Richard Wilhelm Gertz

Biography

Richard Wilhelm Gertz was born at Hannover, Germany, on April 21, 1865, son of a Concertmaster who was friendly with Joachim, Wagner, Liszt, von Bülow, Brahms and Spohr. His father ran a Hannover piano and organ dealership (from 1873), introducing Steinway pianos to Germany and later holding the Bechstein, Bluthner, and Mason and Hamlin agencies. Working from boyhood in his father's repair shop, Richard learned to rebuild old grand pianos, designing new scales and actions by hand, and invented tools and a transposing keyboard. In 1881 he worked at the Steinway factory in New York, then managed the repair shop of Bollman Brothers in St. Louis (1883), keeping a diary of piano measurements. He later worked for the Mason and Hamlin Company on cabinet organs (to 1886), studied acoustics in Germany, and became acquainted with Hans von Bülow and Johannes Brahms. He began manufacturing pianos at Hannover in 1888, took over his father's business on his father's death in 1892, and discovered a soundboard-arching technique using iron rods. In 1895 Mason and Hamlin brought him to Boston as a stockholder to design new scales and reorganize its piano manufacturing department.

Highlights

• Grew up around Joachim, Wagner, Liszt, von Bülow, Brahms and Spohr through his father's Hannover piano/organ dealership, which introduced Steinway pianos to Germany
• Invented a transposing keyboard and tools for piano rebuilding, and discovered a method of arching soundboards using iron rods across the case
• Recruited by the Mason and Hamlin Company in 1895 as a stockholder to design new scales and take charge of its manufacturing department

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 144, 145, 147, 148.

Public domain.