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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
The House of Sohmer.
WILL HAVE ROUNDED OUT A FULL QUARTER OF A CENTURY OF CONTINUOUS BUSINESS ON
MARCH 3OTH A BRIEF RESUME OF THE TRIUMPHS WON BY THIS HOUSE, WHICH
HAS NOW AN EXALTED POSITION IN OUR MUSICO-INDUSTRIAL FIELD.
A quarter of a century—a long period
truly; one in which there is accorded to the
most of us many ups and downs.
Twenty-five years in a young, vigorous
country like America. It means commer-
cially that an institution which has existed
for that period has something behind it—
has stability, has merit, has progressive-
ness.
And more than all else it has built that
which met with the warm approval of the
purchasing public, or it would have long
since succumbed to the peculiar vicissitudes
incident to commercial environments.
It was in 1863 when Hugo Sohmer, full
of hope and ambition, left the German
Fatherland to achieve a name and fame for
himself in America. Being naturally of a
mechanical turn of mind, he decided to
adopt piano making as a life work. After
an experience of several years in some of
the principal piano factories in America, he
returned to Europe to glean what he might
from the piano makers of the old world.
Later he returned to America, and on
March 30, 1872, he founded the firm of
Sohmer & Co., which has since become
world famous. Hence on March 30, 1897,
the firm of Sohmer & Co. will have passed
the full quarter-of-a-century mark and have
rounded out twenty-five years of honorable
and ambitious industrial experience.
A notable fact in the history of this house
is that when they inaugurated their busi-
ness in J872 it was at 149-155 East Four-
teenth street—the same quarters which
they occupy to-day, with local enlarge-
ments, and with the additional factory
facilities which may be found in their
splendidly equipped factory at Astoria,
L. I. Thus Fourteenth street was not only
the inception of Sohmer & Co. as a manu-
facturing concern, but it has been the home
of their advances and triumphs as well.
As the business of the company developed,
additional factory facilities were added,
comprising 150-154 East Fourteenth street,
and in 1881 they were compelled to add, by
reason of the rapid growth of their business,
a factory located at 143-147 East Twenty-
third street.
In 1887 the business of Sohmer & Co.
had become almost world-wide, and it was
then that they planned and erected their
magnificent factory at Astoria, opposite
Eighty-sixth street, New York. This build-
ing is one of the most complete factory
structures in existence. It was built ex-
clusively for the manufacture of pianos,
after a careful investigation and study, and
therefore may be properly termed a model
building of its kind. The factory is one
of the notable buildings which may be seen
from all boats passing up and down the
East River to and from the Sound. In it
is manufactured every part of the piano, as
Sohmer & Co. are piano makers in the
truest sense. Thus the business has grown
from the days of the early seventies with a
factory capacity of a few pianos a week to
one in which 2,000 pianos may be manu-
factured annually, with ease.
Steadily the Sohmer piano has forged to
the front as an instrument of merit, of high
grade, and of great musical capabilities.
And in the trade mind and in the homes of
the American public the Sohmer piano is
indeed highly esteemed and firmly en-
trenched.
HUGO SOHMER.
In the conduct of their business, as in
the building of their pianos, Sohmer & Co.
have eschewed all that which has savored
of cheapness. Cheap ways or cheap meth-
ods have never obtained with Sohmer
& Co. Their business has been conducted
on broad, honorable, and progressive lines,
and Hugo Sohmer and his confreres, in
looking back over a quarter of a century of
honorable business life, may take pardon-
able pride in the prominence which they
have achieved and the honorable record
which is notched for them on the trade
stick.
In the arrangement of their factory may
be evidenced the same idea of thorough-
ness and completeness which has charac-
terized their business dealings. Up-to-date
machinery, model workmen—workmen who
take a pride in the excellence of their work
—only are employed by Sohmer & Co.
The Sohmer piano, too, has come in for
notable honors at all of the prominent ex-
positions held in this country and Canada
as well. Diplomas and medals have been
awarded the makers of the Sohmer piano
on many occasions.
Another fact which we may emphasize in
the history of Sohmer & Co., and one which
is indeed hard to duplicate in this trade, is
the fact that the four men who entered the
house in the seventies are still actively bent
on achieving higher honors under the
Sohmer banner.
Hugo Sohmer—a true gentleman and a
superb business man—the head of the house,
showed rare discrimination in his selection
of confreres. Josef Kuder, who attends to
the manufacturing department, associated
himself with Mr. Sohmer in 1872 in the
establishment of Sohmer & Co. To say
that Mr. Kuder is a piano maker is to use
an hardly adequate
expression.
Josef
Kuder has been as-
sociated with piano
making from boy-
hood almost, a n d
learned his profes-
sion under the most
notable piano build-
ers of Europe. This
knowledge was sup-
plemented by an ex-
perience of several
years in American
piano f a c t o r i e s .
Thus we see that the
original Sohmer &
Co. was composed of
practical men, who
had thoroughly learn-
ed every part of pi-
ano making before
they associated in a
business way.
In 1874 Charles
Fahr e n t e r e d the
house. Mr. Fahr is
a specialist, and his
duties have largely
been confined to the
financial department
of the c o m p a n y .
This, together with the placing of adver-
tising contracts, has given Mr. Fahr a field
for the further development of his high
commercial ability. Mr. Fahr has placed
some of the largest advertising contracts
ever given in the music trade. He also
has originated a line of special work,
which has materially assisted toward pop-
ularizing the Sohmer piano.
In 1877 George Reichmann entered the
house. Mr. Reichmann is one of the clever-
est salesmen in this trade, and he occupies
the position of head salesman, and in ad-
dition attends to the business correspond-
ence of the firm. The retail business of
Sohmer & Co. is large, due credit for which
must be given to the salesmanship quali-
ties of Mr. Reichmann.
Frank Sohmer, who, by the way, is the
nephew of the head of the house, is a bright
young man who has been schooled in the
Sohmer atmosphere and is now attending
to the traveling duties of the house.