Johann Gottfried Moritz
Johann Gottfried Moritz (* 1777 in Berlin ; † July 23, 1840 there ) was a German instrument maker.
Life
Moritz became a journeyman instrument maker in Leipzig in 1799 . From there he went to Dresden in 1805 and founded his own workshop in Berlin in 1808. There he also received the letter of citizenship in 1810. In this Moritz was referred to as a "wind instrument maker". In 1819 he became a royal court instrument maker. In 1835 he was awarded the title of academic artist. This year his son Carl Wilhelm Moritz took over his father's business.
Together with Wilhelm Wieprecht , the director of the royal military music corps, and his son Carl Wilhelm Moritz , he succeeded in making considerable improvements to the tuba's valve system in 1833 . The Wieprecht-Moritz “Berlin pumps”, as these valves were called from the start, were more reliable than their predecessors. A short time later Moritz invented a new instrument, the bass tuba in F, for which he received a patent in 1835. The bass tuba corresponded to Wilhelm Wieprecht's intentions completely, because the previous possibilities of the basses in the royal military bands were very inadequate. The technical difficulties that had to be overcome in the manufacture of a tuba alone were great. For example, a tuba in F must have a pipe length of 3.5 to 4 meters (including the five valves it is 6 meters), and two and a half quintals of lead were required to form the metal pipe. Johann Gottfried Moritz successfully solved the technical problems, and in the same year Wilhelm Wieprecht introduced the bass tuba into military music, where it is still played today. The F tuba is also used in classical orchestras. The oldest surviving bass tuba from the workshop of Johann Gottfried Moritz is in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin .
literature
- Alfred Berner: Moritz, wind instrument maker. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-428-00199-0 , p. 146 f. ( Digitized version ). - family items
Web links
- Gesine Haase: Johann Gottfried Moritz and the invention of the bass tuba. Berlin Musical Instrument Museum.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Death Register of the Jerusalem Church, No. 253/1840
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Moritz, Johann Gottfried |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German instrument maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1777 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Berlin |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 23, 1840 |
| Place of death | Berlin |