — a Steinway — lived the posh life on Park Avenue in New York City. It eventually headed down to entertain the well-heeled socialites of Georgetown, in Washington, D.C. It made its way across the country to Portland, Ore., where a teenage boy would come home from school, open the French doors and entertain the neighbors with Beethoven, Bach, Coldplay: What do you want to hear?

Last fall, the folks at Ventfort Hall Mansion & Gilded Age Museum rejoiced in its homecoming, inviting guests to a musical celebration to mark the return of a grand piano with a rosewood veneer, 88 notes and a sonic force that’s velvety rich.

Pianist Amy Renak, of Pittsfield, plays the Morgan family’s Steinway Model A during a concert at Ventfort Hall in November

JENNIFER HUBERDEAU

CALL IT THE PRODIGAL PIANO

A woman in Oregon can fill in the details. A letter written by a grandmother to a grandson traces the piano’s movements over time. And like a forensic expert dusting for prints, the Berkshires’ renowned piano technician, Terry Flynn, spent a couple days with it and will happily share his notes. (Spoiler alert: “It’s a wonderful piano,” he said.)

Second only to the fact that the piano has returned to its original home is the other near miracle that, all the while, it has remained in the same family. That is to say, the family beginning with George Hale Morgan and his wife, Sarah Spencer Morgan.

Let’s begin with the beginning.

SPECIAL DELIVERY

Members of the famed New York City family of bankers, the Morgans had their Lenox country estate, VentfortHall, furnished, fitted and completed for them in 1893. (Sarah, by the way, was the sister of financier J. P. Morgan, and if that sounds confusing, just know that Sarah and George shared the same

last name before they were married. George was a cousin.)

Sarah Spencer Morgan, sister of J.P. Morgan, sits second from the bottom stair, surrounded by her children and granddaughter on the veranda of Ventfort Hall. Seated to her right is daughter, Caroline Lucy Morgan, granddaughter, Sarah Morgan (later Gardner), daughter-in-law, Josephine Perry Morgan. Below, left, son, Junius Spencer Morgan II. Above, left, son, George Denison Morgan.

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY VENTFORT HALL

The piano, which would have been a central source of entertainment in those pre-radio days, came a couple of years later.

Because it’s a Steinway and because Steinway keeps meticulous records dating back to its founding in 1853 inNew York City and because this piano came with a document attesting to its provenance, we know a few vital details for sure.

This particular piano — a Model A grand, its serial number, 81766, etched and intact — was built in 1895 and shipped to a customer at 104 Walker St. in Lenox on May 29, 1895. That would have been the Morgans, at Ventfort Hall.

“The piano, we think, originally sat in the salon, which was also known as the Music Room,” said Haley Barbieri, Ventfort’s volunteer coordinator and acting executive director. “And it’s also where the ladies would go at the end of an evening. When the Morgans would have parties, they would have quartets come and play. But just for the daily musical needs, they would have this piano there on hand.”

Following the death of George Morgan in 1911 (Sarah died in 1896), the executive of his estate, representing his three adult children and second wife, auctioned off nearly all of the furnishings, except for a few select items. In 1925, the estate, too, was sold.

A letter written in 2011 by the Morgan's great-granddaughter, Caroline Morgan Macomber, spells out the piano’s whereabouts in the decades since the 1920s. All along the way, the piano appears to have been played and prized.

After Ventfort Hall, its first stop was an apartment in an elegant building at 550 Park Ave., in Manhattan, the home of the Morgan's daughter, Caroline Lucy Morgan. It stayed put there until Caroline’s death, in 1942, when it was passed to her brother Junius’ son (George and Sarah’s grandson), Alexander Morgan (father of Caroline Morgan Macomber), who had it moved a few blocks to the north, to his home at 16 East 74th St.

There, according to that letter written by Macomber, “It sat in a rather dark corner of the living room, and I labored long over my practicing.”

She also wrote that her father “loved to play — by ear — amazing,” and she referred to his favorite song, one that included the lyrics, “There are smiles that make us happy.” On 74th Street, the piano would apparently bring lots of smiles. Macomber wrote of how “occasionally a fine pianist would come to play — fond memories!”

Her letter mentions another move, this time, years later, to the place she would come to call home: the 14th floor of 770 Park Ave., an address and elevation “that sent it to new heights!” She wrote of how a Russian pianist named Larissa would come by. She’d play “mighty Russian pieces” that were “superb!”

With Macomber’s move in the 1990s down to Georgetown, the piano would accompany her.

This handwritten letter, Macomber’s letter, was written to her teenage grandson, Coleridge “Cole” Williamson. That’s an important detail. By means of her letter, she was gifting the piano to him. She had it shipped from Georgetown all the way out to Portland, Ore., where furniture was shoved out of the way to make room.

