Bösendorfer

L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH

File:Bösendorfer logo.PNG
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Musical instruments
Founded	1828
Headquarters	Vienna, Austria
Key people	Ignaz Bösendorfer, Founder
Products	pianos
Website	www.boesendorfer.com

Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha. Bösendorfer pianos are noted for their dark, full-bodied sound compared with other top models. The company is unusual in producing 97- and 92-key models in addition to instruments with standard 88-key keyboards.

History

Bösendorfer, the oldest piano manufacturer still producing its own instruments, was established in 1828 by Ignaz Bösendorfer. From the outset, it has had a history of producing highly respected instruments; in 1830, it was granted the status of official piano maker to the Emperor. Ignaz's son Ludwig Bösendorfer (April 15, 1835 – May 9, 1919) took over in 1859, operating from new premises from 1860. Between 1872 and its closure in 1913, the associated Bösendorfer-Saal was one of the premier concert halls of Vienna. In 1909, the company was sold to Carl Hutterstrasser, who was succeeded by his sons Alexander and Wolfgang in 1931. In 1966 Bösendorfer was taken over by the Jasper Corporation (later renamed Kimball International), parent company of Kimball Pianos, where it remained before returning to Austrian hands when it was purchased by BAWAG PSK Gruppe in 2002. BAWAG signed an agreement to sell all stock in Bosendorfer to Yamaha on December 20, 2007, and the two companies will likely complete the sale in 2008.

Characteristics

Bösendorfer

Bösendorfer pioneered the extension of the typical 88-key keyboard, creating the Imperial Grand (Model 290), which has 97 keys, and later the Model 225, which has 92. The extra keys, all at the bass end of the keyboard, were originally hidden beneath a hinged panel mounted between the piano's conventional low A and the left-hand end-cheek to prevent their being struck accidentally during normal playing; more recent models have omitted this device and simply have the upper surface of the extra natural keys finished in matte black instead of white to differentiate them from the standard 88.

The Bösendorfer sound is usually described as darker or richer than the more pure but less full-bodied sound of other pianos like the Steinway or Yamaha. On the Imperial Grand, this characteristic tonal quality in part derives from the inclusion of 9 additional bass notes below bottom A. These extra 9 keys were originally added so that pianists could play Busoni's transcriptions of J.S. Bach's organ works that required the 32' bass pipes (usually played on the pedal organ). As very little other music makes direct use of the extra strings, they usually contribute to the piano's sonic character not through being played directly but by resonating when other strings in the piano are struck, contributing additional body to the tone. Moreover, the bass notes of the Bösendorfer, including the extra bass keys, are very powerful, adding volume in demanding literature.

Music written to include rich harmonic colorations, such as bebop, often calls for the player to sound the upper parts of a musical chord's harmonic series (3rds, 6ths, 7ths, 9ths, 11ths, and 13ths, for example) without playing the tonic note. In these cases, it is up to the listener's ear to "replace" the missing tonic, revealing the chord's basis. When such music is played on a large Bösendorfer, however, the additional strings generate, albeit at low volume, the tonic by vibrating sympathetically with the played notes, contributing further to the fullness of the sound. The extra strings' contribution to classical music typically is more subtle, as compositions in that literature typically do not omit the tonic note, at least for long.

The latest development in the Bösendorfer range is CEUS - a computer controlled grand piano. The requisite equipment can be fitted to most Bösendorfer pianos to allow the direct recording of pieces whilst capturing all the subtle nuances of a performance.

Models

Bösendorfer--The removable capo d'astro bar is located across the upper two (treble) sections of the cast-iron plate.

Bösendorfer makes seven models of grand piano (from 5'8" to 9'6") and one vertical piano (52" upright). The 9'6" Imperial Grand is one of the world's largest pianos.

The rim of a Bosendorfer grand piano is built quite differently from that of all other grands. Instead of veneers bent around a form, the rim is made in solid sections of spruce and jointed together. Spruce is better at transmitting sound than reflecting it. This is perhaps why Bosendorfers tend to have a more delicate treble and a bass that features the fundamental tone more than the higher harmonics. There are also two other features of Bösendorfers that are shared with only a few other piano brands. One is a removable capo d'astro bar in the treble, which facilitates rebuilding of the instrument and, Bösendorfer says, provides greater acoustic separation from the plate, decreasing tonal absorption. The other is single-stringing, providing each string its own individual hitch pin on the plate instead of connecting it to a neighboring string. This design may slightly improve tuning stability and is an advantage in case of string breakage.

Standard Black Models

Each numerical Bösendorfer model directly corresponds to the its length in centimeters. For example, a Model 170 is 170 centimeters long (approximately 5'7"). The following table describes the current Bösendorfer models:

Model #	Length	Keys
170	5' 7"	88
185	6' 1"	88
200	6' 7"	88
214	7'	88
225	7' 4"	92
280	9' 2"	88
290	9' 6"	97
130CL	Upright	88

Conservatory Series

In order to appeal to a wider market, Bösendorfer designed the Conservatory Series for colleges and universities that could not afford Bösendorfer's standard black model pianos. The production of the two CS Series pianos spends less time in "non-critical areas," cutting down costs of production and purchase, making them more affordable than standard models. The cases and frames are of satin finish, rather than polished, and the pianos are loop-strung rather than single-strung.

Special and Limited editions

Bösendorfer has produced a number of specially designed pianos named after famous composers such as Franz Schubert and Frédéric Chopin, as well as pianos designed for special occasions, such as Bösendorfer's 170th and 175th anniversaries.

