Friedrich Buchholtz
Fryderyk (or Friedrich) Buchholtz (born May 16, 1792 in Hohenstein , Prussia ; died October 15, 1837 in Warsaw ) was a pianist , piano maker and master organ builder , guild master of the Warsaw governing body from 1825–1826.
biography
Friedrich Buchholtz was the son of Andrzej Buchholtz and his wife Ewa from Pohlów, who settled in Warsaw.
He traveled from Warsaw as a journeyman. Approx. In 1815 he returned with a diploma as an organ builder and founded a piano and organ building company in Ul. Mazowiecka 1352. In 1825 he bought the house and the premises. Approx. 1817–1819 he applied to the authorities together with W. Bauer and W. Jansen to found the congregation or guild of organ and instrument builders, of which he was then chief master.
At first he built giraffe pianos with bassoon and janissary slides and quickly gained recognition for this. He exhibited such instruments at the Warsaw exhibitions of 1823 (awarded a silver medal) and 1825. In 1825 he exhibited a melodic cordion together with F. Brunner , which was awarded for its performance. After 1825 he limited himself to grand pianos with Viennese and English mechanisms. From 1826 he built instruments in the English style in the style of M. Szymanowska from London. As the first of the piano makers in his guild, he used metal frame brackets from 1827 and dispensed with the piano case bottom, which had been the norm until then.
In the 1830s he and his son Julian built a piano with a muffler slide that was separated into a lower and an upper register. His instruments were recognized among musicians as being among the best. A frequent guest of his house salon and the factory warehouse was Frédéric Chopin , who bought a Buchholtz piano. (This then burned during the January Uprising.)
J. Promfederer from Vienna performed on Buchholtz's instruments in 1837 in Warsaw. A Buchholtz grand piano was also on the stage when Frederic Chopin gave his Warsaw premiere concert in 1823 at the age of 13.
Employees at the Buchholtz company included J. Manning (around 1826–37), J. Kerntopf (1830–39) and JS Luboradzki (around 1822–26). Of the organs from Buchholtz's workshop, only the organ reconstruction in Chełm Pelplin is known.
From his marriage (1819) to Emilia Boratyński he had 15 children, including Julian, Alojzy (born 1822), Matylda Dobrowolska (1825-1910).
Buchholtz was buried in the Evangelical Augsburg cemetery in Warsaw. After his death, the company was managed by his wife (with the help of JS Luboradzki) and around 1841–1846 by his son Julian. Several Buchholtz instruments have survived to this day, including a giraffe piano in the Warsaw Museum, a grand piano in the Poznan Museum, a grand piano in the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Warsaw and one in the palace in Antonin.
In 2017, piano maker and restorer Paul McNulty made a replica of the defective Buchholtz grand piano in Warsaw's Chopin Museum for concert operations.
bibliography
- B. Vogel: History of Polish Music , Volume X Polish Piano
Left
- http://www.fortepian.instrumenty.edu.pl/pl/fortepiany/categories/manufacturer/82/category/2 Buchholtz grand piano in Polish museum collections (pianos in Polish collections)
Categories
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Buchholtz, Friedrich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Buchholtz, Fryderyk |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Pianist, piano maker and master organ builder, guild master of the Warsaw Upper Guild (1825–1826) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 16, 1792 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hohenstein , Prussia |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1837 |
| Place of death | Warsaw |