We are committed to producing the highest quality upright and grand pianos
Teodor Betting, the founder of SCHIRMER & SON, was born in Emmerich, Rhineland, Germany in 1827.
He followed his adoptive father, Glandt Schirmer, to learn about organ playing and the making of the piano. Under the strict teaching and careful care of his adoptive father, Teodor became a qualified piano maker.
The first SCHIRMER &SON piano was built in 1855 by Teodor and Glandt Schirmer in Lepzig. Teodor Fryderyk Hints, a piano maker from Kalisz, soon became a partner. He worked with Blüthner in Leipzig, Ed. Seiler in Liegnitz (then Prussia; today's Legnica, Poland), as well as in Breslau (then Prussia; today's Wrocław, Poland) and St. Petersburg.
In 1887 Teodor founded his own company called TB &Comp, which manufactured post, grand and reed organs. The headquarters of the manufactory was established on Sukiennicza street (Turner's house) and on July 8, 1888 it moved to Nawodna street (Mrs. Szmidt's house) and then to Nowa 609a (T. Betting's house)._cc781905-5cde- 3194-bb3b-136bad5cf58d_
After the death of the founder, the company was managed by his son Rudolf Teodor and after his death (1909) by Teodor's other son, Juliusz Paweł. Destroyed in World War I, the factory moved to Leszno Wielkopolskie in 1921, trading as Teodor Betting i Ska (TB & Comp. a partnership with Jadwiga May). After Juliusz' death in 1935, the company was taken over by Teodor's grandson Teodor Juliusz and in 1971 by his great-grandson Janusz.
The factory was initially equipped with a steam engine, in 1902 it acquired an 8 hp gas engine and then a 12 hp electric motor. A total of around 18,000 instruments were produced up to 1939. After 1930 the company had a branch in Częstochowa.
Betting's instruments won gold medals at fairs in Paris (1905), Antwerp (1906) and Brussels (1930). After the Second World War, the company's operations were limited to repairs, tuning and maintenance.
Only in 1951 did the company resume piano production in Lepzig and Liegnitz. It employed 250 people and produced 5000 pianos a year. Most were exported to Europe, also sold to USA,
Russia and Australia.
In 1992, a sixth generation member of the Betting family continued to manage the company, they sold Th. Wetten to Legnica piano company, holding only the SCHIRMER & SON, the new manufactory would employ German professionals who had remained in town, SCHIRMER & SON pianos are not mass-produced, each SCHIRMER & SON piano is handcrafted using traditional German craftsmanship. Many SCHIRMER & SON pianos have been preserved in private and museum collections.
Now a majority stake has been acquired by Moonlight Music Group. —a Based in Chongqing
musical instrument company in the PRC