August Förster

The August Förster piano manufacturing company (also rendered "Foerster," occasionally "Forster," officially "August Förster GmbH Kunsthandwerklicher Flügel-und-Pianobau") currently has a staff of 40 employees and produces around 120 grand pianos and 150 uprights per year.

History

On April 1, 1859, August Förster opened a small piano workshop in Löbau, Germany, expanding to a factory on Löbau’s Jahn Street in 1862. Still in use today, this facility has been enlarged and modernized by the Förster family and remains the exclusive site for the manufacture of the original August Förster piano.

In 1897, Caesar Förster succeeded his father August as manager of the company, and opened a second factory in Georgswalde (Jiříkov), Bohemia (later Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic) in 1900.

In 1945 the factory in Georgswalde was nationalized. Under new state-sanctioned management many pianos of good quality were produced, but since 1945 the Czech-made pianos have had no connection or relationship to the German August Förster piano. This "other" August Förster is currently produced in the Czech Republic by the Petrof (also rendered "Petroff," "Petrov") Piano Company, and sold in Canada and certain European countries.

In 1972, the final phase of East German nationalization transformed the company into the state-owned "VEB Fluegel-und-Pianobau Loebau." Although still under the management of Wolfgang Förster, the company was annexed as part of the German Piano-Union, Leipzig. The family name was added back into the official company name in 1976, resulting in instruments branded "VEB Förster Pianos Loebau." Also in 1976, the company began its first exports to the United States.

Noted Customers

Many prominent musicians have favored the German-made Förster piano. Among them have been Richard Strauss and Sergei Prokofiev, both owners of Förster pianos, and Giacomo Puccini, who wrote a number of his operas while working at a Förster piano. Robert Fischer and Anton Kuerti are also noted for their regard of the August Förster piano.

Awards

Förster pianos have won many awards for quality and tone, including the "Verleihung der Goldmedaille für den Rokokoflügel" in 1987.

In "The Piano Book" by Larry Fine, the German-made August Förster piano receives the highest possible rating in the areas of performance, quality control, and confidence (Fine’s term for general durability). In his "Group 1: Highest Quality Performance Pianos" category, Fine ranks the modern August Förster piano as superior to such internationally respected instruments as C. Bechstein, Fazioli, Grotrian, and Steinway. In addition, Fine praises the modern Förster piano for its "remarkable bass," and also comments on a particular "responsiveness" of the Renner action when observed in the Förster application.

In Popular Culture

An August Förster piano was seen by audiences worldwide as the featured instrument in the movie, "The Pianist."

Current Grand Piano Models

Current Upright Piano Models

References

*"Altenburg Piano Hosts August Forster." Music Trades 148.9 (2000): 53.
*Ehrlich, Cyril. The Piano: A History. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1990. ISBN-10: 0198161719
*Fine, Larry. The Piano Book: Buying and Owning a New or Used Piano, Fourth Edition. Jamaica Plain, MA: Brookside Press, 2005. ISBN-10: 1929145012
*Good, Edwin. Giraffes, Black Dragons, and Other Pianos: A Technological History from Cristofori to the Modern Concert Grand, Second Edition. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN-10: 0804745498
*"Official Website of August Förster GmbH." Grands. Löbau, Germany: 2005. Nov. 13, 2007 .
*"Official Website of August Förster GmbH." History. Löbau, Germany: 2005. Nov. 13, 2007 .
*"Official Website of August Förster GmbH." Today. Löbau, Germany: 2005. Nov. 13, 2007 .
*Williams, John-Paul. The Piano: An Inspirational Guide to the Piano and Its Place in History. New York: Billboard Books, 2002. ISBN-10: 0823081516

External links

* [http://www.august-foerster.de August Förster]