Schweighofer is one of Vienna's most famous piano houses, as well as its
oldest, having been established in 1792 by Michael Schweighofer (1771-1809). The company
applied
many innovations in the early history of piano manufacture. Schweighofer won the Gold medal at the Vienna exhibition
of 1845.
Michael Schweighofer
came from Rincha, Bavaria and moved to Vienna where he opened his piano company in
1792, becoming a citizen in 1801. The only extant instrument made by
him survives in the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna. He was married to
Anna Wißgill Schweighofer (1780-1822) with whom he had three children.
After Michael
Schweighofer's premature death in 1809, the business was carried on by his widow
Anna Wißgill Schweighofer (1780-1822) who re-married the piano maker Joseph Promberger.
The firm was known as Schweighofer und Promberger. Michael's son, Johann
Michael (1806-1852, Vienna), probably learned his craft from Promberger.
Then he traveled as a journeyman to England, France and Germany, returning to Vienna in 1832
to carry on the piano business under the Schweighofer name. Johann Michael Schweighofer applied enhanced knowledge and techniques diligently to the piano manufacture,
leading to the winning of the Gold medal at the Vienna exhibition
of 1845.
The pianos he built bear the inscription "J. M.
Schweighofer [in Wien]"
Subsequently, the business was carried on by the third
and fourth generations: After Johann Michael's death in 1852, his oldest son
Carl Schweighofer (1839-1905) took over the company. Under his management,
the company won further prizes at the German industry exhibition in Munich,
1854, and at the World Exhibition in Paris, 1867. The same year, Carl's
brother Johann Michael (1840-1899) joined the company. Their pianos bore the inscription "J.
M. Schweighofer's Söhne in Wien". In 1869
the company was awarded the title "k.k. Hof-Pianoforte-Fabrikanten" by the
Viennese imperial court and in 1873 it received the Honorary diploma of the
Vienna World Exhibition. In 1906, Carl's son Johann took over the company.
In
1911/1912 the J. M. Schweighofer's Söhne
company was sold to the piano dealer Bernhard Kohn and
his associate Friedrich Karbach, a musician and composer, presumed to be a former
employee of Schweighofer. Later they were joined by
dr. Oskar Karbach. Around the same time, a presumed descendant of the Schweighofer
family opened a parallel factory (Johann Michael Schweighofer GmbH) and built pianos under the
Schweighofer name, which led to legal
complications. To distinguish their pianos, Kohn & Karbach put sometime after 1920 the Schweighofer
Original inscription on their instruments and added the
Karbach name on the soundboards. 1938 Karbach
and Kohn, who were Jewish, were expropriated under the Nazi regime and the company was
subsequently led by
Friedrich Ehrbar jr., another Viennese piano maker, until 1938/1940 when it was closed.
The other company, owned by the Schweighofer family descendant,
also disappeared during the second world war .
Schweighofer
pianos are
still highly respected for their rich, powerful sound and finely crafted
construction. Throughout its long history, the company remained
committed to the highest standards and incorporated new inventions in their
pianos earlier than other Austrian piano makers, such as duplex scaling,
Anglo-German and double escapement repetition actions, full cast iron frames
etc. The company produced a small number of pianos per year (usually less than 200), accounting for their rarity
today.
Sources
Click
here
for a list of Schweighofer serial numbers
and corresponding manufacturing years.
Last
update on
16.03.2024
