Schweighofer (piano maker)

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Schweighofer is the name of an Austrian family of piano makers and the company they founded, which built high-quality keyboard instruments from around 1792 to 1938 .

Company history

Carl Schweighofer's tomb in Vienna's central cemetery
Inscription on the inside of the keyboard cover
Inscription from 1869

Michael Schweighofer (1771–1809), presumably from Bavaria , opened a piano workshop in Vienna in 1792 . He took the Viennese oath on December 11, 1801, but died eight years later on May 29, 1809. His widow married the piano maker Johann Joseph Promberger (1779–1834) and continued the business.

Michael's son Johann Michael Schweighofer (1806–1852) first learned the piano-making trade from his stepfather Promberger. At the age of 17 he went on trips to France , England , Germany and Switzerland to gain further knowledge about piano making. When he returned to Vienna, he set up his own business in 1832. In 1845, his fortepiano and upright pianos were awarded a gold medal at the Viennese commercial products exhibition.

After Johann Michael's death in 1852, his eldest son Carl Schweighofer (1839–1905) took over the business. Under his leadership, the company received further awards at the German industrial exhibition in Munich in 1854 and at the Paris World Exhibition in 1867 . In 1867, the second son Johann Michael Schweighofer (1840–1889) also entered the business as a partner, and both sons continued to run the company under the name of "JM Schweighofer's Sons". In 1869 they were given the title of " kk Hof-Pianoforte-Fabrikanten " and finally the "Honorary Diploma" at the Vienna World Exhibition in 1873 .

One of the Schweighofer's apprentices around 1860 was Antonin Petrof (1839–1915), who opened his own piano factory in Hradec Králové in Bohemia in 1864 , which is still in operation today.

In 1906, after the death of Carl Schweighofer, his son Johann took over the company. In 1911/12 Messrs Karbach and Kohn bought the piano manufacturing company. These were owners of the piano trading company Bernhard Kohn in Vienna. Friedrich Karbach (1869–1942) was Kapellmeister of the Wr. Sound artist and composer. Later, Dr. Oskar Karbach added. At the end of the 1920s, a limited liability company was founded with the name J. M. Schweighofer, but it only existed for a short time and operated the piano trade. There were competition lawsuits between the two companies; The "old" Schweighofer company put the name SCHWEIGHOFER ORIGINAL on the key cover of their pianos and the name Friedrich Karbach on the soundboard.

The Kohn and Karbach families were Jews. They were expropriated during the Aryanization in 1938/39 . The piano manufacturer Friedrich Ehrbar jun. Was appointed acting director for the companies Bernhard Kohn and J. M. Schweighofer. used. In 1940 both companies were dissolved.

In 1905 the Karl-Schweighofer-Gasse in Vienna- Neubau (7th district) was named after Carl Schweighofer.

Instruments

Older instruments by Michael and Johann Michael Schweighofer are now in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna and the Museum Schloss Kremsegg in Kremsmünster near Linz . Younger instruments made by the sons of JM Schweighofer have been preserved in private hands.

literature

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