Hoxa

Biography

Hoxa of Vienna is noted by Dolge as being on record with a patent for a full iron frame for grand pianos in 1837, placing him among the various European makers who experimented with metal bracing systems in the early nineteenth century. Dolge suggests that European makers of this period were generally hesitant to fully adopt the iron frame, fearing it would impart too metallic a tone to the instrument, and offers Hoxa's patent as one data point in that broader European experimentation, which lagged behind the American makers' embrace of the full iron frame following Jonas Chickering's 1843 patent. No further biographical information about Hoxa is given. Hoxa, of Vienna, is credited with patenting a full iron frame for grand pianos in 1837. Dolge presents this as the point at which the Vienna school -- which had never aimed for powerful tone -- first developed the use of metal for resistance in its grand pianos, well after such developments had begun in England and France. No further biographical information is given.

Highlights

• Of Vienna, patented a full iron frame for grand pianos in 1837, the first development of metal resistance within the Vienna school
• Patented a full iron frame for grand pianos in Vienna, 1837

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 61.

Public domain.