Her letter concluded with one piece of advice, followed by one request. The advice was that Cole someday visit Ventfort Hall “and see where the piano first lived.” And the request was that “if ever no one in the family wants it after you … I would like it to be sent back to Ventfort and complete the circle.”

‘IT’S THE RIGHT THING’

The Morgan family’s Steinway Model A piano after a concert in November. Janet Morgan Macomber Williamson, a descendent of Sarah and George Morgan, was on hand to hear the piano played in its original home.

JENNIFER HUBERDEAU

Cole loved the piano, said his mother, Janet Morgan Macomber Williamson, the great-great-granddaughter of George and Sarah. He would play classical. He would play pop.

“He would come home from school every day, put his school bag down in the front hall and go sit down at the piano, and I could tell what sort of day he had,” his mom said. “He either played lightly or he’d bang away, like, ‘OK, not such a good day at school, Cole?’”

Cole is now 28, still in Portland, “a genius computer programmer” (his mom said) and with little time and no space to devote to a 126-year-old family heirloom. Williamson said that when she recently decided to move into a smaller house, keeping the piano was no longer an option. “It takes up a lot of space,” she said. After much discussion among family, Cole decided the piano’s next move was one preordained by his grandmother. They contacted Ventfort Hall last spring and not only offered the piano free of charge, but they also paid for its shipping across the country.

“We were happy to cover that expense and give the piano to the museum because it’s such a good thing for the museum and the piano and our family,” said Williamson. “It’s the right thing. Cole’s pleased.”

It should be noted that the folks at Ventfort Hall were well aware the estate originally had a piano. It’s shown in the background of at least one photograph from back in the day, said Barbieri. But they had no idea of its whereabouts or even whether it had survived the years.

The call from Portland came as a shock, a happy surprise.

Since Ventfort Hall was saved from demolition in 1997, the mansion has been painstakingly restored back to its 1890s glory. Still, except for a few items — including Sarah’s monogrammed bed linens, a pair of traveling trunks, two pairs of wall sconces, a few books, table linens, and some photographs — the museum has few items original to the Morgans.

“It’s so great to have this original piece, and that it’s a piano,” said Barbieri. “People can look at it, of course, but we can also use it and be able to share music with people.”

WHAT IT’S MADE OF

The piano was returned to Ventfort Hall on July 14, 2021, not by a horsedrawn wagon this time, but by means of an internal combustion engine, a moving truck.

The first order of business was to summon a piano forensics unit in the form of Terry Flynn, of Flynn Pianos, in Great Barrington. When we asked him about the piano in early December, Flynn took a moment to fetch his notes. “OK, are you recording this?” he asked. “You might want to record this.”

Record button engaged, Flynn explained just about everything a layman could possibly wish to know about an old piano. For instance, this one has a rosewood veneer that was originally painted black. Its big cast iron harp, forged by Steinway at its New York City foundry, bears 20,000 pounds of horizontal tension.

The piano is 6 feet, 2 inches long, and by the time it was built in 1895, “Steinway was at the top of their game,” Flynn said. “They dominated the concert market in the U.S.”

Steinway’s patented acoustical innovations, he said, are embodied in this particular piano.

Flynn, who spent a couple of days servicing the piano, made a discovery that he found delightful. At one point, possibly in the 1920s or 1930s or even earlier, this piano was adapted such that a player piano mechanism could be attached to it. Flynn said he kept the evidence of this intact, “just for fun, for history.”

Judged by the material, he also quickly discerned the piano’s acoustical innards had been rebuilt at some point in the last 20 to 30 years, which would be typical for a piano that is cared for. Its keyboard is original. Its ivories are in excellent shape. The piano sounds “very good,” but it will need some significant upkeep in the long term, particularly as it takes up residence once again in a drafty old mansion.

To that end, Ventfort has begun a fundraising campaign for maintenance of the piano. The campaign launched with a concert on Sunday, Nov. 7, a piano concert, that is. Among the many guests, was Janet Morgan Macomber Williamson, who flew in from Oregon, her first-ever visit to Ventfort Hall. “It was fabulous,” she declared. With everything all tightened and tuned by Flynn and with a cavernous room filled with attendees to mark a yearnful return, the esteemed pianist Amy Renak, of Pittsfield, sat down at the old Steinway Model A.

She prayed a couple of Hail Marys to herself, and then she maneuvered the piano keys to unlock the old ghosts from the long-absent, intricately syncopated gay 1890s.

“It was so dreamy to play,” the pianist said afterward.

Everyone then retired for that lovely tea, Ventfort Hall once again sanctified by song. ■