Bechstein
C. Bechstein Pianofortefabrik AG, Bechstein in short, was established in Berlin, Germany in the year 1853 by Carl Bechstein, at the time its sole proprietor. In 1856, 3 years after starting his business, he built his first concert grand piano. This grand piano was given the serial number 100, which should not be possible considering the production numbers. It is not known what his motives were for this, whether for cosmetic reasons or as a cunning business move. Whatever the motive might have been, it worked out well for him, as he managed to enthuse well-known pianist Hans von Bülow, pupil and son in law of Franz Liszt, for his grand piano.
Due to the for those times unusual stability of the materials used, and the high resilience of his instruments, Bechstein soon became a household name. From 1860 onward Bechstein expanded his business. Towards the end of the 1860’s he started exporting to England and Russia amongst other countries, driving up yearly production to approximately 500 instruments.
During the First World War, in 1916, Bechtsteins foreign branches were expropriated. The English government had ordered liquidation of all German affiliates. The same occurred in France. Carl’s brother Edwin, who had been bought out of the company after a fraternal conflict, saw a new opportunity in 1923, when the business was turned into a limited company. Edwin and his wife Helene bought back into the company. Helene’s support of the by then only locally known Adolf Hitler, and her undisguised antisemitism evidently did not help business.
Despite all of this, with the company in dire straits, Bechstein provided a guilded Bechstein grand piano to the 1929 World Expo in Barcelona.
At the end of the Second World War Bechstein was heavily affected by bombing. It took until 1958 for annual production numbers to get back up to approximately 1000 instruments.
