Visiting two sisters of Tori's best friends at home (Part I)
June 1st, 1996
Working for Philips as a research scientist for automatic speech recognition enables me to visit Vienna about once or twice a year, because our project partners are Philips Dictation Systems in Vienna. During my last business trip to Vienna I found out where the shop of the Boesendorfer piano factory is. I was not prepared to enter that time, but after I heard Tori's words about the reasons why she prefers Boesendorfer and the relationship she has to her instrument, I wanted to get some more information about Boesendorfer and inform all of you about this company this time. So I made up my mind, fixed my schedule, took my camera with me and a photo showing Tori together with her Boesey. So now imagine yourself in the city of Vienna, Austria, Europe, in front of some rather old-fashioned shop rooms.
The shopkeeper seems to be happy to see somebody actually entering the three small rooms where he intends to sell the Boesendorfer pianos. It is a wonderful sunny saturday morning and I wonder how many people will make their way through this door during the opening hours. The entrance is not very impressive. It is located at the rear of the concert hall building of the Viennese Musikverein in which the traditional new years concert of the Vienna philharmonics, which is broadcasted all over the world, takes place every year. Except the Boesendorfer signature on top of the shop rooms, the building does not show any ornaments on this back-side.
The first room I see contains two grand pianos - a white one and a black one. The latter looks very similar to the one that Tori uses during Dew Drop Inn. In another room upright pianos are displayed, and the third room is the office. The man looks at me with a friendly face although in my jeans and t-shirt I am obviously not one of the customers who is able to spend about $100.000 for one of the beautiful grands. Nevertheless I am asked whether I would like some help.
I introduce myself. Although he does not seem to ever have heard about a musician named "Tori Amos", he disappears after I mention that I plan to write an article for Tori Amos fanzines about Boesendorfer. A few moments later he returns with some brochures which he hands me. We have a little talk and I am allowed to take as many pictures as I like. When I ask whether it is even possible for me to play on one of the grand pianos he answers, "Of course, feel free.".
I am actually pretty nervous when I approach the black Boesendorfer on the right side of the room. It is like meeting one of the sisters of Tori's best friends. When I start to play the little tune I came up with when I returned home after seeing Tori nine times in concert in March and meeting her for a few seconds several times, I make quite a lot of mistakes due to my nervousness and I imagine myself playing in concert in front of an appreciative audience and I am able to feel a tiny little bit of what Tori might feel when we listen to her. Some may not believe this, but it is something special for me to play this instrument, and with a little fantasy I sense a distant relationship for three minutes. I really do not dare to play more tunes, because my piano playing is definitely not good enough to deserve such an instrument. It is made for the pianistic skills of musicians like Tori - and I am not even a musician at all.
The sound of the Boesendorfer seems to me warm, but not too soft. Maybe due to the stone walls in the room which is not bigger than an average living room, the music appears to be direct and straight. The touch of the instrument is very even for all keys, not too soft either. The mechanics are, of course, perfect.
By the way, "Boesendorfer" is the correct spelling, if the "oe" is not available as an extra symbol like in German. This extra symbol can be found in the "Boys For Pele" CD inlay or, of course, written on the instrument that is standing on the right side during Tori's current tour. When spoken, the "v" should sound similar to the "o" in e.g. "world" or the "u" in e.g. "burst". Maybe the original sound of the word can be approximated by saying something like "Bursendorfer".
The following article is an excerpt of a brochure I was given by the friendly Boesendorfer employee. It connects the history of Tori's favourite piano with the history of the city of Vienna and even to the European musical and cultural history. I cannot verify the information it contains, but the writer sure knows much more about history than I do. As the brochure is published by Boesendorfer, it does some advertising in favour of the company, but maybe it gives some more hints on why Tori prefers their instruments.
Boesendorfer - The History of a Grand Piano
Ignaz Boesendorfer, son of Jacob Boesendorfer a Vienna cabinetmaker and his wife Martha, is born on July 27th, 1794. At nineteen, young Boesendorfer begins an apprenticeship with Joseph Brodmann, organ and piano maker of Vienna. A good master has found an ingenious pupil.
