Carl Bechstein
Carl Bechstein (born June 1, 1826 in Gotha ; † March 6, 1900 in Berlin ) was a German piano maker who founded the C. Bechstein piano factory in Berlin in 1853 .
Life
Carl Bechstein was the stepson of the teacher, cantor and plant breeder Johann Michael Aghte (1784–1861), was born in Siebleber Straße 8 in Gotha and spent his youth in Witternschen Hof in Neudietendorf (today: Drei-Gleichen-Straße 34). In 1840, at the age of 14, Bechstein was apprenticed to the piano maker Johann Gleitz in Erfurt . After completing his training, he worked for various piano makers, including in Dresden . In 1846 or 1848 (the year is not exactly known) he moved to Berlin . There he worked for the piano maker Gottfried Perau, who quickly promoted him to workshop manager. In the second half of 1849 Bechstein first went to London and later to Paris , where he perfected his training. One of his teachers, Jean Georges Kriegelstein from Alsace , a successful entrepreneur, taught him the basics of corporate policy and business practice.
In 1852 Bechstein went back to Perau in Berlin as managing director. Only one year later, on October 1st, 1853, he founded his own workshop on the first floor of a building that Perau served as a warehouse. The first two instruments, which Bechstein built himself without support, were created within nine months. In the first six years he delivered 176 pianos and grand pianos .
Bechstein married Louise Döring from Strausberg in 1856 . With her he had three sons, Edwin , Carl and Johannes. At that time he had already met one of his most important customers: the pianist Hans von Bülow . He soon had more in common with this than business. Bülow had repeatedly complained - also to his former teacher Franz Liszt - about the quality of the grand pianos built at the time. It was not uncommon for conventional instruments to be unable to cope with the demands of romantic piano music and the associated touch culture of pianists like Bülow or Liszt. The material tired too quickly or literally broke up. Bechstein built a concert grand piano, which Bülow presented to the public on January 22nd, 1857 with Franz Liszt's piano sonata in B minor . The performance was a sensation; The instrument was quickly sold.
By the end of 1860, Bechstein had built 300 grand pianos. After Perau's death in 1861, which also meant the end of the Perau piano manufacture, the company expanded. In 1862 Carl Bechstein was honored with the silver medal at the London industrial exhibition. As a gift to Richard Wagner , King Ludwig II of Bavaria ordered a composition piano from Carl Bechstein, which Wagner was very pleased with. From 1870 the production of the piano factory increased to about 500 instruments per year. In the following years, Bechstein opened two more piano factories and in 1885 a foreign branch in London. In 1892 a concert hall, the Bechstein Hall , was opened in honor of Bechstein , framed by a three-day music celebration. The climax of his life's work was reached when Carl Bechstein received the gold medal at the Great Berlin Trade Fair in 1896 .
Death and grave
Carl Bechstein died on March 6, 1900, almost three months after the death of his wife, at the age of 73 in Berlin. Both were buried in the local cemetery II of the Sophiengemeinde on Bergstrasse (field IX-1-1 / 5).
The architect Georg Roensch designed an impressive grave complex made of green Fichtelgebirge - syenite with a semi-oval grave wall, which is closed on both sides by pillars and whose central niche is flanked by two benches that can be reached via steps for an area of 40 square meters . In front of it a false sarcophagus covers the vaulted crypt. The pillars carry bronze relief medallions with the portraits of Carl and Louise Bechstein, whose heads appearing in profile are facing each other. The niche houses the sculpture of a grieving muse holding a palm frond and a wreath in her hands. A harp to the right of the seated figure, whose eyes are made of dark glass, has been lost. Max Koch designed sculptures and portrait reliefs; they were manufactured in the Hermann Noack foundry in Berlin . The grave grid surrounding the facility is a work of the Eduard Puls company. A climbing frame for roses behind the grave complex is to create a screen opposite the grave chapels on the back.
The completion of an extensive restoration of the grave complex was marked in September 2015 with a solemn ceremony in the cemetery. During the work, the crypt threatened with collapse was secured from the foundations. Most of the funds for the restoration came from the Foundation for Historic Churchyards and Cemeteries in Berlin-Brandenburg and the German Foundation for Monument Protection .
By resolution of the Berlin Senate , the last resting place of Carl Bechstein has been dedicated to the State of Berlin as an honor grave since 1995 . The dedication was extended in 2018 by the usual period of twenty years.
Honors
- Carl Bechstein became an honorary citizen of Erkner in 1893 , where he built a villa and contributed financially to the construction of the church. In 1937 the community took over the house, which has been used as the town hall since then.
- After Bechstein's death, the Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Berlin (KPM) produced mocha cups with his portrait.
- In 1999, the Heinrich-Heine-Schule in Erkner was renamed the Carl-Bechstein-Gymnasium .
- On January 24th, 2000 an asteroid was named after him: (10856) Bechstein .
- The International Carl Bechstein Piano Competition , which has been held since 2006, is named after him.
- The Carl Bechstein Foundation, established in 2012, is named after him.
literature
- C.-Bechstein-Pianofortefabrik Aktiengesellschaft and Berenice Küpper (Ed.): Piano Worlds. Fascination with an instrument. Nicolai-Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-87584-963-9 (English parallel edition: The World of Pianos. Fascination with an Instrument. Ibid 2005, ISBN 3-87584-993-0 ).
- Hagen W. Lippe-Weißenfeld: The piano as a means of socio-political distinction. Cultural sociological case study on the development of the piano manufacturing industry in England and Germany using the examples of Broadwood and Bechstein. Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-56268-0 ( contributions to European music history 11; also: Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 2006).
- Werner Bollert: Bechstein, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 693 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Gunna Wendt: The Bechsteins . Construction Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-351-03613-3
Web links
literature
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 118.
- ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende : Lexicon of Berlin burial places . S. 118. Juliane Bluhm: Carl Bechstein * June 1, 1826 in Gotha; † March 6, 1900 in Berlin . Description of the tomb on stiftung-historische-friedhoefe.de; accessed on March 16, 2019.
- ↑ Bechstein tomb in Berlin-Mitte has been restored . denkmalschutz.de, September 16, 2015; accessed on March 16, 2019.
- ↑ Bechstein scholarship holder plays at a restored Bechstein grave site . carl-bechstein-stiftung.de, September 16, 2015; accessed on March 16, 2019.
- ↑ Honorary graves of the State of Berlin (as of November 2018) . (PDF, 413 kB) Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection, p. 4; accessed on March 16, 2019. Recognition and further preservation of graves as honor graves of the State of Berlin . (PDF, 369 kB). Berlin House of Representatives, printed matter 18/1489 of November 21, 2018, p. 1 and Annex 2, p. 1; accessed on March 16, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Bechstein, Carl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German piano maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 1, 1826 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gotha |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 6, 1900 |
| Place of death | Berlin |