New grand piano for the former Chancellor

Along with chess and cigarettes, music is one of Schmidt enduring passions. Schmidt began playing the piano in his school days and in the 1980s, he is even involved in two professional recordings. In February 1987, the self-described amateur purchases a new piano from the traditional retailer based in the prestigious Colonnaden shopping street, near the Binnenalster lake. The then head of the piano department documents how a specialist courier moves the grand piano, which weighs over 250 kg and has a width of 1.5 metres, into Schmidt’s Langenhorn home. As he ages, Schmidt loses more and more of his hearing, something that he laments as a »tragedy« in an interview 18 months before his death.