Before World War I, the Heintzman name on pianos was probably better known throughout the British Empire than the name of any other Canadian trademark.

Heintzman (originally Theodor August Heintzmann) was born in Berlin in 1817 and learned the business of making pianos from both his father and father-in-law who specialized in manufacturing a high-quality instrument that was crafted by a single skilled artisan.

Heintzman moved his family to New York in 1849 to flee the military and political unrest of revolutionary Berlin. While in New York, Heintzman perfected his craft by working with a major piano company (and reportedly with Steinway) before moving to Buffalo to form a partnership in the Western Piano Company. He sold his interest during the Great Panic of 1857 and resettled in Toronto to build a piano empire by 1860.

Heintzman’s company expanded rapidly over the next several decades. With his partner, Charles Bender, taking care of the shop, Heintzman devoted his time to his true passion – technological improvement. (He is credited with producing the draft for the first locomotive ever built in Germany.) He improved the interior quality of his pianos through16 the invention of the agraffe bridge, a transverse metal bridge extending across the cast-iron frame that keeps the strings from slipping, improves the clarity in treble, and produces a brilliant high tone. Heintzman received several Canadian patents for this improvement that set his pianos apart from all others. Thus, the foundations of the Heintzman piano dynasty were laid within 20 years of his arrival at his adopted homeland.

By the mid-1870s, Heintzman’s pianos were ready for overseas export where they garnered international awards. In 1876, the Heintzman company won a prize at Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition, and, in 1879, the Heintzman piano was exhibited for the first time at the Toronto Industrial Exhibition. By the time of his death in 1899, Heintzman’s pianos had won at least 11 awards in the United States and throughout the British Empire, including the prestigious William Prince of Wales Medal in London (1886).
 

Lithograph from the 1870s of the Heintzman & Company Piano Manufactory at 115-117 King Street in downtown Toronto. Sir Ernest MacMillan, echoing the words of the world's greatest musical artists, exclaimed, "For many years I have enjoyed playing Heintzman pianos; I admire their fine tone and responsive touch. The Heintzman Grand is an instrument of excelltn quality." [Photo, courtesy Charles J. Humber Collection]

By the 1880s the Heintzman Company was producing more than 500 pianos per year, an output that was a result of Heintzman’s reputation for high-quality work, his ongoing technical improvements, and a favourable protective tariff. The growth of the company was phenomenal by any standards. By 1890, the firm was one of Toronto’s largest manufacturing concerns, employing more than 200 craftsmen and producing 1000 pianos per year.16

During the 1890s, control of the company fell increasingly into the hands of Heintzman’s son, George Charles. While it was definitely the elder Heintzman’s superior old-world craftsmanship that created the “Heintzman Tradition” in Canada, there is little doubt that it was George who was the aggressive salesman behind the company’s national and international success. Foreseeing the potential for expansion during the early years of the National Policy, he insisted upon opening a huge factory at Toronto Junction to accommodate potential new orders. When the Toronto market appeared to be saturated with Heintzman pianos, he blitzed Ontario’s agricultural communities, often taking cattle as payment. When the first transcontinental train to Vancouver arrived in 1887, George made the return trip with a carload of pianos. As well, it was George who insisted on exhibiting the pianos at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London in 1886. There, the company won the Prince of Wales medal, and George sold 30-odd pianos, laying the basis for a worldwide export business. In 1888, a Heintzman piano was played at the Royal Albert Hall before Queen Victoria. The Queen was heard to remark, “I didn’t realize that such beautiful instruments could be made in the colonies.” George was the natural choice to continue the company’s affairs during the boom/bust 1890s when his father’s health began to deteriorate rapidly.

In terms of his personal life, the gay’90s were not kind to Theodore Heintzman. After moving into a magnificent villa on Annette Street (“The Birches”) his wife died suddenly. Although he continued to visit his Toronto Junction factory almost daily, his health was failing. In 1897, his son, Charles Theodore, who had managed the huge Heintzman1616 factory, passed away unexpectedly. Heintzman never did regain his strength and died of a “chill” at home on July 25, 1899. The piano dynasty passed into the hands of two of his remaining three sons —Herman and George — with George receiving “The Birches” and its contents for his “faithful devotion” to the company’s interests.

The “Heintzman Tradition” continued well into the 1960s when some 1500 upright and grand pianos were manufactured yearly in Hanover, Ontario. Subsequently, the company suffered new ownership and several mergers, and, by 1987, after nearly 125 years, production of the high-quality Heintzman piano ceased.

Gayle Comeau