Eduard Seuffert

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Eduard Seuffert (born June 26, 1819 in Vienna ; † September 6, 1855 there ) was an Austrian piano maker .

Life

Eduard Seuffert is the son of Martin Seuffert (1772–1847), who is considered a co-inventor of the giraffe piano and who opened his own workshop in Vienna in 1811. Eduard became a partner in 1845 and, after the death of his father in 1847, sole owner of the business. Since then he has signed his instruments first with “Seuffert Sohn” and later with “Eduard Seuffert”.

Company signature of Eduard Seuffert around 1850

At the London World's Fair in 1851, Eduard Seuffert represented Austrian piano making as one of five exhibitors and presented an upright piano with a transposition device, which Joseph Fischhof honored with the highest praise in his “Attempt at a History of Piano Making”: “Seuffert has a beautifully decorated one Pianino on display, three-stringed, with excellent mechanics ... “ In Fischhof's list of currently outstanding piano makers in Austria, Seuffert ranks alongside the companies Streicher , Bösendorfer and Schweighofer .

When Eduard Seuffert died in Vienna on September 6, 1855, the Niederrheinische Musik-Zeitung published a necrology for art lovers and artists:

“[...] Once again you have buried an excellent man! Eduard Seuffert, fortepiano manufacturer in Vienna, is on September 6th. J. in full manhood, 38 years old, died after a short illness. Through untiring diligence and zeal, SeufTert had risen to become one of the first industrialists in the residence and knew how to bring his business to a rare level of perfection, so that he had to be put on an equal footing with the famous companies in this branch of business, Bösendorfer and Streicher. The excellence of his instruments, recognized and honored in the past year in the Munich industrial exhibition by awarding the first prize medal, has proven itself most brilliantly, and the good reputation of his company was not only in all directions in Germany, but as far as America and secured numerous orders for him. His factory, run by himself, is well organized and magnificently laid out. The expansion which his business has recently received determined him to undertake an expansion of it; only relentless death destroyed his plans, and it must now be reserved for others to bring his beautiful enterprise to an end. His wife and four underage children mourn at his coffin. Everyone who knew Eduard Seuffert mourned in him a brave, noble man, whose zeal and diligence, striving for perfection was tireless, and who supported the poor artist by all means at his disposal. The most general sympathy was expressed in his on 9th d. Mts. Instead of solemn funerals , and this may be a little relief from their pain for the desolate bereaved. (NWM – Z.) "

Eduard Seuffert's widow Rosa initially continued the business herself until she married the previous managing director Friedrich Ehrbar in 1857 , who after a transition period continued to run the company under his own name and made it one of the most important Austrian piano manufacturers. The Friedrich Ehrbar company existed until the 1980s.

literature

  • Harding, Rosamond EM: The Piano-Forte. Its History traced to the Great Exhibition of 1851. London: Heckscher 1933. Completely revised edition 1978. Reprinted 1989, pp. 205, 242.
  • Fischhof, Joseph: Attempt of a history of piano building. With special regard to the London Great Industrial Exhibition in 1851, along with statistical references to it, sc. Vienna 1853. Reprint, Frankfurt 1998
  • Niederrheinische Musik-Zeitung for art lovers and artists, 3rd volume, No. 39, edition from September 29, 1855
  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Seuffert, Eduard . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 34th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1877, p. 163 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Catalog of the collection of old musical instruments, Part I: String pianos, Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum 1966
  • Cizek, Verena: The history of the Seuffert and Ehrbar company, along with the history of the piano as a detailed introduction. Unpublished thesis, Vienna 1989.
  • Hopfner, Rudolf: Wiener Musikinstrumentenmacher 1766–1900, 1999, p. 457
  • R. Hopfner:  Seuffert (Seifert, Seiffert) Eduard. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 12, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2001-2005, ISBN 3-7001-3580-7 , pp. 199 f. (Direct links on p. 199 , p. 200 ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Seuffert, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian piano maker
DATE OF BIRTH June 26, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH September 6, 1855
Place of death Vienna