Theodore A. Heintzmann

Biography

Theodore A. Heintzmann, born at Berlin, Germany, on May 19, 1817, is called the father of the piano industry in Canada. He began as a cabinetmaker, learned keymaking with Buchholtz, and perfected himself as a piano maker under Grunow. After traveling extensively in Europe, he landed in New York in 1850 and worked at Lighte & Newton's factory, sharing a workroom with Charles Steinway. In 1853 he moved to Buffalo and started the Western Piano Company, which failed in the panic of 1857. Moving to Toronto in 1860, he started a piano shop with no capital, but his high-quality instruments found ready buyers, and the business grew steadily into one of the Dominion's leading industrial establishments. He died on July 25, 1899; the business was taken over by a corporation with four of his sons active in its management. Heintzmann is described as the "past-master and father of the piano industry of Canada," who personally instructed Walter Lane in piano-making in Toronto over a five-year period beginning in 1885, before Lane moved on to the A. B. Chase Company in Ohio.

Highlights

• Called the father of the piano industry in Canada
• Founded a Toronto piano shop in 1860 without capital that grew into a leading Dominion firm
• Earlier founded the Western Piano Company in Buffalo (1853), abandoned in the panic of 1857
• Called the "past-master and father of the piano industry of Canada"
• Personally trained Walter Lane in piano-making in Toronto for five years starting in 1885

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 313; Vol. II (1913), p. 49.

Public domain.