Instrument Maker

(York )

(b Whilton, Northants., England, Dec 22, 1785; d Versailles, France, Feb 19, 1859). English organ builder. The son of a local joiner, he first learnt his father’s trade. Against family wishes he was apprenticed to the organ builders James and David Davis and in 1818 went to work with Hugh Russell. Abbey became acquainted with Sébastian Erard in London and went to France in 1826 to build an organ that Erard designed for the 1827 Industrial Exhibition at the Louvre; before 1864 it was moved to the Paris Conservatoire. After moving to Paris and then Versailles, Abbey received a royal commission to build an organ for the chapel of the Légion d’honneur at St Denis and another designed by Erard for the chapel of the Tuileries Palace (1827; destroyed 1830). In 1831 with Meyerbeer’s support Abbey was employed to build an organ for the Paris Opéra (destroyed by fire, ...

[Grandadam]

Philip J. Kass

French family of bow makers. Jean Adam, also known as Grandadam (b Mirecourt, 1 Dec 1767; d Mirecourt, 3 Jan 1849), was a maker of reliable if workmanlike bows of good quality. His son and pupil Jean Dominique Adam, later known as Dominique Grandadam (b Mirecourt, 29 Dec 1795; d Mirecourt, 6 Oct 1841) followed his father’s precedents but with a more careful finish, working in a manner that over time developed an affinity to that of Pajeot. Father and son both used the stamp ADAM, the son’s being in larger type than his father’s.

Jean Dominique’s son, Jean Grandadam (b Mirecourt, 26 Feb 1823; d Mirecourt, 20 Jan 1869), was the finest bow maker of the family. His hand becomes visible in his father’s works dating from about 1835. He moved in 1841 to Paris, where from 1842 to 1850...

(b Dunstable, NH, Aug 21, 1783; d Milford, NH, March 16, 1864). American brass instrument maker. He invented a valve with movable tongues or flaps within the windway. A trumpet in F by Adams with three such valves is displayed on board the USS Constitution; it dates from about 1830. A similar instrument, unsigned, with three primitive rotary valves, is in the Essig Collection, Warrensburg, Missouri. Adams is listed as a musical instrument maker in Longworth’s American Almanack, New-York Register, and City Directory for 1824. For the next four years he was bandmaster on the USS Constitution. About 1828 he settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, continuing there as a musical instrument maker until 1835. The latter part of his life was spent as a machinist and repairer of ships’ chronometers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He was the composer of at least one published song, The Ruins of Troy, written while on board the ...

German family of woodwind makers. Karl Friedrich Adler (b Breitenfeld, Germany, March 14, 1795; d Erlangen, Germany, April 1, 1888) learnt his craft from his father, Johann Georg Adler, in the years 1809–12, for short periods under Carl Doke of Linz and August Rorarius of Vienna, and for some three years with Max Stiegler in Munich. He set up his own business in Bamberg in ...

(Christian Friedrich)

(b ?Breitenfeld, Vogtland, France, May 10, 1784; d Paris, France, 1854). French maker of woodwind instruments, principally bassoons. He was the brother of Karl Friedrich Adler (1795–1888) and Johann Georg Adler (1787–1842), woodwind makers active in Bamberg and Hermsgrün, respectively. Established in Paris about 1808, he reportedly made improvements to the bassoon in 1809. One surviving nine-key bassoon by Adler (GB.O.ub) shows a unique example of ‘double venting’ (two tone holes debouching under a single key flap, for A♭). In 1827 he exhibited a novel bassoon of tropical hardwood with 15 keys, including two new ones to produce d″ and e♭″. F.J. Fétis wrote in 1828 that Adler had made bassoons ‘after Almenräder’s model’. But while Adler had added keys to his bassoons, there is no clear evidence that he adopted distinctive Almenräder reforms (such as a more regularly conical bore and relocated tone holes). Indeed, Fétis criticized an Adler bassoon exhibited in ...

