Johann Daniel Silbermann

Biography

Johann Daniel Silbermann was a nephew of Gottfried Silbermann who continued the Silbermann piano and organ business at Strasburg after the elder generation. Unlike other family members, he devoted himself exclusively to making grand pianos, apparently maintaining the reputation for craftsmanship established by his uncle Gottfried and his father Andreas. He died on May 6, 1766, at Leipsic. The text notes he had no successor of his own, meaning continuation of the Strasburg branch passed to other relatives; indeed the firm's work at Strasburg persisted only until the death of Johann Friedrich Silbermann in 1817. His career illustrates how the Silbermann family's piano and organ trade spread from Saxony to Strasburg and specialized within particular instrument types across two generations of nephews and brothers.

Highlights

• Nephew of Gottfried Silbermann who continued the Strasburg firm
• Devoted himself exclusively to building grand pianos
• Died at Leipsic in 1766 with no successor of his own

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 217.

Public domain.