Franz Mohr (concert technician)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franz Mohr on September 12, 2012 in Düren

Franz Mohr (born September 17, 1927 in Nörvenich ) is a German-American piano technician and author. His books and lectures about the collaboration as the chief piano technician of the Steinway & Sons company with great pianists such as Vladimir Horowitz , Artur Rubinstein , Emil Gilels , Sviatoslav Richter , Rudolf Serkin , Claudio Arrau , Glenn Gould , Maurizio Pollini and others made him known to a wider public .

Childhood and youth

Franz Mohr was born in Nörvenich as the son of the postman Jakob Mohr and his wife Christina Stork. Since his father got a job at the post office in Düren, the family moved to Düren very early and lived there in Eintrachtstrasse 47, today Sachsenstrasse . It was there that Mohr experienced the heavy air raid on November 16, 1944 . At this point he had just got a few days off with the Reich Labor Service (RAD). At that time Mohr was deployed to fortification work in the northern Eifel and housed in the school in Boich . He grew up in Düren and attended the southern school there. He later studied at the Cologne University of Music and also for seven semesters violin and viola at the Detmold University of Music . Because of recurring tendinitis he had to finish his studies. He came to the Ibach company in Schwelm through an advertisement in the trade journal Neue Musikzeitung . There he began an apprenticeship as a piano maker .

Concert technician

After only 1½ years, instead of the normal three years, Mohr passed his examination as a master of concert technology at the Aachen Chamber of Commerce . He then worked for a concert company in Düsseldorf. In 1956 he switched to the Steinway branch in Düsseldorf as a concert technician .

1962 emigrated Mohr with his family to New York . There he found a job with the piano maker Steinway & Sons ; he assisted the chief concert technician Bill Hupfer and was his successor in 1968 after his retirement. Mohr thus became master of the famous concert grand piano bench in the basement of New York's Steinway Hall .

For almost 30 years Mohr accompanied pianists to their performances all over the world and prepared the Steinway grand pianos, e.g. B. Arthur Rubinstein , Rudolf Serkin , Vladimir Horowitz (from 1962 to 1989) or Glenn Gould . Vladimir Horowitz, himself a resident of New York like Franz Mohr, is said to have only allowed Franz Mohr to use his grand piano in his late decades. Since Horowitz insisted on cash in advance at concerts immediately before the start of the concert, it was also Franz Mohr's job to take care of the suitcase with cash during the concert.

The work of the concert technician, especially for demanding pianists like Gould and Horowitz, who, according to Mohr, also did not understand the functioning of the piano mechanics , was not easy, as both insisted on regulating the grand piano mechanics that was far from the factory specifications and the variety of the respective Flügel so changed that it corresponded to the individual preferences of the two pianists. Both required a low playing weight (46 grams), a high weight and especially Horowitz a very fast repetition , which was achieved by means of an extremely tensioned repeater spring . Gould even forced his technicians to tolerate a mistake, the famous "hiccup", a drumming of the wing hammers at a certain force, which is normally avoided by means of a correct setting of the catcher and the so-called emphasis. Mohr was also one of the main sufferers of the twenty-year crisis at Steinway New York over the Teflon bushings in the machine heads: they were introduced in 1962, but then caused problems in the spring and autumn. The repetitions and hammer handle bearings often made noise . This noise development is very annoying, especially in pianissimo passages. The anger of the concert pianists partly ended up with Franz Mohr.

Retirement, personal

In 1992 Mohr retired. His work as chief concert technician will be continued by Ronald Coner, who previously worked as Mohr's assistant. Mohr still works for the pianists Maurizio Pollini and András Schiff today . He is still a consultant and appraiser for Steinway & Sons.

Franz Mohr has owned a small Steinway M-170 grand piano for decades, which he once acquired in a defective condition and restored it himself.

Franz Mohr is a devout Baptist . He lives with his wife Elisabeth in Brooklyn, New York . The marriage resulted in the daughter Ellen and the sons Peter and Michael, both of whom also work for Steinway & Sons. His son Michael is now in charge of instrument making in the Rikers factory near LaGuardia airport, installing the sound system in the "piece of furniture" delivered, setting and regulating everything - the most important department of the factory.

Franz Mohr gives widely acclaimed lectures about his work for the great pianists and gives technical seminars. In this capacity he works for Steinway & Sons. He gives his lectures in Europe in close cooperation with the international musicians' organization Crescendo.

Fonts

  • with Edith Schaeffer: My Life with the Great Pianists. Baker Book House, 1996, ISBN 0-8010-5710-8 .
  • with Beat Rink: great maestros, experienced backstage. Brunnen, Basel 2003, ISBN 3-7655-1329-6 .
  • with Beat Rink: I am surrounded by a great sound. Brunnen, Basel 2008, ISBN 978-3-7655-1988-8 (interviews with 20 personalities from the music world).
  • with Beat Rink: My life with the great pianists. Interview audio book (4CDs). Brunnen, Basel 2010, ISBN 978-3-7655-8750-4 .
  • with Beat Rink: My Life with the Most Famous Pianists. Interview audiobook (4 CDs). Brunnen, Basel 2010, ISBN 978-3-7655-8749-8 .
  • with Beat Rink: At the stop of the great maestros. Brunnen, Basel 2013, ISBN 978-3-7655-1608-5 (revised and greatly expanded new edition of Great Maestros, experienced backstage ).

Translations of the books into Japanese, Chinese, Latvian, Spanish, Russian, Swedish and Italian.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Goulds Steinway CD 318, built in 1945, weighed 30-32 grams and had a low reprint .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Mohr, Franz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German author and piano technician
DATE OF BIRTH September 17, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Norvenich