Carl August Gräbner

Carl August Gräbner, or "Karl August Grabner" (1749—1827), was a German harpsichord maker from a distinguished family of instrument builders active in Dresden. He was the son of Johann Heinrich Gräbner, Jr. (ca. 1700—1777) and grandson of Johann Heinrich Gräbner (1665—1739); his three elder brothers, Ernst Gottlob (1734—1759), Johann Gottfried (1736—1808), and Johann Wilhelm Gräbner (1737—1798), followed the same oeuvre. Some biographers claim that Carl August left his brothers around 1777, soon after their father died, and established an individual workshop. There are only two extant instruments, including the 1782 two-manual harpsichord with FF–f3 compass at Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg. (A fortepiano dated circa 1790 in the same collection is ascribed to Gebrüder Gräbner, "Gräbner brothers," but doesn't specify individual makers.)