The History of Blüthner
Blüthner is one of the great names of the piano, and one of the few still owned by its founding family after more than 170 years.
From 1853
Julius Blüthner founded the firm in Leipzig, Germany, in 1853, the same era as Steinway and Bechstein. Within a generation it was one of the largest and most admired piano makers in the world, favoured by composers and concert pianists across Europe.
The extra string
In 1873 Blüthner patented its aliquot stringing, the fourth sympathetic string in the treble that gives the piano its signature shimmer. It remains a defining feature of a Blüthner to this day.
Through war and division
The Leipzig factory survived the upheavals of the twentieth century, including the Second World War and the years when Leipzig lay in East Germany. Through it all the firm stayed in the family, and it is still family-owned today, hand-building pianos in Leipzig.