Blüthner

After a long and difficult campaign to gain Leipzig citizenship, Julius Blüthner established his workshop in Leipzig, Saxony in 1853. In the beginning he employed three other craftsmen.

By 1900 Blüthner had become the largest piano maker in Germany, producing some 5,000 instruments annually. Innovations such as the aliquot string (an additional string on high treble notes that improves their tone by vibrating sympathetically), as well as a cylindrical soundboard and angle cut hammers, created a unique voice for the Blüthner instrument.

The owners in 1917 (Adolf Max Blüthner, Dr. Paul Robert and Willy Bruno Heinrich) were awarded an imperial and royal warrant of appointment to the court of Austria-Hungary.

In 1936, Blüthner was selected to build the piano for the airship Hindenburg.

In 1943, during World War II, an air raid destroyed the Blüthner factory.

After the war, Dr. Rudolf Blüthner-Haessler rebuilt the company; production of pianos resumed in 1948.

In 1972, the company was nationalized by the East German government, with Ingbert Blüthner-Haessler remaining as managing director.

With the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and German reunification in 1990, the Blüthner family regained control of the company. Ingbert Blüthner-Haessler reorganized the company, increasing the production capacity and modernizing the manufacturing process.

Discontinued piano models

List of discontinued piano models:

Designer models

The one-of-a-kind Blüthner piano of particular interest was a special lightweight instrument, made for use on the Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg. The piano had its harp plate made of aluminum, that saved about 100 kg of weight versus a regular cast iron plate of the same size piano. This was the first piano used in flight, and it was used in an "air-concert" radio broadcast. It was removed in 1937 to save weight so it survived the Hindenburg's infamous crash, only to be destroyed by bombing during WWII. A replica of this piano was featured in the 1975 film The Hindenburg where Reed Channing (Peter Donat) sings. Since the film is set during the airship's final flight, during which the piano was not on the ship, the piano's presence is a historical error.

Blüthner makes a few specialized pianos including some with the design reversed so that a left-handed person can play the tenor with his left hand and the bass with his right hand. In 2008 they designed and built a special keyboard for a customer in Spain which had the Jankó keyboard design.

Brands

In addition to the Blüthner brand, Blüthner manufactures two other brands: Haessler for the mid-level market and Irmler for the entry-level market.