Nestled in the parlor’s corner, the mahogany piano stood silent for years. Its lid often closed, hiding dull strings and moth-eaten felt. Any attempt to press a yellowed key produced a haunting, sour note.
Despite its silence, the arrangement of chairs around it invited visions of its vibrant past. This piano was once a central piece in William Faulkner’s Oxford, Mississippi home. His wife, Estelle, played it frequently, a habit she’d maintained since her teenage years. Family tales even recount how Faulkner once used a few bars of a Chopin waltz on the piano to playfully conjure the ghost of a jilted bride, spooking his family after telling her story.
Now, nearly a century later, this very piano is central to revitalizing interest in the Faulkner family and their historic home, Rowan Oak, now a part of the University of Mississippi’s museum system. Following a summer refurbishment, its rich, in-tune melodies filled the parlor once more during a concert celebrating Faulkner’s birthday. Curators at Rowan Oak envision this as the start of many vibrant musical evenings.
A video captures the piano before its transformation, showing how it produced a sound with a ‘yellow film over it,’ according to pianist Bruce Levingston, who led the restoration effort.
This quarter grand piano, a Chickering & Sons creation from Boston in 1916, was originally a teenage gift from Estelle Oldham’s parents.
Estelle Oldham and a young Billy Falkner (who would later add the ‘u’ to his surname) were childhood sweethearts. However, Estelle’s family viewed Billy as an eccentric high school dropout with limited prospects. They were far more pleased when she received a marriage proposal from Cornell Franklin, a University of Mississippi graduate working in the then-territory of Hawaii.
The piano embarked on quite a journey, first to Hawaii after Estelle’s marriage, then to Shanghai when the couple relocated. However, years later, Estelle and her two young children returned to Oxford, and her marriage ended in divorce.
An accompanying image shows William Faulkner at Rowan Oak in 1950, pipe in hand, a testament to his status as one of the South’s most revered authors.
In 1929, Estelle married her former sweetheart, now the established author William Faulkner, and the piano was shipped back to Mississippi. When Faulkner earned enough from his novels to purchase a dilapidated antebellum mansion in Oxford, the beloved instrument found its place in the parlor.
Their marriage was tempestuous, marked by shared struggles with alcoholism, Faulkner’s frequent infidelities, and eccentricities that often clashed with Oxford’s social norms. Yet, Estelle remained dedicated to her piano, while William often roamed the house with his portable typewriter, once famously even scribbling a narrative timeline directly onto an office wall.
“Estelle ensured the piano remained a vital part of their lives,” remarked Larry Wells, who married Faulkner’s niece, Dean. “I believe it carries a unique significance all its own.”
A video clip demonstrates the delicate operation of moving the grand piano. The painstaking process was strategically scheduled for a Monday, the only day Rowan Oak is closed to the public.
After William’s passing in 1962, Estelle initially stayed at Rowan Oak, famously installing a forbidden air conditioning unit the very next day. When she eventually moved to Virginia, the piano remained in the historic home.
Rowan Oak was subsequently rented and then sold to the University of Mississippi. Faulkner’s surviving family ensured that the home retained its authentic, lived-in character, and the piano remained as a cherished fixture.
Nestled in the woods on the edge of the university campus, with Eastern red cedar trees framing its entrance, Rowan Oak welcomes approximately 15,000 visitors annually. This number is a mere fraction of those attending a single Ole Miss football game. The majority of guests are dedicated Faulkner enthusiasts from across the globe or tourists exploring Oxford.
An image highlights Estelle Faulkner’s impressive collection of sheet music, featuring works by renowned composers such as Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, and Liszt, reflecting her deep musical passion.
With an admission fee of just $5 (cash only), Rowan Oak is managed by only two full-time employees: Bill Griffith, the long-standing curator, and Rachel Hudson, the assistant curator.
While integrated into the university’s museum system, funding the home’s internal upkeep, maintaining its 33 acres, developing new exhibits, restoring the grounds, or hiring additional staff has been a continuous struggle.
Another image depicts the meticulous effort required to maneuver the piano out of the compact parlor and onto a waiting truck, emphasizing the careful handling needed.
The curators, fiercely protective of Faulkner’s legacy, are also keen to ensure his work remains engaging for younger audiences. Hudson admits his prose can be ‘a little taxing on the eyes and the brain,’ often encountering perplexed visitors asking, ‘How the hell do I read this?’ She suggests reading him alongside Toni Morrison or, perhaps, aloud to grasp his unique rhythm.
