Conrad Graf

Conrad Graf ( born November 17 1782 Riedlingen, Württemberg, † March 18 1851 in Vienna ) was a German -Austrian piano maker.

Biography

As an orphan in Riedlingen grew, Earl moved to Vienna in 1798 and worked as a journeyman at Jacob Schelkle. On 14 February 1804 he married his widow and took over Schelkles operating in Waehring No. 126 In 1811 he was given permission to sell pianos. The address of his workshop was 1811-1825 On the Wieden 182 and 102 until he moved into larger premises in 1826 in the former dance hall "Moonlight House " behind the Karlskirche. In 1822, he took off his Viennese oath of citizenship, and two years later the title of a " it was k Royal Court piano and piano -maker awarded ". As an award for the quality of his instruments he received in 1835 at the first tradesman products exhibition in Vienna a gold medal. In this time it was his factory as the " largest and most prestigious Vienna and the empire " (Austrian National Encyclopedia ). 1841 Earl sold his business to the piano maker Carl Andreas Stein.

Works

Graf's pianos were, inter alia, by famous musicians such as Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, and Clara Schumann, née Wieck played. The fortepiano of Beethoven's possession - on loan from Grafs to this, initially, but then left him in the context of repairing his Broadwood grand piano for life - can now be seen at the Beethoven House in Bonn. Clara Wieck received in 1839 as part of their visit to Vienna or 1840 her marriage to Robert Schumann - both representations can be found in the relevant sources - a wing of Conrad Graf as a gift, which later passed into the possession of Johannes Brahms and now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna is.

Instruments by Conrad Graf apply in addition to the instruments by Anton Walter, stone and Andreas Streicher as highlights of the South German and Viennese piano building and as prototypes of the transition to the romantic ideal of sound in piano.