Interpretação para Ensino Médio - Chopin's piano found in English country house

Chopin's piano found in English country house

Wed Mar 21, 2007 12:46PM EDT

LONDON (Reuters)-The grand piano Frederic Chopin took on his last concert tour has been found in an English country house thanks to detective work by a Swiss musical scholar.
"It came as a bolt from the blue," said British collector Alec Cobbe after discovering that the piano he bought 20 years ago for 2,000 pounds is a piece of musical history.
For more than 150 years after the composer's death, Chopin's piano vanished until Professor Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger researched the ledgers of French pianomaker Camille Pleyel.
The scholar, who had met Cobbe at a Chopin conference, came to see the collector armed with details of where and to whom all the Pleyel pianos were sold.
By its serial number, he was able to identify Cobbe's piano as the one the Polish-born composer brought to Britain on a farewell tour in 1848.
"This really was a rare moment," Cobbe, a collector of antique keyboard instruments, told Reuters.
"There are only three other pianos known to have been possessed by Chopin. One is in Paris and one is in Majorca and neither of those work. The last is in Warsaw," he said.
"Ours works utterly beautifully. It is something very special when you are playing it."
Before leaving Britain to return to Paris after what turned out to be the last tour before his death, Chopin sold the Pleyel to an English aristocrat called Lady Trotter.
Bequeathed to one of her relatives, the piano ended up in a country mansion before being sent to auction and then sold to Cobbe by a dealer in antique pianos.
Chopin once remarked "Pleyel pianos are the last word in perfection." Now music fans can hear what the composer's music would have actually sounded like in his own salon.

1- Who found Chopin´s last piano?
a) Lady Trotter did.
b) Alec Cobbe did.
c) Camille Pleyel did.
d) Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger did
e) An detective did.

2- Mark the false alternative, according to the text.
a) Chopin´s last piano was found in England.
b) Chopin´s last piano was bought for 2,000 pounds by Alec Cobbe in 1987.
c) Chopin´s last piano was made by Camille Pleyel.
d) Chopin´s last piano is a piece of musical history.
e) Chopin´s last piano has blue bolts in it.

3- A synonymous expression for “It came as a bolt from the blue”.
a) It was a complete surprise!
b) It was such a success!
c) It was bad news
d) It was dirty!
e) It was completely out of place!

4- Which of the alternatives below is false, according to the text?
a) Professor Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger is Swiss.
b) Professor Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger works as a detective in Switzerland.
c) Professor Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger worked likea detective to find the piano.
d) Professor Jean-Jacques Eigeldingeris a musical scholar.
e) Professor Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger identified the piano buy its serial number.

5- Which statement is incorrect, according to the text?
a) Chopin was born in Poland.
b) Chopin´s last tour before dying was in Britain.
c) Chopin possessed only three pianos.
d) Chopin said Peyel pianos were perfect.
e) Chopin´s last piano works absolutely well.


Respostas
1-d
2- e
3- a
4-b
5- c