(b Gasteig, nr Sterzing, March 15, 1809; d Marling, nr Meran [Merano], Jan 2, 1887). Tyrolean organ builder. His earliest known work was the organ for Navis (1837; lost). Among his numerous other organs are those at Absam (1841; in an organ case by Johann Anton Fuchs, cl780), the Franciscan church, Schwaz (1843), Sautens im Ötztal (1846), Reutte (1847/48), Zirl (1851–2), Brixen [Bressanone] parish church (1858; in a case by Rochus Egedacher, 1740–41), the Benedictine abbey, Marienberg (1865–6; three manuals, 32 stops, his largest instrument), Meran parish church (1867; lost), St Georgenberg Benedictine abbey, Fiecht (1871; two manuals, 31 stops, his second-largest organ, restored in 2000 by Mathis Orgelbau), Burgeis (1873–4; in a case by Carlo Prati, 1678), Lana parish church (1875) and St Leonhard in Passeier (...

Member of Alain family

(b March 1, 1880; d Saint Germain-en-Laye, Oct 15, 1971). French organist, composer, and organ builder. From a family of craftsmen, amateur musicians, and devout Catholics, Alain studied at the Paris Conservatoire (1896–1907) with Caussade, Vierne, and Guilmant, winning a premier prix for harmony in 1904. He was the organist of St Nicolas, Maisons-Laffitte (1900–18), of the Franciscan Chapel (1903–71), and of the parish of Saint Germain-en-Laye (1924–71).

With Abbé Clément Besse and the painter Maurice Denis, Alain formed a musical circle in Saint Germain. He participated in the revival of French church music along the lines prescribed in the Vatican’s Motu proprio of 1903. He composed new settings of canticles in which the sobriety of the melody did not preclude refined harmonies, with the frequent use of modality and chromaticism.

92 Latin motets, nine mass settings, and three oratorios complete his prolific output of religious music, mostly written for use in churches at Saint Germain-en-Laye, Versailles, and Paris between ...

(b Gauteriz de Arteaga, Vizcaya, Sept 25, 1869; d Barcelona, March 19, 1948). Spanish organ builder. He began his career as an apprentice in the workshops of Aquilino Amezúa in Barcelona in 1885 and was active for more than 50 years. In 1895, on the retirement of Amezúa, Alberdi became director of the firm, and in 1896 the owner. His sons, Antonio and Luis Alberdi Aguirrezábal, assisted him in the workshop, which was the most productive in Spain, building nearly 200 organs (in particular those at the monastery of Montserrat, the Jesuit church in Madrid, and the cathedrals of Gerona and Santiago). Alberdi’s construction methods were extremely advanced: he incorporated many of the best techniques of the time and invented others. He always used mixed mechanical systems and was especially noted for systems without sliding valves; later he abandoned troublesome pneumatic machinery and utilized the possibilities of electricity. He always used the best available methods and systems. Organs from his workshop were exported to South America and the Philippines....

(b Brussels, April 26, 1816; d Brussels, May 11, 1890). Belgian woodwind instrument maker. He is known chiefly for his clarinets. His three sons Jean-Baptiste (-Gustav) (1845–99), Jacques (-Emile) (1849–1918) and Joseph-Eugène (known as E.J. Albert; 1860–1931) were also woodwind instrument makers specializing in clarinets. Eugène Albert is recorded as a maker from 1839. He was so successful that the model of clarinet that he made is widely known (especially in the USA) as the ‘Albert System’ although it was basically Iwan Müller's 13-key clarinet augmented by the two rings (brille) added to the lower joint by Adolphe Sax. Albert's instruments were exceptionally well made and finely tuned. They were particularly popular in England, where his agents were Louis Jullien and then Samuel Arthur Chappell; the leading English clarinettist Henry Lazarus owned eight of his instruments. When Boosey and Co. began to make clarinets in about ...

