Ernest Knabe

Biography

Ernest Knabe, son of founder William Knabe, assumed leadership of William Knabe & Company after his father's death in 1864, while his brother William took charge of the factories. With the firm's principal southern market destroyed by the Civil War, Ernest secured a $20,000 line of credit from a Baltimore bank on the strength of the Knabe name alone, then spent two months touring northern and western states establishing new sales agencies, saving the business without drawing on the loan. He went on to open branch houses in New York and Washington, design new scales for concert grand and upright pianos, and build additional factories. The firm's pianos won high honors, notably at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and were used and praised by virtuosos such as D'Albert and Saint-Saens. An enthusiastic, tireless music lover on close terms with rivals including William Steinway and Albert Weber, Ernest Knabe died of overwork on April 16, 1894. From Spillane (1890): Ernest Knabe was the younger son of Baltimore piano-maker William Knabe. Like his brother William Jr., he was carefully trained in the practical details of piano-building as well as fitted for the commercial management of the family concern. Following his father's death in 1864, Ernest became, together with his brother and relative-by-marriage Charles Keidel, an heir of William Knabe & Company, which continued under that name.

Highlights

• Took charge of William Knabe & Company after his father's 1864 death and rescued the firm through a bold wartime financing gamble
• Designed new scales for concert grand and upright pianos
• Firm's concert grands were praised by virtuosos including D'Albert and Saint-Saens and won honors at the 1876 Centennial Exposition
• Son of William Knabe, carefully trained in piano-building and commercial management
• Became a co-heir of the William Knabe & Company house alongside his brother William Jr. and Charles Keidel

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 284, 285.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 132.

Public domain.