Then, with the important Maryland Institute Exhibition approaching, William’s stock of pianos was tied up in legal knots over the protracted end of the partnership. Five weeks later, the other manufactory burned. Within weeks, one of Knabe’s two manufactories was destroyed by fire. Perhaps the break was uglier than it appeared. So William, likewise, set out on his own, founding the firm Wm. The difference of opinion was enough to dissolve the partnership, which Gaehle did in 1854, and then forming his own firm. Knabe, whose kindly disposition appears to have rarely failed him, argued that they should continue to make all three classes of piano, not only offering superior squares and uprights, but competing with Steinway and Chickering to make the finest grands in America. (A Knabe grand could run $500.) Gaehle believed the firm could enhance its position by discontinuing squares and grands and concentrating its efforts on uprights. The firm’s principal market was the South, from Richmond plantations to Charleston townhouses.Īs the most affordable piano, at about $200, the upright, gained popularity. Their small manufactory stayed busy producing five pianos a week. Knabe & Gaehle, with business practices that were, as one historian remarked, “cautious, shrewd and scrupulous,” enjoyed seventeen prosperous years. One typical advertisement for pianos now implored: “Hold the family together.” Also, the piano was becoming less strictly an article of luxury and more a necessity for home and hearth. Pianos became more affordable, thanks primarily to the newly developed American square piano. In keeping with the elite place the piano then held in American society, Knabe & Gaehle’s ads promised, “Pianos of quality for genteel people of means.”Īt the time, European pianos dominated the American market, but besides Knabe & Gaehle dozens of firms were emerging along the east coast, notably two: Chickering and Steinway. In 1837, William joined fellow German Henry Gaehle to form the piano manufacturing firm of Knabe & Gaehle. Within three years he started his own business in an old frame building – buying, selling, and repairing pianos. William must have managed his modest eight dollars a week with admirable economy. After a year, William and Christiana sold their farm tools and settled in Baltimore. Wilhelm (now calling himself William) took a job with the German piano maker Henry Hartge, who had recently made a name for himself by creating iron frames for his pianos. Wilhelm and Christiana were married, and planned to remain in Baltimore a year to learn the new language and customs before continuing on to Missouri. The family paused in the port of Baltimore to recuperate from a tragic journey. Wilhelm purchased a set of farm tools, and prepared to go with his beloved. Christiana’s brother had already helped establish a new German settlement in Hermann, Missouri. Ritz and his family decided to leave for America with a company of immigrants. But before Wilhelm and Christiana could be married, Dr. Instead of attending the university, young Wilhelm, who showed an aptitude for mechanical things, was apprenticed to a cabinet and pianoforte maker.įollowing German custom, Wilhelm traveled six years learning his craft, and then apprenticed himself for three more years.Īt 28, Wilhelm, known among friends for his uncommon order and keen perceptiveness, became engaged to the daughter of a physician, Christiana Ritz. Like many families, the Knabes’ resources were devastated. But in 1812, Napoleon’s army marched through Germany, bringing the calamities of war. Martin Friedrich Knabe, the town apothecary, and his wife Ernestine intended their son Wilhelm for a learned profession. It begins in 1803, in Germany, with the birth of Wilhelm Knabe in Kreuzberg, a small town near Berlin.
(pronounced Kah-nob-aye), is a 19th century tale of earnestness and pluck, salted with intelligence, taste and vision. Knabe & Co.” have nearly vanished from the cultural landscape, and a grand American contribution to music has disappeared with them. Today, pianos – grand pianos, square pianos, and uprights – displaying the name “Wm. Lifetimes ago, Knabe pianos were among the finest in the land, manufactured in Baltimore by a venerable firm and played in home parlors, churches and school rooms, in the White House, and on the concert platform from Tennessee to Tokyo.