August Förster is a piano manufacturing company (also rendered "Foerster," occasionally "Forster," officially "August Förster GmbH Kunsthandwerklicher Flügel-und-Pianobau") that currently has a staff of 40 employees and produces around 120 grand pianos and 150 uprights per year.
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On April 1, 1859, August Förster opened a small piano workshop in Löbau, Germany, expanding to a factory on Löbau’s Jahn Street in 1862.[1][2] Still in use today, this facility has been enlarged and modernized by the Förster family and remains the exclusive site for the manufacture of the original August Förster piano.
In 1897, Caesar Förster succeeded his father August as manager of the company, and opened a second factory in Georgswalde (Jiříkov), Bohemia (later Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic) in 1900.[1][2]
In 1937 the company manufactured one of the first electric pianos, the “Vierling-Förster” piano, developed by Oskar Vierling at the Heinrich Institute for Oscillation Research at the Technical University of Berlin using electromagnetic pickups.[3][4]
In 1945 the factory in Georgswalde was nationalized.[1] Under new state-sanctioned management many pianos of good quality were produced, but since 1945 the Czech-made pianos have had no connection or relationship to the German August Förster piano. This "other" August Förster is currently produced in the Czech Republic by the Petrof (also rendered "Petroff," "Petrov") Piano Company, and sold in Canada and certain European countries.
In 1972, the final phase of East German nationalization transformed the company into the state-owned "VEB Fluegel-und-Pianobau Loebau." Although still under the management of Wolfgang Förster, the company was annexed as part of the German Piano-Union, Leipzig.[1] The family name was added back into the official company name in 1976, resulting in instruments branded "VEB Förster Pianos Loebau." Also in 1976, the company began its first exports to the United States.
Many prominent musicians have favored the German-made Förster piano. Among them have been Richard Strauss and Sergei Prokofiev, both owners of Förster pianos, and Giacomo Puccini, who wrote a number of his operas while working at a Förster piano. Robert Fischer, Alex Duke and Anton Kuerti are also noted for their regard of the August Förster piano.
Förster pianos have won many awards for quality and tone, including the "Verleihung der Goldmedaille für den Rokokoflügel" in 1987.
In The Piano Book by Larry Fine, the German-made August Förster piano receives the highest possible rating in the areas of performance, quality control, and confidence (Fine’s term for general durability). In his "Group 1: Highest Quality Performance Pianos" category, Fine ranks the modern August Förster piano as superior to such internationally respected instruments as C. Bechstein, Fazioli, Grotrian, and Steinway & Sons. In addition, Fine praises the modern Förster piano for its "remarkable bass," and also comments on a particular "responsiveness" of the Renner action when observed in the Förster application.
An August Förster piano was seen by audiences worldwide as the featured instrument in the movie, "The Pianist."
| Model Number[5] | Overall Length | Net Weight | Length of Longest Bass String |
|---|---|---|---|
| 170 | 5' 8" | 319 kg | 1385 mm |
| 190 | 6' 4" | 385 kg | 1480 mm |
| 215 | 7' 2" | 470 kg | 1750 mm |
| 275 | 9' 1" | 550 kg | 2080 mm |
| Model Number[6] | Overall Length | Net Weight | Length of Longest Bass String |
|---|---|---|---|
| 116 | 46" | 220 kg | 1280 mm |
| 125 | 49" | 265 kg | 1350 mm |