Vienna, 1828: Austria is slowly recovering from the Napoleonic Wars. In the Waehring Cemetry on the outskirts of Vienna, Franz Schubert is laid to rest next to Beethoven who had died the previous year. Before them this city on the danube had been home to Mozart and Haydn.
That year, Ignaz Boesendorfer applies for a permit to start his own piano manufacturing business. He receives a decree saying "The Permit together with all professional and municipal rights is herewith bestowed on the aspiring pinoa maker Ignaz Boesendorfer by the magistrates office of the capital city of Vienna for the purpose of manufacturing pianos.".
The young Liszt, with his monumental technique, was shattering every piano put at his disposal in Vienna. Taking the advice of a few friends, he tries a Boesendorfer and this instrument stands up under his playing. After the introductory selections, Liszt becomes ever more demanding of the piano. His excitement electrifies the audience as he challenges the instrument to perform beyond even its maker's expectations. In one sweep, Boesendorfer becomes famous as a concert grand. For Liszt, this is the beginning of a life long friendship with the House of Boesendorfer.
1830: Ignaz Boesendorfer is the first ever to receive the title of "Court and Chamber Piano Maker" from the Austrian Emperor. In 1839 and 1845 Boesendorfer wins the gold medal and the First Prize at the Industrial Exposition in Vienna. The reputation of Boesendorfer's pianos grows rapidly throughout Europe after the endorsement from Franz Liszt. Boesendorfer himself travels extensively in Germany, France, and England; and the increasing demand for his pianos leads him to begin planning the construction of a new factory which, unfortunately, he does not live to see completed. 1859 Ignaz Boesendorfer dies.
The admiration of his contemporaries and their keen sorrow at his death appear in a necrology in the "New Vienna Music Journal" in May, 1859: "Boesendorfer's death is deeply deplored by all circles of society, for we lost in him a man of honor in the complete sense of the word. Simple, honest and just to everybody, hearty and frank towards his friends, generous, noble and amiable to artists, he was also a most affectionate husband, a loving father, and a fervent patriot. He did not shy trouble nor sacrifice where it furthered goodness, generosity and taste. On his grave mourn..."
His son Ludwig, born in 1835, takes over the firm. His far-seeing father had fully acquainted Ludwig Boesendorfer with the secrets of the Boesendorfer piano by the time he was twenty-four. A highly talented musician with an extraordinarily sharp ear, Ludwig makes such improvements in the instrument "as to render the name of Boesendorfer inseparably connected with the conception of music and noble sound".
For two years Ludwig Boesendorfer had attended the Commercial and Technical Department of the Royal Imperial Polytechnic Institute in Vienna. He had worked in his father's workshop until his death. In 1859 he is registered as a "piano-maker" in Vienna and becomes proprietor of the house.
1860: The business is moved to a new factory in Neu-Wien, Vienna. In the building there is a concert hall seating-twohundred. The same year Boesendorfer registers a patent: "To protect the invention of a particular piano action".
After the wars against France and Sardinia in 1859, and Prussia and Italy in 1866, the Empire enjoys a long period of peace and growing domestic prosperity.
The factory soon becomes too small, and in 1870 the business is moved again. The new factory building, which is still being used today, is on the Graf-Starhemberg-Gasse 14 in Vienna's Fourth District. The office and showrooms are moved to the center of the city, into the Liechtenstein Palace on the Herrengasse 6.
Because he loves horses, Ludwig Boesendorfer often visits the riding-school of Prince Liechtenstein where he notices that the walls of the academy have remarkable acoustics. This awareness, together with his profound musical interests, motivates him to persuade Prince Liechtenstein that in the interests of music and the arts the riding-school should and could become a concert hall. Through personal interviews, Boesendorfer succeeds in overcoming the Prince's basic objections, and in 1872 the conversion is accomplished. Hans v. Buelow inaugurates the new hall with a recital on November 19, 1872.
As foreseen by Ludwig, the excellent acoustics of the Boesendorfer Hall creates immense excitement, and it is the most frequented concert hall in Vienna for more than forty years. During this time more than 4500 concerts take place in the hall. The most brilliant names of time are heard repeatedly in the Boesendorfer-Saal: Anton Rubinstein, Pablo Sarasate, Franz Liszt, Moritz Rosenthal, Eugen d'Albert, Johannes Brahms, Ignaz Paderwesky, Hugo Wolf, Bruno Walter, Teresa Carreno, Emil v. Sauer, Arthur Schnabel, Ernst v. Dohnany, Max Reger, Arthur Rubinstein, Bela Bartok, Edvard Grieg, Georg Hellmesberger, Wilhelm Kienzl, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss.
