By Tony Magee
St. JOHN of GOD hospital in North Richmond is a medical facility for the
treatment of mental health disorders including anxiety, panic disorder,
agoraphobia, depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, as well as drug and
alcohol withdrawal.
Named Belmont House, it is an historic mansion, built in 1891 for the Charley
family, using sandstone blocks, and boasts many grand rooms inside, featuring
stunning woodwork and stained glass windows.
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| Aerial view of Belmont House circa 1920's |
Set on about 40 acres, the grounds
are magnificent, including a golf course, and immaculately manicured by a
dedicated team of garden maintenance staff.
The facility is residential,
containing 88 beds, as well as having an outpatient day-care program. Doctors
and nurses are on duty 24/7 as well as psychiatrists and psychologists during
daytime hours.
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| One of the grand hallways in the facility. Photo: Tony Magee |
One of the largest rooms is called "The Piano Room" and contains,
amongst other antique furniture and objet d'art, a beautiful old Rönisch upright
piano, finished in burr walnut.
Serial number 17607 indicates a manufacturing
date of 1889, made in Dresden, Germany.
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| Rönisch upright piano No. 17607 in "The Piano Room". Photo: Tony Magee |
The piano measures 140cm in height and
has 85 keys. Very tall, allowing for long bass string length. The instrument was
purchased new in 1891 and installed into the facility in 1893.
It is a cross strung design, which is now the established method for the design
of upright and grand piano frames.
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Entrance view in the Piano Room at St. John of God hospital, North Richmond.
Photo: Tony Magee |
In my own collection, I have a Rönisch
upright dating from 1877 which is straight strung. The piano at St. John of God
hospital would have been one of the first cross-strung designs by Rönisch.
JOHANN Carl Gottlieb Rönisch was born on November 28th, 1814 into a poor
family in Goldberg, Silesia.
At the age of 10, he began work as an apprentice in
a machine shop and learned the trades of mechanic, joiner and turner.
Between
the ages of 16 and 20, he was an apprentice with piano maker Hänel in the City
of Naumburg, Germany, not far from Leipzig.
In late 1834, Carl Rönisch gained
further experience and knowledge as a mechanic in a spinning machines factory in
Goldberg and in Vienna, Austria.
Then, in 1843, at the age of 29, Carl Rönisch
returned to the piano industry and was employed as a maker of piano instruments
in Löbau, Saxony. From there, he moved to Dresden, the capital of Saxony and
became foreman in the "Rosenkranz" piano factory.
Early in 1845, Carl Rönisch
started building pianos in his own workshop, and thus the great Rönisch Piano
was born. The company's philosophy: fine tone quality and rock solid, durable
construction.
Carl Rönisch produced his first baby grand piano in Saxony in 1857
and after having delivered three grand pianos to the court of the King of
Saxony, he was named Official Purveyor to the Court in 1859.
After two moves to
larger workshops, a new factory was established in 1862. The company had
meanwhile grown to 60 workers. The fame of the Rönisch brand had spread beyond
the regional borders, and due to the growing demand new business contacts were
established.
The main markets at that time were Russia, Sweden, England, Spain
and Portugal.
In 1866, he had the epoch-making idea of using a full cast-iron
plate in the piano. This frame had five struts and fully covered the pin-block,
which allowed for the first time a high tension scale. This revolutionary
invention was soon adopted by virtually every piano maker and remains in
universal use today providing power, projection, sustain and sonority in the
modern piano.
The building of a larger factory was required by continuously
growing demand for Rönisch pianos. In 1873, production started at the new
factory in Dresden-Neustadt.
Carl Rönisch was one of the first German
manufacturers to export overseas. Rönisch instruments were held in high esteem
in Southern Africa, California, Mexico, Australia, the East Indies, and in all
of the English colonies.
Rönisch won gold medals at the world exhibitions in
Sydney in 1879 and Amsterdam in 1883.
Rönisch was awarded first prize for its
full size concert-grand piano at the world exhibition in Melbourne in 1888.
This
Rönisch Concert Grand with the serial number 8461 was acquired by the Australian
National University in Canberra (ANU) in [insert year]. As part of Australia's
musical history, it is the centerpiece of the Keyboard Institute's historic
collection at the School of Music.
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| Rönisch concert grand No. 8461 at the ANU School of Music, Canberra. |
Upon acquisition, the renowned Australian
composer and pianist Larry Sitsky gave a recital on this instrument in Llewellyn Hall to critical
acclaim, with works by Busoni, Beethoven and Rachmaninoff.
CARL Rönisch died in
1894 at the age of 80. At the time, his factory was producing 1500 instruments
per year and employed 250 people. The management of the company was taken over
by his sons Albert as the business manager and Hermann as the production
manager.
Rönisch again won gold medals at the world exhibition in Chicago in
1893 and in Paris in 1900. In 1898, Albert and Hermann Rönisch established a
factory in St. Petersburg Russia with an annual production of 1000 instruments.
At the turn of the century, famous artists including Hans von Bülow, Richard
Strauss, Edvard Grieg, Giacomo Puccini, Anton Rubinstein, Sergej Rachmaninoff
and many others played Rönisch grands and uprights.
