Wilhelm Gertz (musician)

The Wilh. Gertz Pianos on the corner of Laves and Königstraße , opposite the Hannoversche Fahnenfabrik Franz Reinecke on Thielenplatz ;
Postcard No. 101 from Georg Kugelmann, collotype , dated 1907 on the reverse

Wilhelm Gertz (born June 2, 1828 in Hanover ; † May 5, 1892 ibid) was a German musician, violinist, royal court and chamber musician and piano manufacturer . He came from a family of musicians and was one of the largest piano dealers of his time in Germany.

Life

Wilhelm Gertz was born at the time of the Kingdom of Hanover as the son of the musician with the guard hunters and later orchestra servant Heinrich Gertz († September 4, 1881 in Hanover). He studied in Leipzig at the conservatory there as a pupil of the violin virtuoso Ferdinand David before he - still as a youth - was hired on July 1, 1848 as the successor of Heinrich Schriever under the composer and conductor Heinrich Marschner as violinist in the Hanoverian State Orchestra . The young Gertz thus became one of 47 orchestral musicians who were still performing in the castle opera house of the Leineschloss at the time .

On May 30, 1863 Wilhelm Gertz was awarded the title of royal court and chamber musician. In addition to his son Emil A. Gertz , Richard W. Gertz (born April 27, 1865) was an internationally active and important piano developer.

Advertisement from Wilhelm Gertz as a Steinway & Sons representative in his house at Haasenstrasse 5 ;
Illustrirte Zeitung of November 21, 1874

Advertisement from 1879, including references to recommendations by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner

According to the address book of the royal capital and residence city of Hanover from 1866, Gertz lived in the - then - building at Kirchwender Strasse 24 together with his father and royal orchestra servant Heinrich Gertz, who also worked in the royal court theater .

In the early days of the German Empire , Gertz opened a shop for pianos in his own house at Haasenstrasse 5 on October 13, 1873 . Having from the beginning of instruments Steinway & Sons had offered, he attended in the same year, the World Expo 1873 in Vienna , to where the new models of the only recently entered the market pianinos know. He then added pianos from Schiedmayer , Rudolf Ibach and Carl Rönisch to his sales portfolio , as well as harmonies from the US manufacturer Mason and Hamlin, or string instruments.

In his first years as an entrepreneur, Gertz supplied the composers Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner , who became friends as well as Theodor Steinway . Johannes Brahms frequented the Gertz family, as did the piano virtuoso Hans von Bülow , who left their autographs for the audience. Richard Wagner even dedicated Gertz "[...] his great gold medal ", also made him an honorary patron and to participate in the third performance of his Ring of the Nibelung during the Bayreuth Festival .

According to the directory of factories and commercial enterprises in the province of Hanover from 1879, Wilhelm Gertz then ran a general depot at 4 Prinzenstrasse “[...] of the really real New York Steinway pianos”, but also offered “[. ..] Silver Tongue Organ from EP Needham in New York ”. While “concert grand pianos” were available as “[...] the cheapest original factory prices with a full guarantee” and according to recommendations by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner from 2,000 marks , there were also pianinos , violins , violas , cellos , guitars and Zithers on offer. The lack of mention of wind instruments was later explained by the fact that they were usually bought directly from the instrument makers.

In 1886 Wilhelm Gertz moved into his office building at Thielenplatz 3 . As one of the major piano dealers in Germany, he was a representative for the most important music houses for more than a quarter of a century. Until his death, the royal court and chamber musician also played as a violinist at the Hanover Opera House.

aftermath

When Georg Kugelmann's publishing house dated his consecutively numbered postcard number 101 backwards to 1907, the underlying photograph of Thielenplatz, together with the Wilhelm Gertz house and the inscription above the shop entrance, had documented the music dealer as purveyor to Prince Albrecht of Prussia .

On April 1, 1906, the court piano manufacturer Emil A. Gertz was one of the founders and elected secretary of the Hagenburger Yacht Club , later the Hanover Yacht Club .

