Arno Stocker

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Arnold Arno Stocker , b. Meffert, (born October 11, 1956 in Offenbach ) is a German piano tuner .

Life

According to his autobiography, Stocker was born four weeks prematurely and with a spastic disability due to lack of oxygen . He was almost blind and severely handicapped, grew up temporarily in a home for the disabled and suffered from anarthria . Through his childlike attempts to sing like Enrico Caruso , he learned to speak normally. A special school teacher gave him piano lessons. At the age of 18 he received an invitation from Maria Callas to attend her master classes in New York as a guest auditor .

Stocker began training as a piano maker at Grotrian-Steinweg , but the apprenticeship contract was canceled in 1973 by the Braunschweig Chamber of Commerce on the grounds that the occupational safety measures in an industrial company were incompatible with the employment of disabled people. This was followed by traineeships at various piano factories and music houses. On January 9, 1989, he founded the Piano-Forte Klavierhandelsgesellschaft mbH, based in Haar near Munich, which has now been removed from the register.

In the winter of 1991 Stocker (then Meffert) emigrated to the USA and left the company ready for bankruptcy. However, within a year and a half he paid off debts of 400,000 DM on his own . Regardless, on his return in 1994, he faced a bankruptcy complaint. In 1996 Stocker offered the music industry "digitally restored" versions of Enrico Caruso on audio cassette . According to an audio analysis by the Munich University of Music and Theater , Stocker only mixed in the voice of Plácido Domingo , who then announced that he would take legal action against this forgery. On August 26, 1996, together with Rudolf Klopsch, he applied for a patent for a process and a device for the restoration of historical sound recordings. However, the patent was never granted, there were citations (older literature sources from patent and non-patent specifications that already contained this method) and the fees were not paid, so the patent application was deemed withdrawn. In an interview with SWR1 in November 2011, Stocker gave more detailed information about his life and way of working.

Since 2005, he and his wife Karin Stocker have been running a business as the Enrico Caruso agency (registered as Karin Stocker Piano, Pianos ) and awarding piano restoration orders to the Polish company SAP Renovation in Kalisz. After his release from prison, he made no profit from the company and was financially supported by his wife's family. Any income was used to repay payment obligations. In 2009 he commissioned the Polish company Piano Europe zoo sp , a subsidiary of Wilhelm Schimmel Pianofortefabrik , with the custom-made production of a grand piano.

On October 4, 2010, Stocker's autobiography was published under the title The Piano Whisperer , which was published by Kailash Verlag ( Random House publishing group ). As a result, various television programs and documentaries, such as B. Lebenslinien in Bayerischer Rundfunk, Kölner Treff , Deutsche Welle and SWR2 thematize his résumé. In October 2016, the FFF Bayern provided funding of over € 60,000 for the filming of the autobiography.

literature

  • Arno Stocker: The piano whisperer - The true story of an improbable life autobiography, Kailash Verlag, Munich 2010, 317 pages, ISBN 978-3-424-63027-5

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Jörg Oberwittler: The Souls of Instruments - The Piano Restorer Arno Stocker. Deutschlandfunk Kultur, December 25, 2010, accessed on July 20, 2017 .
  2. ^ Piano-Forte piano trading company mbH. (No longer available online.) 360kompany GmbH, archived from the original on April 3, 2015 ; Retrieved July 19, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kompany.de
  3. ^ Rüdiger Köhn: Arno Stocker - Extremely relaxed. FAZ, October 20, 2011, accessed on July 19, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Gregor Dolak: Caruso sings again - with Domingo's voice. Focus, August 5, 1996, accessed July 21, 2017 .
  5. ^ Arnold Meffert, Rudolf Klopsch: Process and device for the restoration of historical sound recordings DE 19634490 A1. March 5, 1998. Retrieved July 21, 2017 .
  6. ^ German Patent and Trademark Office - Register information. Retrieved November 21, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Arno Stocker, piano restorer. (Audio; 18m 0s) (No longer available online.) In: SWR1 People Baden-Württemberg Podcast. November 8, 2011, archived from the original on December 1, 2017 ; Retrieved July 19, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.podcast.de
  8. ↑ Big sharks, small fish - two standards for white collar criminals? (PDF; 83 kB) SWR2, January 21, 2013, accessed on July 19, 2017 (interview).
  9. ↑ Karin Stocker Piano, pianos. Association of Creditreform Associations, accessed on July 19, 2017 .
  10. ^ Rüdiger Köhn: Arno Stocker - Extremely relaxed. FAZ, October 20, 2011, accessed on July 19, 2017 .
  11. ^ Piano Caruso - Press. Karin Stocker, 2009, accessed on July 19, 2017 (commercial website).
  12. ^ Cologne meeting place. ARD, February 21, 2010, accessed on July 20, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Project development for a movie - The Piano Whisperer. FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, accessed on July 19, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Stocker, Arno
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stocker, Arnold; Meffert, Arnold (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German piano tuner
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1956
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach