Edwin Welte

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Edwin Emil Welte (born March 28, 1876 in Freiburg im Breisgau ; † January 4, 1958 there ) was a partner and long-time managing director of the manufacturer of mechanical musical works M. Welte & Sons and co-inventor of the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano . From 1925 to 1936 he developed the optical sound organ until it was ready for series production, one of the first electronic organs .

Life

Weltes grave in the main cemetery in Freiburg im Breisgau

Edwin Welte was the son of Berthold Welte and the grandson of the famous music box maker Michael Welte . He attended the Grand Ducal Realschule in Freiburg, where he graduated from high school.

In 1897 he married the three years older Betty Dreyfuss (1873 Freiburg - 1955 Jefferson County (Kentucky) / Louisville (Kentucky) ), the daughter of Samuel Dreyfuss and his wife Fanny geb. Goldschmidt. Their brother Bernhard became a celebrity in baseball in the USA as Barney Dreyfuss - as he called himself in the USA . The connection with the Dreyfuss family was probably not entirely unimportant in the later marketing of the Welte Mignon instruments in the USA.

In 1900 he and his brother-in-law Karl Bockisch became a partner in the company, which was now a GmbH; In 1904, together with Karl Bockisch, he registered the process for the production of the reproduction pianos as the German Reich patent 162,708. This was patented under the title " Device on mechanical keyboard instruments for gradation of the keystroke ". Numerous patents worldwide followed. In the USA, however, one had to go through many years of legal proceedings because the patent was being challenged there. It was not until 1911 that the patent in the USA became final and also granted. This patent was the basis for the very successful reproduction system for pianos Welte-Mignon ; the first instruments were launched in 1905.

With this system it was possible to reproduce a pianist's playing, including the touch dynamics, as true to the original as possible. This technical marvel was a sensation then as it is today and allows an authentic reproduction of the recordings with the few well-preserved instruments.

In 1912 a stock company was founded in the USA, " M. Welte & Sons ", Inc. in New York City and a factory was built in Poughkeepsie , NY. The US subsidiary was lost in World War I. In 1931 the company ran into economic difficulties due to the introduction of new technologies such as record players, radio and sound film , and sales of the expensive instruments had come to a complete standstill. The bankruptcy could only be averted through a court settlement . Edwin Welte resigned as partner and managing director. Karl Bockisch ran the company together with his son Karl Bockisch jr. (1899–1945) continued alone.

Since 1925, Edwin Welte had largely devoted himself to the development of the optical sound organ, which he brought to series production. This was an electronic organ controlled by rotating clay discs in front of a photocell. In 1936 this was presented in the Berlin Philharmonic . But the fact that he was married to a Jewish woman caused the project to fail as the Nazis deemed him politically unreliable. All attempts to make the project a success after all failed because of the negative assessment of the National Socialists.

When the almost 70-year-old tried again after the war to revive the project, the development of other electronic organs, such as the Hammond organ , had progressed so far that he had no chance in the meantime.

Honors

literature

  • Automatic musical instruments from Freiburg into the world - 100 years of Welte-Mignon : Augustinermuseum, exhibition from September 17, 2005 to January 8, 2006 / [publisher: Augustinermuseum]. With contributions from Durward R. Center, Gerhard Dangel, ... [Red .: Gerhard Dangel]. Freiburg: Augustinermuseum, 2005.
  • Michael Gerhard Kaufmann : Organ and National Socialism . Kleinblittersdorf 1997. ISBN 3-920670-36-1 .
  • Peter Donhauser: Electric sound machines: The pioneering days in Germany and Austria . Vienna: Böhlau Vienna, 2007. ISBN 3-205-77593-7
  • Gerhard Dangel and Hans-W. Schmitz: Welte-Mignon piano rolls: complete catalog of the European recordings 1904 - 1932 for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano / Welte-Mignon piano rolls: complete library of the European recordings 1904 - 1932 for the Welte-Mignon reproducing piano . Stuttgart 2006. ISBN 3-00-017110-X .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Welte, Edwin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Welte, Edwin Emil (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH March 28, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Freiburg in Breisgau
DATE OF DEATH 4th January 1958
Place of death Freiburg in Breisgau