North Stonington — A small crowd of about 45 people sat in near silence for more than an hour Sunday as Aymeric Dupré la Tour played the first public performance of the historical society's newly-restored A. H. Gale 1857 Square Grand Piano.

The selection of compositions was titled "Romantic Sounds Revived," and included pieces from composers like Schubert, Chopin, Liszt and lesser known composers like William Mason.

The piano was not predestined for survival into the 21st century. Bought by Major Dudley Wheeler for his daughter in the mid-19th century, the piano arrived by ship in Stonington Harbor and was taken by horse-drawn freight to Wheeler's home in North Stonington. However, it soon languished in disrepair in the possession of the historical society when it purchased the Stephen Main Homestead on Wyassup Road.

"It sat around for years, covered, as a table to serve food off of," Historical Society President

Frank Eppinger said.

The keys needed work, as well as the mechanism that connects the keys with the hammer, and prior "faulty repairs" needed to be removed, according to Eppinger. The historical society raised $4,000 by allowing donors to sponsor "keys" of the piano, and their names were displayed on a display behind the piano.

In the meantime, the society approached Dupré la Tour, an artist-in-residence at Zuckermann Harpsichords as well as the Director of Music at First Church Congregational in Fairfield. He has performed at Carnegie Hall and holds a particular interest in historical instruments, and the historical society wanted him to inaugurate the piano.

Dupré la Tour, who studies historical performances, said he thought the restored piano could lend itself to interesting interpretations of music that would have been composed and performed on similar instruments. He was also interested in performing in the parlor. 

"I said yes but I want it to be a professional series ... I have always looked around for a place to play. I've always wanted to make a parlor series," Dupré la Tour said.

The society appointed him artistic director last year as he began preparing the pieces and John Gallen, a piano technician, tried to maintain as much of the original material as possible during the months-long restoration.

They tested out the piano last month and found it made some very distinct sounds from the deerskin-wrapped hammers and the square construction, among other things.

The bass notes are not strong, but have a darkness to them "like far-away thunder," Dupré la Tour said, while the higher notes have a "sparkliness." He said the instrument lent itself to performances of Beethoven and Liszt, and the physical limits and sound of a period piano can often clarify something that may seem strange in the music.

"William Mason had these fortissimos in his notes and I thought 'he's crazy,' but on a piano like that you have to pound the notes that hard to get a sound in the range, so the piano was explaining the notation on the page that I couldn't understand ... they were pushing these instruments," he said.

The energetic performance that Dupré la Tour gave – leaping out of his chair on the last note – highlighted the new energy that the historical society hopes to bring to the space.

"This is a whole new direction ... it's a program to bring a different audience and to use an asset we've always had, but never utilized," Eppinger said.

Future performances including Valentine's Day and April 10 at 4 p.m.

n.lynch@theday.com

@_nathanlynch