Perzina

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Perzina model 122

Perzina (also Gebr. Perzina, Gebr. Perzina GmbH, Alvari-Piano-GmbH, Pianofortefabrik Gebr. Perzina ) was since 1871 the brand name of a company that manufactured keyboard instruments in Schwerin until around 1929 .

Foundation and appointment as "court piano manufacturer"

On June 1, 1871, the Zittau- born instrument makers Albert (born January 9, 1842) and Julius (born July 13, 1844) Perzina founded the Perzina Brothers pianoforte factory in Schwerin. They had previously learned and worked in the Bechstein , Duysen , Schwechten and Rönisch piano factories . With their job, they continued a family tradition, as their father Anton already practiced this job in their hometown.

Perzina piano factory 1899

In 1883 Julius and Albert Perzina received the title of "Grand Ducal Mecklenburgischer Hof Piano Manufacturer " from the Grand Duke . Years later the company Gebr. Perzina is also court piano manufacturer "Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands", "His Majesty the King of Portugal" and "His Highness the Duke of Anhalt". A few years after the piano factory was founded, the older brother, Albert, withdrew from the business, but the company name "Gebrüder Perzina" remained.

In 1894, the Schwerin company presented itself at the world exhibition in Antwerp and in 1895 at an international exhibition in Amsterdam. In 1901 the company described itself on its letterheads as "by far the largest and most efficient piano factory within the entire German Baltic Sea region".

Development of new markets under the direction of Daniel Huss

Main building shortly before opening in 1907

At the beginning of 1897 the staff at the Schwerin factory stopped work for about 10 weeks. The employees went on strike for higher wages. The 52-year-old company founder Julius Perzina died on April 30, 1897 in the spa town of Merano . After the establishment of an OHG, the management of the factory passed into the hands of the Hamburg businessman Daniel Huss for the next 20 years. The son-in-law of the company owner transformed the piano factory as commercial manager from a handicraft factory to an industrial factory. In the founding year 1872, 20 instruments were still produced, in 1897 there were already 315 instruments, and by 1900 the Schwerin factory had increased its production to 768 instruments annually. A devastating fire on July 26, 1904 destroyed most of the production buildings. In the following three years, master mason Ludwig Clewe built the new factory buildings according to the specifications of the general partnership shareholders, including the main building at Wismarschen Strasse 144, which still exists today.

Since the beginning of the First World War , the “Gebr. Perzina “for army needs. In addition to fittings and propellers for the “Fokkerwerke Schwerin”, ammunition cases were also part of the new product line from August 1914. In 1916, the company was targeted by the public prosecutor. Rejected cartridges had been mixed up with new deliveries; an employee had been reported and arrested for attempting a bribe. The scandal also gripped the bustling managing director Daniel Huss, who was sentenced to ten months in prison and two years of loss of honor . On August 23, 1917, Anthony Fokker took over the factory with 400 workers. As a result of the provisions of the Versailles Treaty , the aircraft manufacturer Fokker left its headquarters in Schwerin in 1919.

After the end of the war, Fokker leased the piano factory to the manufacturer Otto Libeau. From April 1920 the company also produced furniture and boxes in addition to pianos. Plant III in Gutenbergstrasse traded as "Alvari-Piano-GmbH" from 1923. The production of pianos on Wismarschen Strasse continued until around 1929. In 1933 the Low German observer moved into the former main building. The Schwerin piano maker Wilhelm Meyer continued to build individual instruments together with Otto Libeau under the name Gebr. Perzina GmbH . Libeau left the company in the mid-1930s. Until 1949 the company was listed in the Schwerin address book as “Gebr. Perzina GmbH, Pianoforte factory, founded in 1871. Inh. Wilhelm Meyer, Wismarsche Straße 153 ”. The Schwerin city library used the Perzina house from 1984 to 2013 .

Pianos and grand pianos of the “Perzina” brand were manufactured in Lenzen from 1959 to 1972 with state participation . At the beginning of the 1930s, the Berlin piano manufacturer Friedrich Geil started piano production with the Wagner piano brand in Lenzen. He received the rights to the registered trademark Gebr. Perzina from the council of the district of Schwerin. In 1972 the company was expropriated and assigned to VEB Deutsche Pianoforte-Union in Leipzig as a combine .

After the turn

Perzina House during use by the Schwerin City Library

With the fall of 1989 , the brand names Wagner and Perzina were taken over by the Geil family and a reorganization of the piano production was sought. After the sudden death of the managing director, the former production manager took over at the end of 1990 at the head of the newly founded GmbH. In the mid-1990s, the Dutch music wholesaler Roland Bol first took over global sales and then bought into the company. He gradually relocated production abroad. The Lenzen piano factory was finally closed in December 1996. Under the name Yantai-Perzina Piano Manufacturing Company LTD , a Chinese company has been manufacturing pianos and grand pianos with the Perzina Brothers logo since 1998 . Roland Bol, who also has distribution rights for other well-known German piano brands, continues to head sales.

In 2013, the Schwerin City Library had to move out of the former residential and factory building in Wismarschen Strasse 153. The reason given was structural defects in the listed building. The city of Schwerin tried to sell the building for around € 800,000 until 2016. Due to the monument protection and the resulting high renovation costs, the sale was unsuccessful. The state capital Schwerin is now planning to use the house for events. Appropriate federal funds are to be raised for this. The accommodation of a museum is also being considered.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Albert died at the age of 76 on October 3, 1918 in Schwerin. See Schwerin City Archives, death register 1918, sheet 880, Albert Perzina
  2. ↑ Musik-Instrumenten-Zeitung , Berlin, year 1896–97, No. 33, page 1ff.

Web links

literature

  • Michael Schmidt: Aircraft construction in Schwerin 1913–1926. in Mecklenburg and the First World War , Thomas Helms Verlag Schwerin 2010, ISBN 978-3-940207-19-7
  • State Main Archive Schwerin, GHK III, 52-1, No. 1319
  • Schwerin City Archives , File M. 9579
  • City archive Lenzen / Elbe
  • Schwerin City Archives, file R 45/15
  • H. Henkel: Lexicon of German piano makers , Erwin Bochinsky publishing house, Frankfurt / Main 2000
  • Who was who in MV ; Person lexicon, Editon Temmen, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-86108-282-9 (page 326; Julius Perzina)