A small number of 290SE automatic reproducing pianos were built and sold when Bösendorfer was under the ownership of Kimball. The 290 was fitted with electronics and mechanics to record to magnetic tape and playback through electro-mechanical actuation of the piano. Later the 290SE was able to be attached to a PC computer running the then-current Microsoft Windows v3.1 operating system for recording, editing, and playback. The 290SE system was the first commercially available computer controlled "player piano" capable of accurately reproducing both the notes and intensity of a performer's playing, but it was not patented, and other companies soon introduced patented reproducing piano technologies. 'SE' stands for Stahnke Engineering, for Wayne Stahnke, the inventor of this mechanism. These pianos are still quite actively used and sought after when appearing for sale.

Designer Models

Bösendorfer produces a limited number of Artisan Models annually, each available for order only during the calendar year in which it was developed. An example of a designer model is the Bösendorfer Swarovski Crystal Grand piano. Three of these special pianos were produced in 2003 in honor of Bösendorfer's 175th anniversary. Each piano's case is encrusted with 8000 crystals and layers of gold.

Three notable architects who have designed Bösendorfer piano models are Theophil Freiherr von Hansen (1866), Josef Hoffman (1909) and Hans Hollein (1990). There were only two Hans Hollein 225 models produced in 1990; one can be found in the lounge of the Westin Grand Bohemian Hotel in Orlando, Florida.

Noteworthy events

• On 10 April, 2007, a second-hand Bösendorfer Model 275 concert grand worth £45,000, but insured for half that amount, was damaged when it was dropped 2.5 meters from a delivery truck. The piano was to feature at the "Two Moors Festival" in Devon. The company replaced the piano for one valued at £90,000, and delivered it personally.

• In 2006, a Model 214 was built as a gift in memory of Ward Virts to The College of Southern Maryland for its future Fine Arts department. Ward Virts was a talented concert pianist and hailed from Southern Maryland. The piano, now on campus in a humidity and temperature controlled room, is valued at over $85,000.

Notable Bösendorfer Artists

Among the earliest artists to be associated with Bösendorfer was Franz Liszt, who at least once opined that Bösendorfer and Bechstein pianos were the only instruments capable of withstanding his tremendously powerful playing. In his memoirs, Artur Rubinstein recounts having insisted on a Bechstein instead of the hall's Bösendorfer before a recital in Austria. After the performance, the then-head of the Bösendorfer company came backstage to meet this young artist who refused to play a piano highly cherished by his Russian namesake, Anton Rubinstein; Rubinstein claims he thereafter always sought out Bösendorfers when in Austria. In the late 1970s following a concert performed in Vienna, jazz pianist Oscar Peterson turned to his impresario, Norman Granz, with the words: "Dammit, Norman, where does this box go? I also gotta have such a thing!" Such was his reaction to playing a Bösendorfer 290. Musisician/comedian Victor Borge also played Bösendorfer pianos. More recent examples of notable artists who have played the Bösendorfer include Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter; American pianists Cecil Taylor and Tori Amos; German pianist Wolfgang Rübsam; Austrian pianist Walter Klien; and Irish pianist John O'Conor. Minimalist composer Charlemagne Palestine chose a nine-foot Bösendorfer as the vehicle on which to perform his 1974 composition Strumming Music, released as his first compact disc in 1991; it features in excess of 45 minutes of Palestine forcefully playing two notes in rapid alternation, slowly expanding into clusters, with the sustain pedal depressed throughout. As the music swells (and the piano gradually detunes), the harmonics build and the listener can hear a variety of timbres rarely produced by the piano.

Recordings

Bösendorfer pianos have appeared on numerous records. Some examples are:

Classical

• Bruno Canino recorded music of Rossini and Donizetti on an Imperial Grand.
• Peter Hill recorded Havergal Brian's complete piano music on a Bösendorfer Imperial at the Northern College of Music for Cameo Classics. John Ogdon highly praised the recordings in his review for Tempo.
• Gerhard Oppitz in 1989 recorded a complete traversal of the solo piano music of Johannes Brahms on an Imperial Grand.
• Awadagin Pratt more recently recorded Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, his own transcription of Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 582, and Brahms's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel on an Imperial Grand.
• Sviatoslav Richter recorded Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier on a Bosendorfer.
• Carol Rosenberger recorded music of Liszt, Griffes, Ravel, and Debussy and Beethoven's Appassionata and op. 111 sonatas on an Imperial Concert Grand.
• Moritz Rosenthal played a Bösendorfer for his celebrated series of recordings for HMV.

• Terry Riley's 1986 minimalist piano piece written in Just intonation, The Harp of New Albion, was recorded on a Bösendorfer Imperial grand piano, especially tuned for Riley himself.

Popular

• Brian May and Freddie Mercury of the band Queen employed the Bösendorfer in the song "Flash".
• Elvis Costello in his album Punch the Clock.
• Peter Gabriel in his album Up.
• Bradley Joseph in his album Rapture.
• Giovanni Allevi in his album 13 Dita.

Bibliography

• Fine, Larry (2007). 2007-2008 Annual Supplement to The Piano Book : Brookside Press ISBN 1-929145-21-7 or ISBN 1-929145-22-5 (electronic edition)
• Fine, Larry (2001). The Piano Book : Brookside Press ISBN 1-929145-01-2
• Kunz, Johannes (2002). Bösendorfer — A Living Legend : Molden Publishing Co. ISBN 3-85485-080-8

External links

• L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH
• Bösendorfer in photoarchive
• BosendorferImperial.com - site about the Imperial pianos, with complete audio files of songs, images, etc.
• Bösendorfer Connection - For enthusiasts and owners of Bösendorfer pianos