Owners of a pianola
Primarily well-to-do and very rich people owned these innovative instruments, due to the rather high prices (approx. one average annual income) of a pianola or push-up player and the accompanying piano rolls. In the beginning, manufacturers like Welte focused exclusively on royal and princely customers - not only in view of the high prices but also because the highest amount of artistic ambition was expected there. Aeolian began very early to expressly name VIPs as their customers. Later, Hupfeld and Welte considered themselves obliged to publish specific customer lists - mainly featuring well-known and selling names.
Welte-Mignon in your home
M. Welte & Söhne GmbH, Freiburg, published a small catalog about 1914 that featured on 25 pages photos of Welte instruments in the rooms of famous customers. The instruments are seen in different styles appropriate for the respective parlor, music room, study, reception room, the vestibule etc. Also, quotes of the artists and owners praising the Welte system are listed there.
Welte-Mignon references and customers
Many owners of a Welte instrument are listed in this small catalog and further publications, - we list them here uncommented, to give an impression of the kind of houses that kept these instruments. This list is not complete, of course - it may be assumed that more than 6,000 Welte instruments were built. Only rarely are Welte instruments still in possession of their first owners - it happens now and then, however, that today, 100 years later, faithfully restored Welte instruments are acquired by descendants of their former owners.
Extract from the list of the customers of M. Welte & sons:
His Royal Highness Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden
His Highness Prince Thurn and Taxis
His Royal Highness Prince Alfons of Bavaria
His Royal Highness Herzog Carl of Munich
His Majesty King Georg of Greece
His Majesty King of Belgium
Her Majesty Queen Margaritta of Italy
Her Majesty Helene of Italy
Her Majesty Queen of Naples
His Majesty Imperial Le Sultan Constantinople
Son Altesse Royale Le Kedive d'Egypte
His Majesty King of Siam
Son Altesse Imperiale le Duc Georg de Leuchtenberg
Le Duc de Montpensier, Paris
His Highness Prince Hohenlohe Paris of André Cannes
Baron de l'Espée, Paris
His Highness Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich
His Highness Prince Rudolph Lichtenstein
His Highness the Acting Prince Johann of Lichtenstein
Her Highness Princess Widow Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
His Highness Prince Dolgurucki, Rome
Her Highness Princess of Battenberg, Darmstadt
Her Grace de Duchesse of Manchester
Her Duchess of Marlborough (née Vanderbild)
Count Fritz of Hachenburg
Prince Wittgenstein, Heidelberg
Countess M. Branicka, Bjelaia
Count Kossakowski, Warsaw
Count Ph v. Kageneck, Freiburg
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Connaught St. James
Lord Pirrie, London-Belfast
Field Marshall Lord Roberts
Count Limburg-Styrum, Berlin
Imperial Count Fritz of Hochberg, Halbau
Lord Wolsely, Hampton Court
Earl of Dysart, Richmond
His Grace the Duke of Newcastle London
General Tan Hamilton, Malta
Lieutenant General A. A. Vakulovsky Dotshinsky, St. Petersburg
Real State Councilor A. P. Elieseyev, St. Petersburg
Count A. A. Orloff-Dawydow, St. Petersburg
Upper Controllr of Baroness of Reitzenstein
Baron of Venningen Baden-Baden
Baron of Goldschmidt Rothschild, Frankfurt am Main
Baron of Thiele-Winkler, Vollratsruhe
Baron Teixeira de Mattos, Rotterdam
Baron of Barnekow, Altmarrzin
Baron of Blanckenburg-Schötzow
His Excellency Baron of Bodman, Freiburg
