Gaveau
Gaveau, Paris was a French piano manufacturer . Joseph Gabriel Gaveau founded it in Paris in 1847 . Gaveau was the third largest piano manufacturer in France after its competitors Érard and Pleyel . Some Gaveau grand pianos are made with artist cases. Many pianos were equipped with pneumatic self- playing devices (Odeola, Ampico and Welte ).
The architect Jacques Hermant built the factory management and a concert hall Salle Gaveau with 1000 seats for Gaveau from 1905 to 1906 . This concert hall has been in constant use since then, mostly with classical and jazz music.
A large factory was located in Fontenay-sous-Bois .
In 1960 the company merged with Erard. From 1971 to 1994 Gaveau pianos were built by the Braunschweig company Schimmel . The trademark rights are currently held by “Manufacture Française de Pianos”, the same company that also owns the rights to Erard and Pleyel. Nowadays Manufacture Française de Pianos makes certain pianos under the name “Gaveau”.
Family competition
Joseph Gabriel Gaveau had six children; the heir Étienne Gaveau felt competition from his brothers.
Gabriel Gaveau was founded in 1911. Gabriel Gaveau made some pianos with pneumatic pedals or with the Duo-Art system. From 1919 it was at 55-57 Av. Malakoff, in the posh 16th district of 75016 Paris (today Av. Raymond Poincaré, near the Trocadéro ). This factory was requisitioned by the Germans in 1939 during World War II.
Augustin Gaveau also created his own piano manufacturing company in 1911 with his own development of pianinos (high pianos ).
In his autobiography "My Young Years", Artur Rubinstein recalls how he was signed to Gaveau for concerts. He writes of their “stiff and insensitive” keyboard and of the “coldness of sound”.