Ludwig Boesendorfer, along with his concert grands, travels with Liszt and Anton Rubinstein on many of their tours. During the long train rides, the three often play cards. Once, Boesendorfer cannot accompany them because he is ill and confined to bed. Using the ace-of-hearts as a post card, Liszt and Rubinstein send get-well wishes (photography). His request for a private railway car with music and sleeping rooms for travelling artists is refused by the directors of Austrian State Railroad.
1869: The Conservatory of the Society of Music Friends moves to new quarters in Vienna, and Boesendorfer presents fourteen new grand pianos to the school. Also, every year the most talented graduate of the piano class is given a new grand piano free. In the form of a competition that takes place every two years, this tradition lives on today.
During these years, Ludwig Boesendorfer is known as one of the most colorful and original of Viennese personalities. He is a true promotor of Viennese musical life. All Vienna knows him with his inimitable top-hat. The caricaturists note this (picture).
Ludwig Boesendorfer is not only one of the most respected citizens of Vienna, but also an extremely popular figure. His leisure hours are devoted to horses and coach-driving in the "Prater", but on the "Praterstern" he regularly leaves his coach and drives with a cab to the office... "It is not proper for a piano-maker to drive in a coach about the city like a cavalier!"
During these years, Vienna becomes the great metropolis of the Empire. Physically the city is changing rapidly. The old walls around the city's center are razed for the magnificent new Ringstrasse, the Opera House, the Burg Theatre, The Musikverein, the Parliament Building, the great museums, the new Hofburg, the University, the Votiv Cathedral, the Boerse and many other magnificent buildings that spring up within a few years.
The Boesendorfer piano gains the respect of every artists on the continent. Custom made instruments are manufactured for the court of the Emperor Franz Joseph I., the Imperial Country Residence at Ischl, for the Empress Elisabeth, and for many Austrian archduchesses and archdukes; for the Empress Eugenie of France, the Emperor of Japan, the Zsar of Russia, and other prominent personalities.
For the time being Vienna's musical world is divided. The "Traditionalists", who are against Wagner, oppose the "New-Germans" (who are pro-Wagner). Anton Bruckner and Johannes Brahms, who adopted Vienna as their home, become involved in the argument, and they stand in opposite camps.
The Viennese Operetta is experiencing its golden years. Johann Strauss (father and son), Josef and Eduard Strauss, Ziehrer, Lanner, Franz v. Suppe, Karl Milloecker, Richard Heuberger and many others characterize the Danube city as the gay and spirited world capital.
1903: Arnold Schoenberg returns to his native Vienna. He is soon surrounded by a circle of students including the Viennese Anton Webern and Alban Berg.
1907: Gustav Mahler is named dirctor of the Court Opera.
1909: Ludwig Boesendorfer, who has no direct descendents, is looking for a successor to take over the firm. He sells the business to his friend Carl Hutterstrasser who continues on in the same spirit. During the years 1913-1914, just before World War I, production reaches a new high. Four hundred and thirty-four instruments leave the factory. In 1913, the firm is struck a heavy blow. The Boesendorfer-Saal must be torn down to make way for a large project. In farewell concerts, the Viennese public takes sad leave of the popular concert hall. All attempts to retain it failed and on October 5, 1912, the last concert season opens, featuring d'Albert, Backhaus, Busoni, the Brussels String Quartet, Dohnanyi-Marteau-Hugo Beckner Trio, Gruenfeld, Lamond, Sauer, and many other notable artists. On May 2, 1913, the Rose-Quartet performs Beethoven's String Quartet in F Major, Schubert's String Quintet in C Major, and Haydn's Variations on the National Anthem. As the last tones die, the public withdraws in silence and the doors of Boesendorfer Hall are closed forever. The firm acquires new offices in the Musikverein Building in the heart of Vienna's music quarter.