(b Germany, 1759/60; d Montgomery, PA, June 28, 1848). American piano maker of German birth. He was active in Philadelphia as a piano maker by the 1790s, probably arriving there on the ship Hamburgh in October 1785. (His marriage to Maria Fuchs is listed in the records of St Michael′s and Zion′s Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, for 17 June 1787; they had no children.) His name appears in tax records, census entries and city directories from 1788 until his death in 1848. First described as a “joiner,” he is listed in newspapers and real estate documents as “Musical Instrument Maker” at the address of 95 Vine Street from 1791 to at least 1824, when he retired from piano making but continued to purchase property in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. Albrecht made some of the earliest surviving American square pianos, over 20 of which are still extant (four are at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC; the date of ...

(b Hanover, Jan 6, 1788; d Philadelphia, March 1843). American piano maker of German birth. He emigrated to the USA, arriving in Philadelphia on 17 October 1822, and from 1823 to 1824 ran a business there at 106 St John Street; from 1830 to 1843 his address was 144 South 3rd Street. On his death his small business was bequeathed to his wife Maria. His pianos exhibit excellent craftsmanship; pianos by him (one upright and one square) at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, are in empire style and have six octaves. No relationship between Christian Albrecht, Charles Albrecht and Albrecht & Co. has yet been established....

(b Hanover, Jan 6, 1788; d Philadelphia, PA, March 1843). American piano maker of German birth. He immigrated to the United States, arriving in Philadelphia on 17 October 1822, and from 1823 to 1824 ran a business there at 106 St John Street; from 1830 to 1843 his address was 144 South 3rd Street. On his death his small business was bequeathed to his wife Maria. His pianos exhibit excellent craftsmanship; pianos by him (one upright and one square) at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, are in empire style and have six octaves. No relationship between Christian Albrecht, Charles Albrecht, and Albrecht & Co. has yet been established....

( b Mirecourt, April 28, 1765; d Paris, 1843). French violin maker . One of the third generation of a Mirecourt family of violin makers, he settled in Paris in 1785, firstly at 16 rue des Arcis, moving to 30 rue de Bussy about 1807, and finally to 71 rue de Seine in 1820. The fine quality of his work places him in the forefront of French violin makers. His instruments are patterned after the Stradivari model but tend towards more fullness in both outline and archings. The varnish, generally of a red-brown colour, can be very attractive, but often falls a little short of achieving clarity and elasticity; heavily varnished instruments have a broad checking, which is not at all unattractive. Those varnished a lighter golden-yellow or orange-brown appear to belong to a lesser category. Tonally, Aldric’s instruments are among the best produced by the French; his cellos are quite outstanding and are much sought after as concert instruments. Aldric used a variety of different labels; the printed ones usually have a decorative border while the manuscript labels are plain and appear rather carelessly turned out. He was the first French violin maker to buy some of the fine Italian instruments that were brought to Paris by Luigi Tarisio in ...

(b Holland, MA, Sept 24, 1815; dc1905). American brass instrument maker. About 1853 he designed a very efficient rotary valve, featuring flattened windways, string linkage, and enclosed stops. This valve was very successful in the USA during the second half of the 19th century. Other makers who adopted the Allen valve included B.F. Richardson, D.C. Hall, and B.F. Quinby, all of whom had at one time worked with Allen; Henry Lehnert, who worked in Boston for a time before moving to Philadelphia; and E. Glier of Cochecton, New York.

Allen began making brass instruments about 1838 in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, a short distance from his birthplace. He moved to Boston in 1842 and is known to have worked in Norwich, Connecticut, from 1846 to 1849; in 1852 he returned to Boston. He is known to have made at least one keyed bugle early in his career, and a number of instruments with double-piston Vienna valves. During the late 1850s in Boston his flat-windway valve won respect among leading musicians and his instruments received favourable comment at mechanics exhibitions. From ...

(b Cornwall, England, 1848; dc1905). English bow maker. He worked for W.E. Hill & Sons from about 1880 until 1891. During this time he made many bows marked with the brand of his employers, some of them with exquisitely decorative mountings. He also repaired and modernized old sticks. On leaving Hill’s he continued to make bows, branding them ‘S. ALLEN’; he made at least one double bass as well. Some players complain that his violin bows are too ‘whippy’, but strong sticks were apparently not highly regarded by players at that time. He earned his reputation mainly through his cello bows: patterned in most respects after Tourte, they are medium to heavy in weight, of the strongest pernambuco wood, and in every way ideal for the modern cellist. His sticks are almost always octagonal....

