Kalkbrenner

Biography

Kalkbrenner is named among a group of virtuosos—including Clementi, Cramer, Pleyel and Herz—who took such intense interest in the development of the piano that they invested money earned on the concert platform into piano factories. According to the text, these performer-entrepreneurs took an active part in the construction of instruments, trying to build pianos such as they themselves desired for their art. Kalkbrenner is described as a renowned musician and piano virtuoso who formed a close association with Camille Pleyel. Together the two spent several years in London studying piano manufacturing with Broadwood, Collard, and Clementi, adopting elements of English design and modern factory methods that contributed to the later success of the Pleyel firm. From Spillane (1890): Kalkbrenner was a well-known musician who became the business partner of Camile Pleyel, son of the piano-manufacturing house's founder Ignace Pleyel. By about 1835 the two men together controlled the largest wholesale and retail pianoforte trade then existing anywhere in Europe, continuing and extending the business built up by the elder Pleyel.

Highlights

• A renowned musician and piano virtuoso who partnered closely with Camille Pleyel
• Studied piano making with Broadwood, Collard, and Clementi in London alongside Pleyel
• Named among a group of virtuosos who invested concert earnings into piano factories and took an active part in constructing instruments to suit their own artistic desires.
• Well-known musician who partnered with Camile Pleyel; by about 1835 the pair controlled the largest pianoforte trade in Europe.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), pp. 256, 398.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 23.

Public domain.