Daegu and the legend of Korea's first piano

Daegu market in the early 20th century Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection

By Robert Neff

At the end of March 1900, the streets and markets of Daegu were awash with anticipation and wonder. People gossiped excitedly about the arrival of "the ghost-barrel" ― a wondrous box that emitted strange sounds. "The ghost-barrel" ― better known to Americans as a piano ― had been presented to missionaries Richard and Effie Sidebotham as a going-away gift by their friends and family.

The Sidebothams arrived in Korea in November 1899 and spent at least a couple of weeks in Seoul before being assigned to Daegu. Once they were settled in at their new home, they sent for their most-cherished items ― including the piano.

On March 26, the piano, "seasoned for ocean travel," was loaded aboard a river junk at Busan and sailed down the Nakdong River to the Samunjin ferry-landing at Daegu. It was then manhandled by a team of 31 Korean porters and carried to the missionaries' residence ― arriving there March 28.

An article appearing on the Presbyterian Historical Society's homepage suggests that the Korean residents of Daegu were initially not very fond of the piano and its strange noise (hence the name "ghost-barrel) but eventually the piano "became a part of the city's legend and culture."

In 2013, the Daegu Ilbo declared this piano to be the first in Korea. It attributed the discovery of this fact to Sohn Tae-ryong, president of the Korean Society for Music Literature, and supported by a letter that was donated by the Sidebotham family in 2009 to the Busan Museum.

It seems somewhat surprising that so many people have accepted this claim as a fact. I am not disputing that the piano arrived in Daegu from Busan in 1900 but I am dismissing the claim that it was the first piano in the country. It wasn't even the first piano in Busan!

Effie and Rev. Richard H. Sidebotham, 1899 Presbyterian Historical Society (Pearl ID: 146319)

In the spring of 1884, 34-year-old Edward H. Parker was assigned to Busan as the British vice consul. At this time, the foreign community in Busan consisted mainly of Japanese merchants and a handful of Westerners employed with the Imperial Korean Customs. Parker's addition to the small community was greatly appreciated as he was very well-educated (he studied Chinese 1869-71), well-traveled (visiting Mongolia as well as various ports throughout Asia) and musically inclined.

In a letter to her family in the United States, Jenny Lovatt (wife of Busan Customs Commissioner William Lovatt) wrote in May 1884:

"Mr. Parker has brought a piano with him, the first one to come to Fusan [Busan]. Mr. Parker will be a great deal of company for Papa [her husband] as he knows all about Chinese affairs and they find so much to talk about and he is fond of ... playing lawn tennis. Mr. Parker is a very fine Chinese scholar. And can write a reply to a Chinese letter, he quite astounded the Coreans here by reading all the Chinese inscriptions he came across when he was in the ... city. And then writing a certain Chinese to thank the ... magistrate for a present he sent him."

For nearly a year he entertained his friends and visitors with his fine piano playing, but in late May 1885 he was transferred to Seoul. Jenny lamented his departure as he had such "a nice piano" and provided the only piano music she had heard during her stay in Korea.

We can assume Parker took his piano to Seoul with him but ― judging from the events that happened over the next year ― probably didn't have much time to play it. Parker's stay in Seoul was definitely interesting and will be the subject of another article in the near future.

In the 1890s, there were at least a couple of pianos in Seoul ― and not just in the homes of missionaries.

In September 1894, a concert was given at the Seoul Union by three members of the American Legation guard. According to one of the guests, "The music was played on the verandah and the soldiers sat outside, it being a lovely night and some good singing [playing] was done by some of the musical officers on the piano, guitar and banjo." In addition to the military concert, the wife of a Russian architect entertained with her own singing. A large dinner was served in the library room and "altogether it was a great success."

Apparently U.S. Ambassador to Korea John Sill also had a piano when he arrived in 1894. In his letters home, he didn't write much about his piano but instead wrote about its shipping crate which he converted into a flowerbed for his indoor plants. He strung wires for his vine plants and christened it "The Hanging Garden of Babylon."

Adding further proof to the existence of a large number of pianos in Korea prior to 1900, Mr. R. D. Mackie, a representative of the Robinson Piano Co., (with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore) arrived in Seoul on July 10, 1898, and spent a week "repairing and tuning pianos and organs."

Later that year, when Ferdinand Krien (the German representative to Korea) left Seoul, he sold most of his household goods including "a fine English Piano (manufactured by Collard & Collard, London), a fine high grade bicycle almost new, and a lot of English saddles and bridles in excellent condition."

There is also a good chance that the Korean palace also possessed a piano prior to Sidebotham's "first piano in Korea."

According to the November 1901 edition of the Korea Review (an English-language magazine published in Seoul):

"About two o'clock on the morning of the 16th inst. one of the outhouses in the rear of the Imperial Library, just to the west of the U. S. Legation, caught fire from some cause unknown. If there had been any help at hand the fire could easily have been prevented from spreading to the main building but the place seemed to be deserted and the lack of a half dozen buckets of water lost the Government a very valuable building. There were many valuable books in the Library and they were all destroyed together with the furniture, which included a piano."

So where did this "first piano in Korea" legend originate? I suspect it was merely an exaggeration in a letter from the Sidebothams to their friends and family back in the United States. I guess we would have to see the letters donated to the museum to verify my suspicions.

While Effie may have entertained the residents of Daegu with her music, her husband Richard entertained the foreign community in Seoul for another reason ― which we will examine in our next article.

A picture of the piano being transported by Korean porters be seen on page 14 of Yejin Cho's Master of Arts thesis:

"The Development of Western Classical Piano Culture in Postwar Asia."

The Presbyterian Historical Society's article about "the ghost-barrel"

Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.