August Förster is a German

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

manufacturing company (also rendered "Foerster," occasionally "Forster," officially "August Förster GmbH Kunsthandwerklicher Flügel-und-Pianobau") that currently has a staff of 40 employees and produces around 120

grand piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

s and 150 uprights per year.

History

On April 1, 1859, August Förster opened a small piano workshop in

Löbau Löbau (; , ) is a city in the east of Saxony, Germany, in the traditional region of Upper Lusatia. It is situated between the slopes of the Löbauer Berg and the fertile hilly area of the Upper Lusatian Mountains. It is the gateway to this volca ...

, Germany, expanding to a factory on Löbau's Jahn Street in 1862."Geschichte"
, ''Official Website of August Förster GmbH'', 2005. Accessed April 11, 2009."Förster"
''Grove Music Online'', 2009. Accessed 19 April 2009. (subscription required) Still in use today, this facility has been enlarged and modernized by the Förster family and remains the exclusive site for the manufacture of the original August Förster piano. In 1897, Caesar Förster succeeded his father August as manager of the company and opened a second factory in Jiříkov, Bohemia (later

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

) in 1900. The owner Franz Cäsar Förster was awarded an imperial and

royal warrant of appointment Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The royal warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the issuer of t ...

to the court of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. In 1937 the company manufactured one of the first

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

s, the “Vierling-Förster” piano, developed by Oskar Vierling at the Heinrich Institute for Oscillation Research at the

Technische Hochschule A ''Technische Hochschule'' (, plural: ''Technische Hochschulen'', abbreviated ''TH'') is a type of university focusing on engineering sciences in Germany. Previously, it also existed in Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands (), and Finland (, ) ...

in Charlottenburg (now

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

) using

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

pickups. In 1948 the factory in Jiříkov was nationalized. Under new state-sanctioned management many pianos of good quality were produced, but since 1948 the Czechoslovak-made pianos have had no connection or relationship to the German August Förster piano. This "other" August Förster is currently produced in the Czech Republic by the Petrof Piano Company and sold in Canada and certain European countries. In 1972, the final phase of East German nationalization transformed the company into the state-owned "VEB Flügel-und-Pianobau Löbau." Although still under the management of Wolfgang Förster, the company was annexed as part of the German Piano-Union, Leipzig. The family name was added back into the official company name in 1976, resulting in instruments branded "VEB Förster Pianos Löbau." Also in 1976, the company began its first exports to the United States.

Noted Customers

Many prominent musicians have favored the German-made Förster piano. Among them have been

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

and

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

, both owners of Förster pianos, and

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

, who wrote a number of his operas while working at a Förster piano. Robert Fischer, Alex Duke, Javier Pagola Zheng and Anton Kuerti are also noted for their regard of the August Förster piano.

Awards

Förster pianos have won many awards for quality and tone, including the "Verleihung der Goldmedaille für den Rokokoflügel" in 1987. In ''The Piano Book'' by

Larry Fine Louis Feinberg (October 4, 1902 – January 24, 1975), better known by his stage name Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges and was often called "The Middle St ...

, the German-made August Förster piano receives the highest possible rating in the areas of performance, quality control, and confidence (Fine's term for general durability). In his "High Quality Performance Pianos" category, Fine ranks the modern August Förster piano as just below such internationally respected instruments as C. Bechstein, Grotrian, and

Bösendorfer Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces Imperial Bösendorfer, 97- and 92-Key (instrument) ...

. In addition, Fine praises the modern Förster piano for its "remarkable bass," and also comments on a particular "responsiveness" of the Renner action when observed in the Förster application.

In popular culture

An August Förster piano was seen by audiences worldwide as the featured instrument in the movie '' The Pianist''.

Current Grand Piano Models

Current Upright Piano Models

References

External links

Official homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, August Companies based in Saxony German brands Löbau Piano manufacturing companies of Germany Purveyors to the Imperial and Royal Court