The Heyday of Hungarian Piano Manufacturing - An Exhibition Commemorating Lajos Beregszászy

Exhibition in the 7th room of the Museum of Music History

Curator: Anna BARANYI, József BRAUER-BENKE

The exhibition is open: From 28 September 2017 to 17 February 2018

Lajos [Ludwig] Beregszászy (Békés, 15 January 1817 – Budapest, 4 March 1891) was the best-known and most successful piano manufacture of Hungary. He acquired the craftsmanship in Temesvár (today: Timișoara, Romania), Debrecen, and Pest. During the compulsory peregrination he worked in Vienna, Hamburg, Paris, and London. In 1844 he opened a workshop in Vienna, as the associate of Ferenc Mata. His pianos were awarded at exhibitions in Vienna (1845), Pest (1846), and Munich (1854). In 1846, he applied for membership at the instrument-makers’ guild of Pest, where he was registered as a master in 1847. By the 1850s he was already the owner of Hungary’s largest piano factory. During his 35 years of activity, he built approx. 1,500 instruments. In 1868 he obtained the title of ‘Piano Producer Belonging to the Hungarian Royal Court.’ His instruments appeared at a series of the world exhibitions: 1855 Paris, 1862 London, 1867 Paris, 1871 London, 1873 Vienna, and 1878 Paris. The cello-resonant sound box invented by him and sold to the Viennese company Bösendorfer-Ehrbar in 1872 is still used by today’s piano makers.

Curator: Anna BARANYI, BRAUER-BENKE

Contributor: Zsófia BORZ

 Restorer: Péter GERŐ

Instrument-repairers: Álmos DERZSI-PAP, Balázs KOVÁTS, Gábor HORVÁTH, Zsolt SZABÓ, Attila UNGER

Sponsor: Institute for Musicology, RCH, HAS

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Pictures of the conference:

Pictures of the opening ceremony: