Van Winkle

Biography

Van Winkle is named as the proprietor of a piano-making shop in New York described by Dolge as 'celebrated,' where Albert Weber worked after completing his apprenticeship with Master Holden. Weber supported himself during this period by giving music lessons in the evenings and playing organ at church on Sundays, before starting his own piano business at age 23. No first name, dates, or further individual detail are given for Van Winkle beyond the shop's reputation and its role in Weber's training. From Spillane (1890): Van Winkle operated a New York piano shop that, in its time, occupied "a very eminent place in the trade." Myron A. Decker served a four-year apprenticeship there beginning in 1844, learning every department of piano-making, and Albert Weber, Sr. was a fellow workman there during the latter part of Decker's tenure.

Highlights

• Proprietor of a 'celebrated shop' in New York where Albert Weber worked after his apprenticeship with Master Holden.
• Ran an eminent New York piano shop where Myron A. Decker apprenticed for four years from 1844
• Albert Weber, Sr. was a fellow workman in his shop

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 296.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 237, 238.

Public domain.