His Excellency Dr Bürklin Real Privy Councilor, Karlsruhe
His Excellency Privy councilor Röntgen, Munich
His Excellency Minister Ruhstrat, Oldenburg
General manager Ballin, Hamburg
Director Captain von Grummer, Hamburg
Imperial consul Ferd. Schott, Gibraltar
Central Director Ferd. Knight of Böhm-Bowenberg, Vienna
Great Industrial Ludwig Knight of Liebig of Reichenberg, Bohemia
Professor Dr. Max Schottelius, Freiburg
Manufacturer A. Dietler, Freiburg
Manufacturer Heinr. Brenzinger, Freiburg
Manufacturer Theod. Kromer, Freiburg
J. Himmelsbach, Freiburg
Trustafarian Theod. Ganz, Freiburg
Druggist Höltscher, Freiburg
Ivan Hörner Pensioner, Freiburg
Franz Pyhrr Director, Freiburg
Mrs. Isenberg, Glotterbad and Bremen
Manufacturer Berth. Ziegler, Todtnau
Great Industrial A. ten Brink, Arlen-Rielasingen
Councilor of Commerce A. Wacker, Schwachen
Konstant Kraft, Karlsruhe
Max Schwab, Karlsruhe
Dr Knittel, Karlsruhe
F. Winkelsröder, Pforzheim
Director F. Artmann, Mannheim
Councilor of Commerce H. Vögele, Mannheim and Triberg
E. Lämmert, Mannheim
Willy Kaufmann, Mannheim
Prof. Krehl, Heidelberg
Councilor of Commerce Schott, Heidelberg
Privy Councilor Dr Gans, Frankfurt am Main
Director Schäfer, Frankfurt am Main
DirectorHaber, Frankfurt am Main
H. Field Suhl, Frankfurt am Main
Mrs. von Deusler, Frankfurt am Main
Consul general Weinberg, Frankfurt am Main
Dr Lohsen, Frankfurt am Main
Fabrikant W. Haller, Friedberg near Frankfurt am Main
Ludwig Ganz, Mainz
Manufacturer Franz Gastell, Mainz
Manufacturer (champagne wine producer) Otto Henkell, Wiesbaden
A. Th. Schüfer, Wiesbaden
H.W.Pfühler sen., Wiesbaden
A. Domeier, Wiesbaden
M. Sutorius, Wiesbaden
Dr. Graefe, Wiesbaden
Councilor of Commerce Rüping, Wiesbaden
Councilor of Commerce Wünsch, Rothenburg (Tauber)
Privy Government Building Surveyor von Rieppel, Nuremberg
Privy Councilor of Commerce R. Wetzler, Eupen (Rhld).
Councilor of Commerce Engelhorn, Stuttgart
Councilor of Commerce Dr. Enke, Stuttgart
Senior Government Building Surveyor Weigle, Stuttgart
Prof. Hofmeister Senior medical officer, Stuttgart
Dr. Karl Höhn, Ulm
Privy councilor Benger, Uhlbach
Councilor of Commerce A. Junghans, Schramberg
Dr. Kuhlmann lawyer, Dortmund
Major von Oeser, Mulhouse
Pensioner Sager, Colmar
Manufacturer Aug. Michel, Strasbourg
Dr. Sorgius, Strasbourg
Hubert de Wendel, Hayingen
General manager Großberger, Kneutlingen-Hütte
Councilor of Commerce Behrens, Hannover
Councilor of Commerce Hornschuh, Hannover
Gust. Heise, Hannover
Banker S. L. Mayer, Hannover
Scenery Councilor Baron v. Spörcken, Lüdersburg
Welte-Mignon-Licensee-References
After Welte systems were also available in America - and later licensed and sold -, the number of famous customers who owned this system and are sometimes mentioned in the accompanying list increased there as well, of course. A part of the piano rolls available for the German Welte system was also available for the Licensee Version, the references of the German Welte red system were also used for advertisement there - especially with regard to the numerous royal families and great industrialists named.
Hupfeld-References
Hupfeld's Phonola catalog from 1908 contains several pages of listed customers to whom instruments were delivered - see the series of images below. Otherwise, Hupfeld advertized rather by quoting customers - as for example for the DEA system. The popularity of Hupfeld's DEA and, later, the Triphonola systems was probably much lower than that of the Welte red and green systems.
Pianola references from brochures
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