It was only recently that the curators could consider restoring some of the family’s aging possessions. These items, on loan from the Faulkner family, were finally acquired by the university in 2019 thanks to a significant donation.
Pianist Bruce Levingston recalls being drawn to the old piano during his first childhood visit to Rowan Oak. Decades later, as a celebrated concert pianist, he finally had the opportunity to play it.
“It felt magical,” he recounted, describing the profound sensation of ‘so many layers of history overlapping and touching.’
However, it was immediately apparent the piano needed extensive work, explained Levingston, who also serves as an artist-in-residence at the University of Mississippi.
The keys clacked unnaturally, and the sound felt as if ‘there’s a yellow film over it,’ he described.
A photograph shows Bruce Levingston, left, who initiated the fundraising for the restoration, with Brandon Lewis, right, the technician entrusted with the piano’s repair.
Upon inquiring with Griffith, Levingston discovered there was no dedicated funding for artifact restoration. This prompted him not only to consider a personal donation but also to identify other items in the home in need of similar care.
“The irony is we desire them in their original state,” he mused about the furnishings. “Yet, to maintain that original state, modern preservation techniques are essential.”
Leveraging his extensive global network from years as a performer, Levingston began fundraising.
A video highlights Lewis’s meticulous work, revealing that he transitioned from a trumpet player to a full-time piano restorer, dedicating his days to bringing instruments back to life.
For the piano’s restoration, Levingston enlisted Brandon Lewis, a trusted technician he had worked with before.
In April, under clear skies, the piano was gently maneuvered onto its side and carefully transported to Lewis’s home in Pope, Mississippi. This summer, Lewis’s studio, built in his grandparents’ former home, saw the instrument disassembled into many pieces.
“Each piano has its own personality, in both tone and appearance,” Lewis explained. He believes that to repair one, “You kind of get to know it first. And then it kind of dictates to you what it wants done to it.”
While the piano’s spruce soundboard, its ‘heart’ responsible for vibrations, was fortunately in good condition, other components required significant attention. It needed a new pinblock to maintain string tension, its damper felt was either consumed by moths or hardened like stone, a piece of ivory on the middle C key had to be reattached, and the wood desperately needed refinishing.
An image provides a close-up of the piano’s internal mechanisms, revealing how its wood and metal parts were heavily encrusted with layers of age, smoke stains, and dust, despite the soundboard’s integrity.
“She’s a good old girl,” Lewis remarked fondly, scrubbing at the piano’s smoke-stained ivory keys, as a chicken casually wandered past his studio outside.
Lewis emphasized the delicate balance of making the instrument playable again without erasing its storied past, quipping, “A 100-year-old person isn’t going to have the beautiful teeth.”
On what would have been Faulkner’s 128th birthday, the piano returned to Rowan Oak. Its keys now gleam, and its lid stands open, revealing shining copper-colored strings.
An image captures the wonder on the faces of curators and guests marveling at the beautifully restored piano.
During the birthday concert, Levingston performed the very Chopin waltz Faulkner used to punctuate his ghost story, alongside other selections from the family’s cherished sheet music collection, featuring composers like Mozart and Debussy.
The guest list, comprising donors, university staff, and Mississippi’s elite, quickly outgrew the home’s capacity, which is strictly limited to 40 people. Consequently, Levingston performed most of the concert outside on another piano. Later, he moved inside to play the newly restored Faulkner piano, as guests slowly meandered through the historic rooms.
The rich melodies drifted softly through the screened door, enchanting those nearby.
A young woman, a recent transplant to Mississippi, paused at the edge of the woods, captivated by the music, vowing to return. Several guests sheepishly admitted it had been years, or even never, since they had visited the house. Even a few students briefly stepped inside, drawn by the beautiful sound of the refurbished instrument.
The evening also marked the establishment of a new endowment fund for object restoration, named in Levingston’s honor. In just the past year, it has accumulated over $150,000 in donations, with more pledges anticipated.
The final video showcases the piano in its rejuvenated state, with Levingston masterfully playing a Chopin piece, demonstrating its full, rich sound once more.
The curators are understandably thrilled, eager to showcase the piano’s gleaming strings and the proud logo within.
“I simply can’t believe it,” Griffith exclaimed, marveling at the piano’s incredible transformation. “It’s truly remarkable.”
Standing in the parlor recently, he surveyed the room with a thoughtful gaze. Perhaps the Japanese nesting tables would be the next items to receive a much-needed restoration.