Henry Behning

Biography

Henry Behning, president of Behning Piano Company, was born at Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1859. After attending public schools he learned piano-making under his father's instruction and was admitted to partnership in 1880. When the firm was incorporated in 1894, he was elected president and general manager. Together with his brother Gustav Behning, he was among the first to take up manufacture of the player piano with enthusiasm; by the time of writing the corporation controlled eighteen patents on player piano improvements, some considered good enough to place the Behning Player Piano among the best of its day. The combination of well-constructed grand and upright pianos with an original player action established the Behning name as a factor in the industry. Henry Behning was born at Hanover, Germany, on November 3, 1832, and learned piano making under Julius Gercke before emigrating to America in 1856, where he found employment with Lighte & Newton. At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted in the Union Army but was soon honorably discharged for disability. In 1861 he started his own business producing a good commercial piano, and in 1880 admitted his son Henry to partnership as Henry Behning & Son. He retired from business in 1894 and died June 10, 1905. That same year the firm became the Behning Piano Company, a corporation managed by his son Henry Behning, Jr., and Gustav Behning. From Spillane (1890): Henry Behning, Sr. began his piano manufacturing business in 1861 at 196 Elm Street, New York. His firm passed through several partnerships -- with Mr. Klix, then, after Klix sold his interest to Justus Diehl in 1873, as Behning & Diehl -- before Diehl's withdrawal in 1877 left Behning to bring his sons into the business, forming Behning & Son. The text credits him with several patented innovations adopted in the Behning & Son piano: a compensating 'agraffe' (Patent No. 154,116, 1874), a patented sounding-board adjustment method extending the belly bridge further under the treble section to increase tone in the upper register, and a concave name-board (Patent No. 160,299). Under his direction three of his sons entered the firm in various capacities -- bookkeeping, factory superintendence, and travelling sales -- carrying the business from its 1861 start to a large factory built in 1885.

Highlights

• Learned piano making under Julius Gercke in Hanover, Germany
• Served in the Union Army during the Civil War before being honorably discharged for disability
• Started his own piano business in 1861, later joined by his son Henry as Henry Behning & Son
• Born at Bridgeport, Conn., in 1859
• Admitted to partnership in his father's piano-making firm in 1880
• Elected president and general manager when the firm incorporated as Behning Piano Company in 1894
• Apprenticed under Julius Gercke in Hanover, Germany, then worked for Helmholtz
• Served as a private in the First Connecticut Volunteers during the Civil War, discharged due to disability
• Founded his New York piano business at the close of 1861; partnered with Klix in 1864 to form Behning & Klix
• Began business in 1861 at 196 Elm Street, New York.
• Patented a compensating 'agraffe' (Patent No. 154,116, August 18, 1874), a concave name-board (Patent No. 160,299), and a sounding-board adjustment method (Patent No. 261,523).
• Brought his sons into the firm to found Behning & Son between 1877 and 1880.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 319, 320; Vol. II (1913), pp. 39, 40.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 245, 246, 247.

Public domain.