Ernst Ihse

Ernst Ihse ( Estonian Ernst Hiis ), (born April 16, 1872 in Luunja ; † October 29, 1964 in Tallinn ) was a German - Baltic piano maker . He headed the oldest Russian piano manufacturing company, RADiederichs, until it collapsed in 1918. However, he continued his activity as a piano maker over the period of Estonian independence until the Soviet era . In 1922 he founded a forerunner of today's Estonia piano factory , "Astron AG" in Dorpat, and from 1950 until his death headed the nationalized Estonia piano factory in Tallinn.

Life

Alongside Diederich, Mühlbach and JD Becker, Ernst Ihse joins the ranks of German-Baltic and Estonian piano makers of the 19th century who opened their workshops and factories in the Saint Petersburg regional center. Ihse had previously learned piano making with Robert Rathke in Tartu and was inspired by Steinway and Blüthner while traveling in Germany . From 1893 he built his first own pianos and moved to Saint Petersburg in 1903 to set up his own company called EA Ihse. From 1907 he also took on orders from the Zimmermann piano manufacturer. His pianos bore his name, after the outbreak of war in 1914 the estonized name Hiis.

On July 1, 1915, Hiis sold the machines in his factory to the larger and oldest Russian piano factory in St. Petersburg, that of the RA Diederichs brothers, and became the technical director of this company, where he remained until 1918. At the end of 1918, Hiis returned to Tartu, Estonia. Estonia has now declared itself independent, with Tartu playing an important role in Estonian nation-state ambitions. Between 1919 and 1922 he worked in the Moor piano factory in Tartu. In 1923, Hiis visited Paris and became familiar with the pianos made by Érard , the oldest piano factory in France.

In 1923 Hiis co-founded the Estonian piano factory Astron, where he acted as technical director. In 1927 he reopened his own workshop to build pianos and baby grand pianos. At that time the Astron piano factory moved to the greater Tallinn area. Even during the Second World War and the Stalinist post-war period, Ihse was able to repair and build pianos in Tartu relatively unhindered, despite his German roots. Stalin's wish to have a piano from Hiis sent to Moscow as a birthday present in 1950 laid the foundation for the planned economy of an Estonian piano production. The white Hiis grand piano has stood in the "Georgian Hall" in the Moscow Kremlin since 1960. Because the gift was well received, it is said that Stalin came up with the name Estonia-Pianos. According to Stalin's decree, a former furniture factory in Tallinn near Kalamaja Park is said to have been restructured into the Estonia piano factory. The factory was an amalgamation of several small piano manufacturing workshops from Estonia, some of which were already active in the second half of the 19th century. Ernst Hiis took over the technical management of production again at the age of 78.

One of the instruments produced by Ernst Hiis in 1958 received a silver medal at the world exhibition in Brussels. Until his death in 1964 he was still active in the profession and was able to pass on his experiences.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.ioc.ee/~stulov/klaver1.pdf
2. ↑ Helen Arusoo: Moskva andis käsu klavereid toota (Õhtuleht, January 8, 2001, Estonian, accessed November 17, 2015)