The First World War takes its toll. Production sinks to one hundred and thirty-six instruments during the first year of the war. The war and the destruction of his beloved concert hall are too much for Ludwig Boesendorfer. He dies in 1919. In his will, Boesendorfer directs that his body was to be driven to cemetery on a simple piano-carriage and buried in perfect silence before the notice of his death is published. Only Carl Hutterstrasser, the vice-president of the Society of Music Friends, Dr. Ernst Kraus, and Boesendorfers personal attendants are to be present at the burial. There are to be no flowers, wreaths, announcements of death, funeral speeches. Even the gravestone has to bear nothing more than the name "Ludwig" and the year of his death. As heir to his property he leaves a foundation entitled: "Ludwig Boesendorfer Foundation of the Society of Music Friends of Vienne." The revenue from this is to enable the Society to "permanently and ideally support and promote music". Unfortunately, the subsequent destruction of the Austrian Crown makes this sensitive gesture ineffective.
The inflation that sets in soon after the war's end brings a rapid upswing in the economy. Prices and wages rise daily, and skyrocketing market values cause production to climb to 250 to 310 instruments per year between 1919 and 1929.
1919: Richard Strauss becomes director of the Vienna State Opera and, together with Franz Schalk, they begin an administration that lasts until 1924.
The silver era of the Viennese Operetta that began before the war reaches new heights with Franz Lehar, Emmerich Kalman, Leo Fall, Edmund Eysler, Nico Dostal, Oscar Straus and Robert Stoly among others.
1927: Storm clouds appear on the political horizon. The Ministry of Justice is set ablaze, and 90 people die under a hail of police bullets. In spite of the bloody unrest, the production of instruments goes on undeterred. The same year Boesendorfer is awarded the "Grand Prix" at the International Exposition of Music in Geneva. Then, the economic crisis during the Thirties causes an acute slump. Production: 1930: 219 Instruments, 1931: 119 Instruments, 1932: 51 Instruments, 1933: 40 Instruments, 1934: 52 Instruments.
1931: Carl Hutterstrasser's sons, Alexander and Wolfgang, are made partners after having worked in the business for several years. Boesendorfer becomes a partnership.
1934: Cannons are thundering in Vienna. Within six months there are two civil wars and attempts to overthrow the government.
1936: There is another international breakthrough. The British Broadcasting Corporation in London is looking for the best piano to use for recording. Nineteen firms, including all the well known names, put in their bids in an international competition. Boesendorfer is entered in two categories and wins the first prize in both: for an "A" Model concert grand and for a "C" Model grand (1,85m to 2,20m). The B.B.C. orders Boesendorfer concert grands for all British studios.
1936: Production climbs to 114 instruments.
1938: Austria disappears from the map.
1939: World War II. Production is still growing.
1940: 144 grand pianos.
1941: 143 grand pianos.
1944: The lumber yard supplying the firm's wood is destroyed in a bomb attack.
April 1945: For fourteen days, fighting rages through the streets of Vienna. The dome of St. Stephens Cathedral, the symbol of Vienna, is in flames. The factory is hit by artillery fire. In the Musikverein, soldiers camp in the show-rooms around open fires that they build on the parquet floors. The pianos are used as fire wood. Cows are stalled in the show-rooms awaiting the butcher. The firm's technicians are either taken prisoner or flee the approaching front.
Ten thousands of deads (1938-1945); more than 21000 houses destroyed; mountains of rubble. That is the final balance of the war for Vienna.
April 1945: While the fighting is still going on, the cornerstone for the Second Republic is laid. The debris is being cleared away, and reconstruction slowly begins.
1946-1947: A few man are able to produce eleven instruments. Gradually conditions return to normal. Between 1950 and 1966 production grows to approximately one hundred instruments per year, Boesendorfer pianos are shipped to the five continents, and the inimitable Viennese sound is being heard throughout the world again.
1953: The firm celebrates its 125th Anniversary with a gala concert played by the Vienna Philharmonic under Clemens Krauss with Wilhelm Backhaus as soloist. On this occasion, Backhaus is made the first recipient of the "Boesendorfer Ring", an award that is created to honor the world's greatest pianists. The bearer of the ring is supposed to select his own successor during his lifetime.
