Buchholtz, Julian
Buchholtz Fryderyk, *16 May 1792 Olsztynek, †15 May 1837 Warsaw, Polish builder of pianos and grand pianos. Guild master, in 1825–26 senior of the guild. Around 1815 he set up a piano factory in Warsaw. At first, he built the so-called giraffe pianos with bassoon and janissary registers, quickly gaining recognition. These instruments were exhibited at the Industrial Exhibition in Warsaw in 1823 (awarded with a medal) and in 1825; in the same year, he also presented a melodicordion (awarded with praise), built together with F. Brunner. After 1825, he limited himself to building grand pianos with Viennese and (on request) English mechanics. In 1826, he started making English-type instruments based on the piano brought from London by M. Szymanowska. In 1827, as the first in the Kingdom of Poland, he decided to use metal frame supports, and box carcasses and eliminated the bottom of the piano box. In the 1830s, Buchholtz and his son Julian built a piano with a dampener lift divided into the lower and upper registers. His instruments were among the best; Chopin was a frequent guest in Buchholtz’s home art salon and factory warehouse, and also bought a piano from him (burnt during the January Uprising); T. Wojciechowski, Chopin’s friend, owned a similar instrument. J. Männling (around 1826–37), J. Kerntopf (1830–39) and Sz. Laboradzki (around 1822–46), among others, worked in Buchholtz’s company. After his death, the company was run by his wife, Emilia (with the help of Laboradzki), then by his son, Julian. At the exhibition in 1838, the company presented a piano with English mechanics of a Pleyel system (now in the Museum of Industrial History in Opatówek), in 1841 it received a commendatory letter from A. Dreyschock. A few of Buchholtz’s instruments have survived to this day, including a giraffe (National Museum in Warsaw) and grand pianos (Museum of Musical Instruments in Poznań, TIFC, piano collection of the Pomeranian Philharmonic in Bydgoszcz, Chamber Opera in Warsaw).
Literature: B. Vogel Instrumenty muzyczne w kulturze Królestwa Polskiego, Krakow 1980; B. Vogel Fortepian polski, «Historia Muzyki Polskiej» X, Warsaw 1995.