Burgasser

Paris, France

L. Burgasser was an apprentice piano maker in several Parisian workshops before setting up his own business at 37 boulevard du Temple in Paris in 1846. In 1887, he took over Maison De Prow Aubert, a long-established piano and piano-forte maker. He exhibited upright pianos at the World’s Fairs in 1889, 1894, 1897 and 1900, winning many gold medals for the superlative design of his pianos. He made his first grand pianos in 1900. He set up a factory in rue d’Orteaux in Paris with around fifty workers and a partner who oversaw production, Mr Theilmann, while he designed the pianos. His upright pianos had cast-iron frames and crossed strings from 1920, using Schwander actions. In the year that the business closed, 1939, Burgasser made 23,000 pianos.