PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: instrument making
Austrian-French composer
Ignace Joseph Pleyel was an Austro-French composer, music publisher, and piano builder. Trained in music while still a very young child, he was sent in 1772 to Eisenstadt to become a pupil and lodger of...
Italian harpsichord maker
Bartolomeo Cristofori was an Italian harpsichord maker generally credited with the invention of the piano, called in his time gravicembalo col piano e forte, or “harpsichord that plays soft and loud.”...
American inventor
Laurens Hammond was an American businessman and inventor of the electronic keyboard instrument known as the Hammond organ. Hammond’s early education took place in Europe, where the family had moved in...
British musician
Arnold Dolmetsch was a French-born British musician whose lifework, pursued in the face of prolonged indifference and misunderstanding, established the modern search for authenticity in the performance...
Italian violin maker
Antonio Stradivari was an Italian violin maker who brought the craft of violin-making to its highest pitch of perfection. Stradivari was still a pupil of Nicolò Amati in 1666 when he began to place his...
American composer
Harry Partch was a visionary and eclectic composer and instrument builder, largely self-taught, whose compositions are remarkable for the complexity of their scores (each instrument has its own characteristic...
French organ maker
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was a distinguished French organ builder and initiator of the orchestral style of French organ building and composing. Descended from a family of organ builders and a talented protégé...
German woodwind maker
Theobald Boehm was a German flutist, composer for the flute, and flute maker whose key mechanism and fingering system were widely adopted by later makers. The son of a goldsmith, Boehm studied flute and...
Belgian inventor
Adolphe Sax was a Belgian-French maker of musical instruments and the inventor of the saxophone. Sax was the son of Charles Joseph Sax (1791–1865), a maker of wind and brass instruments, as well as of...
German piano craftsman
Johann Andreas Stein was a German piano builder, and also a maker of organs and harpsichords, who was the first of a distinguished family of piano makers. The son of an organ builder, Stein apprenticed...
British organ maker
Henry Willis was a British organ builder, a meticulous craftsman and designer whose splendid instruments, though limited and perhaps decadent in comparison with the 18th-century German classical organ,...
American piano maker
Henry Engelhard Steinway was a German-born American piano builder and founder of a leading piano manufacturing firm, Steinway and Sons, which remained under family ownership until 1972. Steinway fought...
French musician
Jacques Hotteterre was a French musician, teacher, and musical-instrument maker. Hotteterre was descended from a distinguished family of woodwind-makers and performers. His nickname, “le Romain” (“the...
American organ designer
G. Donald Harrison was an English-born U.S. organ designer and builder, who designed or extensively rebuilt many of the largest and finest instruments of the 20th century. Although he studied organ as...
German organ maker
Arp Schnitger was one of the most skilled organ builders of the Baroque era, whose fine instruments inspired composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach. Schnitger was born into a family of woodworkers; his...
British piano maker
John Broadwood was a British maker of harpsichords and pianos and founder of the oldest existing firm of piano manufacturers. Broadwood, a cabinetmaker, was working for the prominent Swiss-born harpsichord...
German-born piano maker
Johann Christoph Zumpe was a German-born pianoforte maker and builder of the earliest known British piano (1766). Zumpe, trained as a cabinetmaker, emigrated to England in the early 1750s. There he took...
British organ maker
Bernard Smith was a German-born master organ builder in Restoration England. Smith was an apprentice of the German organ builder Christian Förmer but adapted easily to the English style of building after...
American organ maker
David Tannenberg was a German-born American organ builder. Tannenberg came to the United States in 1740 with a group of colonists from the Moravian Church. He settled in Bethlehem, Pa., and worked there...
French musical instrument maker
Sébastien Érard was a French piano and harp maker whose improvements in both instruments were largely responsible for their modern forms. The son of a cabinetmaker, Érard was apprenticed to a harpsichord...
British harpsichord maker
Jacob Kirkman was an Alsatian-born British harpsichord maker and member of a large family of instrument builders active into the 19th century. Kirkman was trained as a cabinetmaker and went to England...
Flemish instrument maker
Hans Ruckers, the Elder was the most famous of all harpsichord makers and founder of a dynasty of Flemish instrument makers whose harpsichords provided an important model for later north European builders....
Austrian piano craftsman
Ignaz Bösendorfer was an Austrian builder of pianos and founder of the firm that bears his name. Bösendorfer served an apprenticeship with the Viennese piano maker Joseph Brodmann. After Franz Liszt began...
German instrument manufacturer
Gottfried Silbermann was an outstanding German builder of keyboard instruments and member of an important family of musical-instrument makers. Gottfried worked in Strasbourg in the shop of his brother...
European organ maker
Renatus Harris was an English organ builder whose fine instruments were highly regarded by his contemporaries. Harris was the son and grandson of organ builders; his maternal grandfather was Thomas Dallam...
English organ maker
Thomas Dallam was a prominent English organ builder, whose sons were also known for their organ-building. Little is known of Dallam’s early life, except that he was apprenticed to a member of the Blacksmiths’...
Austrian musician
Henri Herz was a brilliant Austrian pianist, teacher, and composer. Herz studied with his father and Daniel Hünten, then went to the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included Antonín Reicha and...
British-American organ maker
Robert Hope-Jones was a British-American organ builder who introduced several innovations into electric-organ construction and influenced organ development in the United States. A church organist as well...
German musician
Johann Christoph Denner was a German maker of musical instruments and the inventor of the clarinet. Denner’s father, Heinrich, made horns and animal calls; from him Christoph learned instrument building,...
Italian musical instrument maker
Domenico Montagnana was an Italian instrument maker noted for his violins and especially for his cellos. In Venice from about 1699, Montagnana is believed to have been the pupil and assistant of Matteo...