(b Kennebunk, ME, March 4, 1804; d Newburyport, MA, March 8, 1880). American organ builder. He is said to have learnt about organbuilding from a Dr Furbush in Kennebunk, and began making reed organs at the age of 18. In 1826 he moved to Newburyport, where he eventually built 37 church organs, the largest in 1834 for the Unitarian Church in Newburyport. His fame, however, derives from the experimental ‘euharmonic’ (enharmonic) organs built between 1849 and 1851 in conjunction with Henry Ward Poole (1826–90) and Henry James Hudson (b 1821). These organs, while having a normal keyboard, had more than one pipe for each black key (e.g. both C♯ and D♭ pipes), and the intervals were tuned pure rather than tempered. To bring the proper pipes into operation the player depressed a selector pedal for the desired tonality. Alley and Poole patented the device on ...

Jan van Covelens (d 1532), who was based in Amsterdam, built, enlarged and repaired organs, creating a new organ type that served as the model for the Northern Netherlands throughout the 16th century and exercised influence in the Southern Netherlands and France. Van Covelens taught Hendrik Niehoff from Brabant, and probably also Claes Willemszoon and the Utrecht organ maker Cornelis Gerritszoon. Niehoff and his assistants built two organs in the Oude Kerk in 1539–45; the larger, later used by Sweelinck, was very modern in its day.

In the 17th and 18th centuries expensive organs were made in a number of churches by first-class builders: Jacobus Galtuszoon van Hagerbeer, Roelof Barentszoon, Johannes Duy(t)schot, Cornelis van Hoornbeeck, Christian Müller and Johannes Stephanus Strumphler. Amsterdam was also an important centre of house organs in the 18th century. In the 17th century, carillons were made by the brothers François and Pieter Hemony. The making of woodwind instruments flourished from about ...

(b Tortuna, Västmanland, Sweden, 1797; d Tärna, Västmanland, Sweden, March 21, 1872). Swedish organ builder, considered one of the foremost of his generation in Sweden. After music studies, he apprenticed with Pehr Strand and won a state scholarship in 1820 to train further in Leipzig and Dresden, where he became familiar with the modern, more Romantic style of organ disposition. He returned to Sweden in 1823, graduated from the Royal Academy of Music, and obtained his diploma and licence in 1824. His 12 surviving organs (from a total of about 45) include those at Husby-Långhundra, Uppsala province (1834; originally 11 stops), Rinna, East Gotland (1835; originally 10 stops), and Rönö, East Gotland (1855; nine stops). His largest organ was for Åbo (Turku) Cathedral (1842; 54 stops). After 1850 his business became known as Gustaf Andersson & Son; it was run from 1859 to 1861...

(b Stephentown, New York, April 1, 1799; d Utica, New York, Oct 8, 1862). American organ builder. Trained as a cabinetmaker, he was apparently self-taught in organ building and began producing small reed organs in Waterville, New York, in 1834; two years later he turned to making pipe organs with the assistance of Henry T. Levi, a former employee of the Hook firm in Boston, Massachusetts. By 1852 his company, relocated to Utica, New York, was the sixth largest pipe organ manufactory in the USA. John G. Marklove joined the firm in 1854, when Levi left to work in Massachusetts. The Andrews firm, continued by Alvinza’s son, George Norton Andrews (1832–1904), built perhaps 300 pipe organs over 67 years, as many as 12 per year at peak production but with output declining from the early 1870s, when their tracker-action instruments and conservative tonal designs became increasingly old-fashioned, as did their methods of manufacture. Alvinza Andrews’s earlier success was due largely to completion of the Erie and Chenango canals, which lowered the cost and simplified transport of heavy goods over a large, rapidly developing area. As the most prolific organ builder in upstate New York, Andrews was the cornerstone of a significant school of builders that developed in Oneida County. His firm received commissions from across New York State, including Manhattan, and from clients as distant as Chicago and Washington, DC. Before ...