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The distinguished and time-honored instruments which bear
this celebrated name are manufactured by Wm. Knabe & Co., Inc., one of America's
oldest industries. Knabe pianos have an artistic record dating back to the year
183, when the instrument was founded by the late Wm. Knabe, in Baltimore, Md.
Mr. Knabe had been working in different factories before he established his own
instrument, having arrived in this country in 1832. His earlier knowledge had
been acquired in the famous factories of Germany. Re was a man of great
mechanical ability and possessed of ideals which mark the man of genius. These
ideals have been sustained and imbedded in the Knabe piano to this day through
all of more than eighty two years since the first instrument bearing the name
appeared in Baltimore. In the succession of practical workers in the factories
of Wm. Knabe & Co. has been generations of experts, descendants of the original
workmen and members of the Knabe family. These skilled men gained their training
in the Knabe factory and it is not long since a census of the Knabe employees
proved the interesting fact that more than one third of the men have been
employed by Wm. Knabe & Co. for from fifteen to more than fifty years, an
average for the entire force of eighteen and a half years. When Wm. Knabe died
in 1864 his two sons, Ernst and Wm. Knabe, Jr., and his son-in-law, Chas.
Seidel, came into practical control of the rapidly expanding industry. Branch
houses were opened in several cities, including New York and Washington. At the
death of Ernst Knabe, who had become one of the most popular and able piano
manufacturers the industry has ever known and later of his brother, Wm. Knabe,
Jr., the direction of the business fell to Chas. Keidel. Subsequently the house
was incorporated with a capital of $l00, 000. and in 1908 it became a division
of the American Piano Co. Today the house of Wm. Knabe & Sons is stronger more
ambitious and progressive than ever before in its long history. It produces
grand and upright pianos and player pianos. Both in manufacturing ability and
commercial integrity the house stands unquestioned. The factories in Baltimore
are among the biggest and best equipped in the world and the plant, including
lumber yards, covers more than six acres and embraces 392,000 feet of floor
space. The distinction of the Knabe pianos is worldwide. They combine a rare
degree power and sweetness of tone, delicacy and a poetic singing character and
a beauty of case design and finish not surpassed. Many of the world's great
artists have used the Knabe pianos in their public concerts, and Knabe grands
have taken part in the concert tours of a large proportion of the famed
virtuoso. They have also been used in the concert halls throughout the United
States and the public schools of New York City for many years. They are sold all
over the United States by prominent piano houses as well as in foreign countries,
there being many agencies throughout Europe and elsewhere.
On January 1, 1912 Chas. Seidel Jr., the son of Chas. Seidel and grandson of Wm.
Knabe 1. was elected to office of president of Wm. Knabe & Co. On Mr. Keidel
Jr.'s, death in April 1913, Mr. Wm. B. Armstrong, a man of long experience and
tried ability in connection with the piano industry, in its various departments
was made president. Mr. R.K. Paynter who had long been manager of the Washington
and New York branches of the house, was elected vice-president and general
manager. In March 1922, Mr. Paynter was advanced to the presidency of this
distinguished and time-honored institution. Mr. Paynter had been connected with
the house since 1899. Factories, Baltimore, Md. The Knabe is obtainable with the
Ampico.
AS A division of Acolian American Corporation. Among the few really celebrated
and artistic pianofortes in the United States, the time-honored Knabe ranks pre-eminent,
being distinguished for a distinctive tone quality that has often been described
as the nearest approach to the human singing voice. During its celebrated career
115 years, it has always been identified with the high est standards of
manufacture, as well as by its close association with the artistic world. It has
had a notable share in the development of musical intelligence and culture in
the United States .