1955: Austria is free again. The occupying troops leave the country. The State Opera House, which had been almost completely destroyed by bombs, is rebuilt. The great house opens with a gala performance of "Fidelio" conducted by Karl Boehm.
Again and again, the world's greatest artists are choosing Boesendorfer over all other leading instruments. In 1966, the L. Boesendorfer OHG (private firm) is changed to a joint-stock company. Arnold F. Habig, President of the Kimball International Inc., Jasper, Indiana, USA, whose ancestors once emigrated from Vienna to the German-American small town Jasper, located in the state of Indiana, searched a long time for a highly trademarked company to use it's technical know-how and tradition in piano building for a rapid quality improvement of the Kimball pianos. For him it is a pice of good luck that, at this moment, Boesendorfer is for sale, as it brings with it a new connection to the old homeland. Since there were many emigrants of the k.u.k. Monarchy in Jasper and due to the always existing bond with people of Austrian nationality living in the USA, Emperor Franz Joseph I., in the second half of the past century, had paid out of his privy purse a portion of the costs for the construction of the church in Jasper. The new combination also brings to Jasper new impulses for their already existing rich artisan tradition in woodworking.
Founded in 1949 as a furniture company, Kimball International Inc., today, due to the acquisition of a larger number of various enterprises in the woodworking industry, has grown to an important grouping of this branch and experienced in 1959 a large progress by the purchase of the 100 years old Kimball piano factory. Today it represents a world-wide organization from the raw wood to the finished product on many sectors of woodworking industry, from sawmills via veneerfactories to a line of furniture factories in several states of the USA and above all to the largest manufacturer of keyboard instruments in the USA, the Kimball Piano & Organ Co. In addition, there are the factories for Boesendorfer grands in Austria and those for keyboards and piano actions in England and Mexico.
In Vienna, the L. Boesendorfer Klavierfabrik AG., operated by a young management team, whose members, in part, have belonged with the enterprise for many years, is working on fully independently. The continuity is symbolized by its managing director Dr. Roland Raedler, who already entered the L. Boesendorfer OHG (private partnership) as a manager since 1961. He succeeds in acquiring a larger number of music interested youths to work as apprentices, in order to create the basis for a solid expansion of the enterprise with an adequately qualified staff of skilled specialists. Due to this fact, the guaranteed expansion of skilled technicians, the production can be increased from year to year.
In 1973, the factory in Vienna becomes too small. The L. Boesendorder Klavierfabrik Ges.m.b.H., a subsidiary company, is now established in Wiener Neustadt, 54 kilometers south of Vienna. A shut down furniture factory is acquired in Wiener Neustadt and the woodworking department transferred there.
In May 1973, the Austrian Federal Chancellor. Dr. Bruno Kreisky, gives a farewell reception for the 30000th Boesendorfer grand, an "Imperial" model, the largest concert grand in the world.
In 1975, the production reaches, for the first time, the figure of 1913 (before the beginning of World War I) and exceeds it. 515 grand pianos leave the factory in Vienna and make their way into all five continents.
A rapidly growing number of especially younger pianists recognize that no grand piano than the Boesendorfer offers the possibilities for such a richness of personal expression.
In 1977 young artists, whose choice was the Boesendorfer, receive the highest awards in one single month, September, in four international competitions: Van Cliburn Competition, Fort Worth, Texas, USA. International Competition of the German Broadcast Stations ARD, Munich, W-Germany. International Piano-Competition in Bolzano, Italy. International Competition of the Jeunesse Musicale in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
The Boesendorfer Imperial grand piano at the 1st International Piano Competition in Sydney, Australia, is such a success that several institutions compete to purchase this instrument.
Artists from all over the world continue to rendezvous at Boesendorfer in the "Musikvereinsgebaeude" in Vienna.
To give them an instrument that comes nearest to their high expectations, is and remains the motto in the house of Boesendorfer.
Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Bruckner, Strauss, Mahler: they laid the corner-stone for Vienna as the City of Music. Is it, therefore, a wonder that directly here an instrument originated that followed the intuitions of its composers?
The singing, carrying timbre of the "Boesendorfer" will continue to carry a message to all parts of the world from this City of Music, from Vienna.
