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Fryderyk Buchholtz (1792 – 1837) was a Polish piano constructor of the early-romantic period.

Life
There are only a few sources concerning Buchholtz’ adult life, and even less about his childhood.

Fryderyk Buchholtz was born in Olsztynek (then East Prussia, now Poland) in a Evangelical family, as a son of master craftsman Andrzej Buchholtz. As a journeyman, he benefitted in his study from the sponsorship of aristocracy, which made him able to travel through Europe and learn his future profession. Buchholtz returned from the journey in 1815. Then, influenced by the atmosphere of modernisation which he had come in contact with during his travel, Buchholtz established the first piano workshop in Poland, situated at 1352 Mazowiecka St. in Warsaw.

Buchholtz married Emilia Bratyńska in 1819. Their relationship bore fruit to the number of five children. His first son, Julian, took over the workshop in 1840.

In the years 1826 – 1830 Buchholtz was chairman of the Organ and Piano-builders Association (Stowarzyszenie Organmistrzów i Fortepianmistrzów). Jan Kerntopf, a well-known owner of a piano manufacturing company in Warsaw in the XIXth century, worked for Buchholtz during this period and learnt from him the rudiments of the profession. Buchholtz died in 18371 and was buried in the Evangelical-Augsburg Cemetery in Warsaw.

Instruments
The first of half of the XIXth century is the period of experiments in making pianos. Fryderyk Buchholtz contributed to upgrading and refining the form of piano in Poland of that period. Initially Buchholtz constructed 'giraffe' pianos typical for that period with various registers ('basson', 'turkish'). From the time when he established the workshop, Buchholtz' pianos were in great demand.

Nevertheless, as Benjamin Vogel proved, Buchholtz was not only an enterpreneur with great economic acumen; he was also an inventor. In 1824, together with August Fidel Brunner, he invented and built the instrument called melodipantalon, which – as we do know from the narrative sources - was one of the most original piano constructions in the history of the instrument.

After the period of collaboration with August Brunner, in 1825, Buchholtz was experimenting and manufacturing instruments mostly with classical lid and Viennese action, up to the moment when he met Polish pianist Maria Szymanowska. Szymanowska brought from London to Poland a model of a Broadwood grand piano. She was exempt by Polish authorities from border taxes in return for showing her Broadwood piano to Polish constructors. It was a chance for Buchholtz, who - as a chairman of the Organ and Piano Builders Association - was able to familiarise himself with the Broadwood's innovations. Impressed by the Broadwood ideas, Buchholtz decided to finish the period of experiments (e.g. making pianos with a vertical soundboard) and started to make pianos similar to the Broadwood in construction, foreseeing the prosperity for that kind of piano.

Fryderyk Buchholtz is considered to be the first manufacturer in Poland to build pianos of similar construction to the Broadwood's model.

Buchholtz pianos received broad recognition among the pianists of that period. Even Frederic Chopin, who possessed one, expressed quite a few times his admiration toward Buchholtz pianos. Chopin's grand piano, manufactured by Buchholtz, was thrown through the window and burned during the January Uprising, in 1863. One of the most famous Polish poets, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, depicted this event in his poem Chopin's Grand Piano: :

He!... who proclaimed Poland from the height

Of Omniperfection's eternal form

And wrought with a hymn of delight -

A Poland of the Wheelwright's House transformed -

He - has fallen - into the mud-bespattered night!

And now, like the wise saying of the Sage,

He lies trampled by the people's wrath,

Or like all that which - from age

To age - shall summon forth!

And now, like Orpheus' body,

A thousand Passions dismember his corpse

Each one groaning, "Not me!

Not me!" through grinding jaws.



But you? - But I? Let us sound judgement tones,

Call forth: "Rejoice, late-coming posterity!

The vulgar street - screech muted stones -

The Ideal - has inherited."

Before his death, Buchholtz handed down his company to his – yet immature - son, Joseph. Until Julian grew up, Buchholtz's wife – Emilia – took care of the workshop. In 1840, according to Fryderyk's will, Julian Buchholtz took charge of the workshop, but - due to his mismanagement and the success of German manufacturers on the Polish piano market, he went bankrupt after six years, in 1846.

Buchholtz pianos today
Only a few of Buchholtz's pianos survived the Second World War. One of them is located, as a loan from the National Museum of Poland, in the Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw ('giraffe piano'), while another one may be found in the Palace in Antonin. Three others can be found spread among private collections.

The history of Buchholtz pianos was re-discovered few years ago by Chinese enterpreneurs, who made a use of forgotten archival records. They established piano factories in China, Indonesia, the United States of America and Poland (Kalisz), among other places. The enterpreneurs are constantly refering to the history of Fryderyk Buchholtz.