Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH

by Sarah Davachi

Bösendorfer is recognized as being among the most innovative of the modern piano manufacturers, primarily for their expansion of the traditional 88-note keyboard to include 97-note units, referred to as the Imperial Grand or Model 290, and 92-note units, referred to as the Model 225. The additional nine notes in these instruments are typically pitched to the lowest register, functioning primarily as resonant strings that impart a greater richness or fullness to the overall tone while emphasizing the fundamental over upper harmonics.

Bösendorfer instruments are also unique in their exterior construction, often employing jointed sections of solid spruce, rather than veneer-covered curved forms. Among their output include eight models of grand piano, including the 9’6” Imperial Grand, and two models of vertical piano. In addition to their extended keyboard range instruments, Bösendorfer was also the primary manufacturer of the Moor-style double manual grand piano.

Notable users of Bösendorfer pianos include Franz Liszt, Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Béla Bartók, Dave Brubeck, Chick Corea, Duke Ellington, Yehudi Menuhin, Gustav Mahler, André Previn, Sviatoslav Richter, Oscar Peterson, Charlemagne Palestine, John Lennon, La Monte Young, Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, and Keith Jarrett.

Prior to the First World War, the Bösendorfer Hall in Vienna remained the most frequented concert hall in the city.