Sohmer & Co.

Sohmer & Co. was a piano manufactory which was founded in 1872 in New York by Hugo Sohmer and Joseph Kuder. Sohmer & Co. built the first modern baby grand piano and also built pianos with aliquot and clasps in the webs, as well as the automatic pianos in the Cecilian brand and under license by Welte-Mignon reproducing pianos. Both the U.S. President Calvin Coolidge, the composer Victor Herbert and Irving Berlin possessed Sohmer instruments. Sohmer is now the Korean manufacturer Samick a product line.

History

Hugo Sohmer (1845-1913) came from Dunningen, a place to Rottweil at the foot of the Black Forest. He received an education in literature and science as well as in music and pianos. He emigrated in 1863 to New York, where he worked at the piano maker Schuetze & Ludolff 's. He then spent two years back in Europe to further his training as a piano maker, and returned in 1870 to New York.

In 1872 he founded Sohmer & Company, in partnership with Joseph Kuder (April 26, 1831 - July 24, 1913 ), a piano maker from Vienna, who had worked in New York since 1853, first for Steinway & Sons, later as a foreman at Lighte, Newton & Bradbury, following then to Marshal & Wed Auer and also for their successors JH Boernhoeft.

Sohmer & Co. manufactured and sold pianos to Marshal & Wed Auer's former address 149 East 14th Street. The company expanded to 155 East 14th Street and occupied from 1879 sales rooms in Brooklyn. 1883, the company moved to with everything except the sales rooms for 143 East 23rd Street, in a building that had previously served the manufacture of reed organs of the manufacturer Carhart & Needham. In 1885, the factory at the corner of 14th St. and 3rd Ave. rebuilt according to plans by Berger & Baylies. 1886 you bought a large plot on the water at the Jamaica Avenue, Long Iceland, near the new factory of Steinway & Sons. There, a factory was built with six floors, as well as to plans by Berger & Baylies. The factory was established in 1907 increased by a further six floors. 1919 six-storey office building and a retail space in 31 West 57th Street, New York's "Piano Row" ( "Piano Street " ) was built.

Sohmer applied his upright pianos and square pianos at the Universal Exhibition of 1876 in Philadelphia, Centennial International Exhibition. Sohmers instruments where they received a 1st prize and an honorary diploma. Sohmer showed afterwards these medals on the instruments, although the system of awards led to considerable public debate, the so-called "Piano wars " of the East Coast of the USA .. Sohmer also campaigned with first prizes, which were obtained in 1881 and 1882 in Montreal.

Hugo Sohmer marketed the first modern " Bijou " - or baby grand piano ( baby grand, or more specifically bells wing ), he got patented with a symmetrical housing design 1884. Were " only five feet long, these wings! " Advertised as " the smallest wings that were ever produced ," but should " have great power and a great volume of tone, together with long-lasting sound quality and elastic stop, the usually found only in grand pianos. "the company had in 1882 a patent for improvements in the Agraffenbefestigungen and on the keyboard. 1887 were a clasp for quadruple stringing for a" reverbation scale " ( " Hall - scale ") and a pianissimo pedal in uprights patented, and 1890 Brückenagraffen.

Harry J. Sohmer was followed in 1913 by his father as president. In 1940, he renamed the company into a corporation. 1971 followed him his sons, Harry J. Sohmer, Jr. as President and by Robert H. Sohmer as Commercial and Chief Financial Officer. The Sohmer brothers sold the company in 1982 at Pratt, Read & Co., the largest U.S. manufacturer of piano actions and keyboards in Ivoryton, Connecticut. The Sohmer brothers remained initially in the company, but were then replaced as manager by Dave Campbell.

Changes after the sale by the Sohmer family

1985 bought Sohmer & Co. Mason & Hamlin, and the trademark rights to Wm Knabe & Co. as well as the equipment of the bankrupt Aeolian Corporation. 1986 sold Pratt, Read & Co., the Sohmer Holding Co. to a group of investors led by Robert MacNeil. The production moved to a new factory in Elysburg, Pennsylvania.

1989 sold MacNeil Sohmer & Co., which now included Mason & Hamlin, Knabe and George Steck, at Bernard G. Greer, who held a major share of the Falcone Piano Co.. Lloyd W. Meyer, a former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Steinway & Sons, was responsible for a reorganization of both companies.

1996 bought Kirk and Mark Burgett for Music Systems Research from Sacramento, California, the manufacturer of the PianoDisc game system, Sohmer as part of the bankrupt assets Parts of Mason & Hamlin.

Sohmer pianos are now manufactured in Korea at the Samick Music Corporation, which manufacture the brands Samick and Wm Knabe & Co., Kohler & Campbell and Remington pianos.