Conrad Graf

Conrad Graf (17 November 1782, Riedlingen — 18 March 1851, Vienna) was a prominent Austrian-German piano maker. As one of the leading manufacturers of the time, Graf supplied instruments to some of the most renowned composers and pianists of the era: ⎖ Ludwig van Beethoven had a custom 6½-octave piano triple-strung to C♯, and 4x-strung from D to the top (F4), plus equipped with a sound-channeling device to accommodate the composer's increasing deafness ⎖ Franz Liszt played many Graf pianos ⎖ Clara Schumann née Wieck received Graf's piano in 1840 as a gift to her marriage with Robert Schumann; after the composer's death in 1856, Clara gave the piano to Johannes Brahms ⎖ Gustav Mahler owned an antique c.1836 Graf piano in the 1880s ⎖ Frédéric Chopin ⎖ Friedrich Kalkbrenner ⎖ Camille Pleyel