Blüthner

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Blüthner, formally Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik GmbH, is a piano-manufacturing company founded by Julius Blüthner in 1853 in Leipzig Germany. Early success occurred at exhibitions, conservatories and the concert stage. Further invention and innovations lead Blüthner to patent a ‘repetition action', and, in 1873, the aliquot scaling patent for grand pianos. This added a fourth, sympathetic (‘aliquot’) string to each trichord group in the treble to enrich the piano's weakest register by enhancing the overtone spectrum of the instrument. The aliquot string runs parallel to the normal strings, but is elevated where the hammer strikes so that it is not struck directly, but vibrates in sympathy with the other strings.

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Blüthner "Zeppelin" grand piano 1932

By 1885, the company was the largest European piano manufacturer (Bechstein surpassed them in 1905). During World War II the factory was ruined by target bombing but was later rebuilt and opened at the same location. Unique to the great makers, the Blüthner family continues their 5th generation piano building tradition.

Numerous royals, composers, conductors, artists, and performers have owned Blüthner pianos. They include Brahms, Bartók, Debussy, Reger, Wagner, Johann Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Wilhelm Kempff, Yehudi Menuhin, Wilhelm Furtwängler, and Marlene Dietrich. Blüthners have been used in popular music. One was used on The Beatles' Let It Be album, most notably, in the hits "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road". One was also used in the film "The Sting".

One Blüthner piano of particular interest was special lightweight instrument, made of aluminium for use on the Zeppelin LZ 129 Hindenburg. 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 the Second World War.