The Knabe dates back to 1837 when William Knabe founded the business in the city
of Baltimore, where he had been working in various factories since his arrival
in this country in 1832. He had previously acquired a broad practical knowledge
of piano craftsmanship in all its branches. A man of mechanical ability that
classed him as a genius, with the steadfast ambition to produce only the best,
he enlisted an organization of experts, deeply imbued with those high ideals
which have been handed down to the present day. The craftsmanship that makes the
Knabe a leader among all pianos is not an acquisition of one generation but a
pedigree of skill
that has continued from that idealistic beginning. Knabe pianos have always been
distinctive for touch, durability and endurance, and their glorious tone
combines power, sweetness, delicacy and a poetic singing quality. The pages of
its history are rich with great names of composers, singers and pianists of
highest renown whose musical triumphs have been shared by Knabe. It enjoyed a
pleasant and intimate relation with such great figures in the world of music as:
Puccini, Tschaikovsky, von Bulow, Lehar, Nordica, Calve, and Humperdinck
Since 1926 it has been the official piano of the Metropolitan Opera Company,
used publicly and privately and always at the Opera House by the great artists
of that celebrated organization. Among present artists who have added their
personal testimonials of admiration to the endorsement of the Opera Company are:
Licia Albanese, Mildred Allen, Lorenzo Alvary, Lucine Amara, Salvatore Baccaloni,
Daniele Barioni, Kurt Baum, Rudolf Bing, Jussi Bjoerling, Giuseppe Campora,
George Cehanovsky, Fausto Cleva, Nadine Conner, Lisa Della Casa, Mario Del
Monaco, Victoria de Los Angeles, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Mattiwilda Dobbs, Otto
Edelmann, Rosalind Elias, Dezso Ernster, Paul Franke. Frank Guarrera, Hilde
Gueden, Mack Harrell, Osie Hawkins, Jerome Hines, Laurel Hurley, Charles Kuilman,
Jean Madeira, Robert Merrill, Josef Metternich, Zinka Milanov, Mildred Miller,
Nicola Moscona, Patrice Munsel, Gerhard Pechner, Roberta Peters, Marcella Pobbe,
Nell Rankin, Regina Resnik, Margaret Roggero,Norman Scott, Mario Sereni, Cesare
Siepi, Martial Singher, Dr. Fritz Stiedry, Rise Stevens, Renata Tebaldi, Cesare
Vailetti and Ramon Vinay.
The Knabe has long been the chosen instrument of important conservatories of
music and other institutions of higher learning where musical instruction has a
prominent place in the curriculum. In these institutions great durability as
well as exquisite tone is demanded, for the pianos in the teaching and practice
rooms are used without interruption for several hours each day. Especially
notable in this list is the Eastman School of Music of the University of
Rochester, which has purchased nearly 200 Knabes; the Peabody Conservatory in
Baltimore, in which were installed 115 Knabe grands; the Arthur Jordan
Conservatory of Music in Indianapolis; Phoenix College, Phoenix, Ariz.; San Jose
State College, San Jose, Calif.; State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas.;
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.; University of Wichita, Wichita,
Kansas.; State School for the Blind, Baton Rouge, La.; Southern University,
Baton Rouge, La.; Louisiana Polytechnic institute, Ruston, La.; Hamilton College,
Clinton, N. Y.; Houghton College, Houghton, N. Y.; Cornell University, Ithaca,
N. Y.; Public Schools, New York, N. Y.; New York State University, Syracuse
University, Syracuse, N. Y.; State Teachers Colleges,i California, Kutztown and
West Chester, Pa.; Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa.; Austin Peay State College,
Clarksville, Tenn.; Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas; Texas
Technological College, Lubbock, Texas; Baylor University, Waco, Texas; Virginia
State College, Petersburg, Va. and St. Norbert's College, DePere, Wisc.
Exquisite styling and beauty of detal give Knabe encasements authentic
decorative appeal to companion their remarkable tone so that they have been
chosen by interior decorators and home lovers for the drawing rooms and
apartments of hundreds of style-conscjous private owners; as well as by the most
prominent music teachers, clubs, churches and other semi-private institutions
throughout the country. Knabes are sold all over the United States by leading
dealers who have been chosen for their long established reputation for
responsibi]ity and ethical standards.
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