Anyone who plays or collects ocarinas knows the name Heinrich (or Henry) Fiehn. The internet is full of ads selling ocarinas in all shapes and sizes made by the Heinrich Fiehn factory in Vienna. It’s clear from the popularity, international appeal and sheer sales volume of his products that he...
The surname HEIDEGGER is synonymous with instrument making in Passau and Linz. The family’s instrument-making history begins in the 1840s and ceases over 130 years later in 1973. Their story is not unlike other instrument makers of those days…difficult, complicated but for many, very interesting, especially since in this case,...
Louis-Maurice KASRIEL (1815-1899) was a musical instrument maker who was born in Krotoschin, Prussia – today's Krotoszyn in Poland. In 1839, he started a company in Paris that would specialise in making harmoniums, harmoniflutes and guide-chants. Louis Maurice Kasriel was married to Sara KAHN. The company was awarded medals for...
Lot’s beginningsThere’s not really a ‘lot’ [sorry ?] that we can add to the literature about Monsieur Louis Esprit LOT (1807-96), who was the preeminent French flute maker of the late nineteenth century.Louis Esprit Lot was born on 17 May 1807 in La Couture, which is situated in northern France,...
Bad Urach is a beautiful spa town in the Swabian Alb, about 50 kilometres from Stuttgart in Baden Württemberg, Germany. The town is famous as a health resort with mineral thermal water for treating different illnesses. It features lovely old streets with beautiful half-timbered houses in excellent historical condition –...
If you love early flutes, then you must have heard of the great Romantic flute maker, Wilhelm LIEBEL. (Christian) Wilhelm LIEBEL was born in Adorf on 2 November 1793. He was initially trained to make instruments by his father Johann Gottfried LIEBEL (1752-1822) in their home town. Wilhelm continued his...
Stephan KOCH was born in Veszprém in Hungary on 12 April 1772. He was the son of the master turner, Christoph Koch and his wife Elisabetha. Stephan married Antonia Trost on 17 November 1799 and went on to have at least seven children.It seems that Stephan learnt the turning trade...
Very little is known about Ernst Robert LEIBL. It seems that he was born in Adorf in Vogtland, located in Saxony, Germany in 1871. Ernst Robert, or Robert LEIBL [which it seems he preferred] may well have been the son of Robert LEIBL. Robert LEIBL senior lived and worked for...