From an original
Rönisch catalogue, circa 1895
In 1901, the Rönisch Company
was named Imperial Purveyor to the Emperor of Austria and Hungary.
One year
later in 1902, a cooperative agreement with Ludwig Hupfeld began. Rönisch
supplied grand and upright pianos while Hupfeld installed a pneumatic mechanism,
thus creating the first in a range of Rönisch Pianolas.
A close relationship
between Rönisch and Sergej Rachmaninoff continued as he spent three winters in
Dresden with his family from 1906-1908. His Rönisch grand with the serial number
59183 is displayed today at the Rachmaninoff Museum in Iwanovka Russia, the
former country estate of the family. Among other works, Sergej Rachmaninoff
composed his 3rd Piano Concerto on this instrument in 1909.
In 1910, the first
delivery to Japan was made. The exports reached record levels with deliveries to
the British Empire making up 45% of the total production. At that time, Rönisch
produced 3000 instruments annually and employed 370 people.
World War I was a
tragic time for the Rönisch Company and family. Albert died in 1917, whilst
Hermann lost his only son. The factory in St. Petersburg was lost due to the
Russian Revolution. In 1918, Hermann Rönisch sold the company to the Ludwig
Hupfeld AG company although he remained the manager of the Rönisch factory in
Dresden.
On 13th February 1945 the Rönisch factory in Dresden was destroyed
during bombing raids and was not rebuilt. The original factory of Ludwig Hupfeld
in a suburb of Leipzig, which survived the war almost unscathed, became the new
home for Rönisch.
On 5th June 1945, the company started again from scratch with
50 workers who had to produce containers for marmalade, pasteboard suitcases and
handcarts, under the direction of the Allied Military Command. The dismantling
of the factory started as part of the reparation payments to the Soviet Union.
In 1946, the "Leipziger Pianofortefabrik" was established, although furniture
was the main item of production.
Finally in 1948, piano production was
re-started with 13 instruments and the first Rönisch piano after the war was
exhibited at the Leipzig Trade Fair along with living room furniture. In October
1949, the first export after the war was achieved with five pianos being sent to
Mexico.
In 1952, 10 grand pianos were produced. Two years later in 1954, the
total production reached the level of 720 pianos per year but the main product
line was still furniture for schools, living rooms, and bedrooms. Pencils and
sports gear were also manufactured.
It was not until 1960 that the company
concentrated again on its core business of piano building, reaching an annual
production of 2000 pianos.
In 1964, production was streamlined, with the
installation of an assembly line for 220 pianos leading to a volume of 4170
upright pianos and 144 grand pianos. Due to growing demand however, especially
in export, a further increase of production capacities was required.
In 1967,
the "VEB Deutsche Piano-Union Leipzig" was established with the merging of two
piano factories and the amalgamation of two companies which produced keyboards
and actions.
In 1978, the Rönisch factory (plant 1) reached a volume of 7810
pianos by concentrating on upright pianos and the production of grand pianos was
moved to a new site (plant 5).
In the mid 1980s the "VEB Deutsche Piano-Union
Leipzig" achieved its greatest expansion and produced 21000 upright pianos, 1300
grand pianos as well as 350 harpsichords and some spinets. 3300 people were
employed and the "VEB Deutsche Piano-Union Leipzig" with its 13 plants became
the largest manufacturer of pianos in Europe.
In 1986, the annual production of
the Rönisch factory reached 8600 upright pianos which were produced by 240
workers. 90% of the production was exported worldwide.
In 1990, with the German
Reunification, the former state-owned combined "VEB Deutsche Piano-Union
Leipzig" was dissolved. The Rönisch factory as the parent location and
headquarters was re-named "Leipziger Pianofortefabrik GmbH" again, and had a
slow and difficult time under the very different conditions of the free
enterprise system, but it succeeded.
After decades of mass-production, Rönisch
turned back to its origins by emphasizing creativity and quality. In 1992, the
reorganization of the production process and the re-designing of the product
range were completed. An unparalleled marketing campaign secured stable market
shares in both the domestic and international markets.
In 1995 - the 150th
anniversary of Rönisch - the production of grand pianos recommenced and by 1999,
the product range had widened to 4 models of upright pianos and 2 models of
grand pianos, being offered in 103 cabinet and colour variations. A second
export drive re-opened markets in Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
Rönisch
was affected by the economic downturn during the global financial crisis in
2008. One year later, a merger with "Julius Blüthner Pianofortefabrik GmbH", the
other quality piano manufacturer in Leipzig, took place. In October 2009, the
"Carl Rönisch Pianofortemanufaktur GmbH" was established and moved to the
Blüthner factory in Großpösna in nearby Leipzig.
The production processes were
re-organized, manufacturing facilities re-designed, and the organizational
structure enhanced.
Both Blüthner and Rönisch now produce quality German made
pianos under the same roof.
In 2010, Rönisch re-designed and upgraded the
product range, comprising 3 models of upright pianos and 3 models of grand
pianos, being offered in 118 cabinet style and colour variations.
In 2012,
Rönisch released the "Carl Rönisch Edition", modelled on the pianos that
originally established the fame of Rönisch in the 19th century.