For the purchase of pianos, Wilhelm Gertz, Pianoforte-Magazin was still listed in the rankings of the German Imperial Army in 1912 .

For a time, the Wilhelm Gertz piano house on Thielenplatz was an “authorized Electrola sales point”.

literature

• Wilhelm Rothert : General Hannoversche Biography (in Gothic script ), Vol. 1: Hannoversche men and women since 1866 ; Hanover: Sponholtz, 1912, p. 341
• Wilhelm Gertz, Pianohaus , in Paul Wolf (arrangement): Hanover. 237 pages with illustrations and imprinted plates and plates, ed. in agreement with the Magistrate of the City of Hanover, Berlin-Halensee: "Dari", Deutscher Architektur- und Industrie-Verlag, 1922, pp. 184f.
• oV : On the 50th anniversary of the Wilhelm Gertz company in Hanover. In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau , Vol. 48, 1927, p. 289; Digitized version of the website bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de of the Bavarian State Library
• Friedrich Lüddecke : Gertz Ecke , in ders .: Hanover as it was then / Friedrich Lüddecke / Pictures and Encounters around 1900 , Verlag A. Madsack , with a photograph of Thielenplatz, 3rd, modified edition, Hanover 1964, p. 18 -21

Remarks

1. ↑ The Music Trade Review (sd) wrote "Theodor Steinway"

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Wulf Konold (Ges.-Red.), Klaus-Jürgen Etzold (co-author): The Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hanover 1636 to 1986 , ed. from the Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hannover GmbH, Hanover: Schlütersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1986, ISBN 3-87706-041-2 , pp. 182, 184
2. ↑ oV : Gertz, Wilhelm in the database Niedersächsische people (new entry required) of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Library - Lower Saxon State Library , last downloaded 10 February 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} o. V .: The Music Trade Review (in English), vol. XXVII No. 20, p. 27; Digitized
4. ↑ Comparison of the transcription of the address book of the royal capital and residence city of Hanover 1866 (letter G) on the page 'forum.ahnenforschung.net , last accessed on February 13, 2017
5. ↑ ^{a b c d} o. V .: For the 50th anniversary of the Wilhelm Gertz company in Hanover. In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau , Vol. 48, 1927, p. 289; Digitized version on the website bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de of the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, last accessed on February 11, 2017
6. ^ Paul de Witt (ed.): For the 40th anniversary of the Wilhelm Gertz company in Hanover. In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau , Vol. XXXIV, 1913–1914, Leipzig: Verlag Paul de Witt, p. 96; Digitized on the website bildsuche.digitale-sammlungen.de of the Bavarian State Library, last accessed on February 12, 2017
7. ^ Ludwig Hoerner : Instrumentenhandlungen with illustration of an illustrated advertisement from the address book quoted, in which: Agents, Bader and Copisten. Hannoversches Gewerbe-ABC 1800–1900 . Ed .: Hannoversche Volksbank , Reichold, Hannover 1995, ISBN 3-930459-09-4 , pp. 210f .; Preview over google books
8. ↑ Compare the photograph (click several times for the best possible enlargement)
9. ↑ Compare the chronicle on the club's website, last accessed on February 12, 2017
10. ↑ Ranking list of the German Reichsheeres , ed. from the Ministry of Defense, ES Mittler & Sohn, 1912, p. 914; Preview over google books
11. ↑ Hinrich Bergmeier, Günter Katzenberger : cultural expulsion. The influence of National Socialism on art and culture in Lower Saxony . Documentation for the exhibition of the same name by the Hanoverian Society for New Music in cooperation with the Sprengel Museum Hanover and the Lower Saxony State Museum Hanover in the forum of the State Museum from September 7 to October 28, 1993, Hamburg: Dölling and Galitz, 1993, ISBN 978-3- 926174-70-3 and ISBN 3-926174-70-6 , p. 143; Preview over google books