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Vol. 86 July 18, 2026 No. 19

Louis Ernst

d. 1885

maker teacher musician
  • Lighte & Ernst

Biography

Louis Ernst partnered with F. C. Lighte in New York to produce the Lighte & Ernst pianoforte, a very popular instrument through 1885, the year Ernst, the firm's last surviving member, died. Ernst was described as an extremely genial and highly respected figure in the New York piano trade. Some twenty years before his death he had enjoyed a reputation as a teacher of the pianoforte and was regarded as a skilled musician and theorist, complementing Lighte, the firm's practical, mechanically inventive partner, who died in 1879.

Highlights

  • Partnered with F. C. Lighte to produce the popular Lighte & Ernst pianoforte
  • A respected teacher of the pianoforte and skilled musician and theorist
  • Last surviving member of the firm; died in 1885

Source

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 197, 198.

Public domain.

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