Matthias Hohner

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Matthias Hohner

Matthias Hohner (born December 12, 1833 in Trossingen ; † December 11, 1902 ) was a German musical instrument maker and founded the Hohner musical instrument company .

Life

Hohner is the son of the weaver Jacob Hohner and Katharina geb. Linkin. From 1848 he was an apprentice to his brother-in-law, the watchmaker Johannes Kohler in Trossingen. Due to the incipient competition of the emerging watch production from small businesses founded in the Black Forest , Hohner had to go on a tour in 1853/54 to sell watches from the training workshop. Unhappy about the development of the trade, he withdrew from watchmaking as early as 1855 and worked in his parents' workshop, where, with the decline of the weaving mill, other handicraft jobs were now being carried out. There Hohner built his first mouth harps based on the example of Christian Messner and Christian Weiß .

After the mother's death, the father handed over the property to his four children in 1857. Matthias received a share of 682  guilders from this , made instrument making his main occupation and henceforth called himself a harp maker . He was married to Anna Hohner (* 1836, † 1907) from another tribe of the old Trossingen family and had six sons and nine daughters with her, most of whom reached adulthood.

From 1879 to 1885 Hohner was mayor of Trossingen. David Dengler, who was employed by Hohner as an accountant in his company, was responsible for the clerkship of the mayor's office in order to save costs for the community. Dengler later became mayor of Ebhausen (near Nagold).

Instrument making

Hohner's first employee was his brother Jacob, initially one person made only one harmonica a day, entirely by hand. Production could be increased rapidly through expansion of the company, division of labor and mechanical production. Against the competition, which came mainly from Saxony in the founding years of Hohner's instrument making , Hohner mainly offered quality instruments , which he was also able to sell to America from 1862.

In 1875 Hohner already had 85 employees, the size of his company had already exceeded that of older companies such as Messner and Weiß. The main sales initially went to America, until the American economic crisis of 1893 required a reorientation and the main sales moved to Germany. In addition to the instrument making business, Hohner also owned a farm with a size of around 25  acres . The company's approximately 20 to 25 apprentices were fed with the income from Hohner's agriculture.

In 1900 Hohner handed the company over to his five sons Jacob, Matthias, Andreas, Hans and Will. He himself remained a partner in the limited partnership.

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personal data
SURNAME Hohner, Matthias
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German musical instrument maker and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH December 12, 1833
PLACE OF BIRTH Trossingen
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 1902