Furnitures

The "wall-climbed" piano

István Szőnyi's wife Melinda called the giraffe piano Melinda, which is named after its elongated, vertical part and its strongly curved neck. It is a special version of the hammered dulcimer, with strings placed vertically and stretched over the frame in a similar way to the harp. Its popularity was due to its small footprint, and it looked great standing against a wall in a bourgeois drawing room. The instrument blends well with the Biedermeier furniture in the room, which came to the Zebegény house from the Bartóky family.

According to music historian Dr. Zoltán Falvy, the piano was made by Gottlieb Kühnst in Gross Gerau, Darmstast district, around 1837. Apart from the Zebegényi, two other examples are known from Darmstadt and Hamburg.

Because the giraffe piano is not made of steel, but of wood, it is easy to tune. This is probably why István Szőnyi's wife Melinda did not like it, and was simply "wall-crawling" with the sound.