Schiedmayer is the name of a German instrument maker family, which since the 18th Century as a manufacturer of keyboard instruments is employed.



In the year 1648 in the German Westfalian city of Münster two peace treaties were signed, ending two wars. The 30-year War in Germany in which almost all of Europe was involved. And the 80- year war between The Netherlands and Spain – in which also many other countries were involved. Both wars were in fact religious wars, due to bitter conflicts between roman-catholics and the participants of the Reformation.

Negotiations of peace of both wars were in combined negotiations, by inviting The Netherlands to the negotiation table, although The Netherlands were not involved in the 30-year war in Germany. This way they succeeded in ending two wars at one table at Münster in the same year.
The treaty of the 80-year War was drafted on January 30th in 1648 and signed on May 15th 1648. The 30-year Treaty was signed on October 24th in 1648.

Schiedmeyer / Schiedmayer
Johann ( I ) Schiedmeyer
Shortly after the end of the 30-year War bricklayer and stonemason Johann Schiedmeyer referred to his Confessor Master Steiner – at the Austrian village of St. Peter – for a passport due to the Faith suppression to be able to flee in exile to Franconia Bavaria (i.e. the Nürnberg region). He left St. Peter in 1652, four years after signing the peace treaty of the 30-year War.
It is suggested in literature – due to the family name Schiedmeyer being recorded in various historic sources – Johann Schiedmayer was from the Nürnberg region, left for Austria and so in fact he returned to his region of birth.
Johann Schiedmayer lived at various places in Bavaria. His son – Veit – was trained and educated to become a baker. And he became a “Hofbäcker” (supplier to the court as a baker) in the village of Frauenaurach, close to Erlangen. Finally he became part of the judiciary circles and he died in 1722, while being the Mayor of Frauenaurach.

Veit Schiedmeyer in Frauenaurach
Two of the seven sons of Veit followed his footprint and became bakers. Son Johann Simon was a baker at Frauenaurach. Son Johann became a baker at Erlangen and acquired the title “Hofbeck” (Court supplier).

Johann ( II ) Schiedmeyer in Erlangen
The first son of Johann II, named Johann Balthasar was born October 25th of 1711. From this moment on we noticed that they changed occupation. Johann’s offspring became carpenters and joiners and instrument makers.

The Musical Dynasty
Johann Balthasar in Erlangen
Johann Balthasar worked as a Carpenter and Joiner, thus able to build a musical instrument’s corpus. A few years later it became clear he had - as an autodidact – evolved to be a musical instrument maker, a keyboard builder.
Out of three of the sons of Johann Balthasar (Johann Christoph Georg, Adam Achatius and Johann David) Johann David became very famous for his skills as a Klavierbauer (builder of keyboard instruments). He was trained at the Augsburg factory of Steiner.

Johann David - Erlangen / Nürnberg
We know of Johann David that he gained famousness all over the German-Catholic Empire, and soon after that even outside of the Empire. From his workbook we know he emotionally had to say ‘goodbye’ to this instruments. In his case these are Schiedmayer Flügel. Instruments built by Johann David were sold to cities like Riga, Leipzig, Königsberg, Bremen, Hamburg, Würzburg, Erfurt and Jena. His instruments are mentioned in Volume 4 of the Lexicon by Ernst Ludwig Gerber. Another proof of his eminent skills would be the fact that in 1800 he had received orders for 8 years ahead! And we have to keep in mind that his instruments were expensive.
Johann David had apprentices in his workshop, most of the time they caused quite some troubles. Historic documentations shows that most of his time he worked alone. About 1802 it shows that his son Johann Lorenz started his training with his father. And he showed to be a good help for his father.
Johann David not only built Flügel, he also repaired and maintained violins. He also rented out keyboard instruments and had a busy practice as a tuner. Keyboards in those days had to be tuned a few times each month.
A salient detail: He charged 24 Kreutzer for tuning. Of all people the rich clients were the ones not paying invoices but instead believed that a gentle “thank you very much” would be enough payment for work done. (You know, : Lesson One of “How to become rich in short time”). Happily he also noted this barbarism in his workbook.
From the Lexion of Gerber mentioned earlier, we know that Johann David decided to leave Erlangen and to settled his firm at Nürnberg in 1797. His life ended. Only a single line was dedicated to him in the churches record:


Johann Lorenz - Erlangen - Nürnberg - Wien - Stuttgart
Clearly the talents of father Johann David were inherited into the son Johann Lorenz. Just at age 19 when his father passed away, his training proved to be sufficient to continue his fathers business. In 1805 he built his first pianoforte single handed. However this did not blur his mind to know he had to be - like his father did – trained by a Grand Master in building keyboard instruments. Johann Lorenz however lacked one quality. His predecessors were all inclined to make notes in workbooks and diaries. Johann Lorenz went to Vienna to be trained and he wrote… nothing. We even don’t know where he was trained.
In Vienna the Streicher firm was ‘weltberühmt”, building pianofortes with the “Vienna mechanism’ in itself a variety of the ‘German mechanism’ dating back to the work of Andreas Silbermann. Yes, indeed the Saxony organ builder.
Ludwig van Beethoven had a distinct preference for Streicher pianofortes. However, Beethoven had a small problem. Where ever he would perform on pianoforte, he demanded that two (!) Streicher instruments should be available, because the Streicher instruments were not able to cope with the Beethoven powerful style of playing. To avoid that this anecdote should sound unbelievable, here is a full quote: