
Thon's 1817 list of 100 Makers
a gradual process of identification
2025-06-22 by Lance Whitehead
Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Thon (1773–1844) was born in the town of Kaltennordheim, Thuringia, on 3 November 1773. He attended Hennebergisches Gymnasium in Schleusingen and subsequently the University of Jena, before starting work as a revenue officer. As a result of some financial irregularities, Thon lost his job and from c1816 onwards devoted his career to writing books on various subjects: wine production, decorative painting and gilding, bookbinding, riding, and cattle breeding. His volume Ueber Klavierinstrumente, first published in 1817, is important for early keyboard studies since it helps confirm the continued use of the clavichord in Europe during the early nineteenth century, and provides a skeletal list of over 100 keyboard instrument makers of German, Austrian and Bohemian heritage. All were included in the third edition of Boalch, edited by Charles Mould. Thon's complete list is posted in the BMO Appendix.

Firstly, it should be stressed that Thon’s list of makers is heavily biased and the rationale for inclusion in the text remains uncertain. The list includes only male instrument makers from one, albeit large, area of Europe, and although the hometown of each maker is given, there appear to be some typographical errors or irregular spellings and only the family name is recorded. Moreover, some important makers such as the Egedachers are absent, while the inclusion of multiple Viennese makers – including those listed by Thon as Bertsche, Brodman, Dohnal, Katholnig and Schanz – is a reminder that piano makers feature heavily in the register.
The identification process is on-going, but some makers have been identified from biographical entries in both E.L. Gerber’s two-volume Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler (1790–92) and J.G. Dlabacž’s three-volume Allgemeines-Historisches Künstlerlexicon für Böhmen (1815). Most of the lesser-known makers have been identified from extensive searches of parish registers, published online by matricula-online.eu, and familysearch.org. Only a subset of parishes has indexed their registers of births, deaths and marriages. Here are some of my findings.
Thons’s ‘Holzheu, in Ottobeuern und Kaufbeuern’ probably refers to Johann Nepomuk Holzhey (1741–1809) of Ottobeuren; ‘Heidenreich, in Hof’ is likely to be one Friedrich Heidenreich (1741–1819); and ‘Gehrhard, in Lindig bei Kahla’ probably refers to Christian August Gerhard (1745–1817). Also, ‘Schott, in Bamberg’ could be Johann Michael Schott the younger (fl.1769–1804), who was buried in the church of Unsere Liebe Frau, Bamberg, on 23 February 1804.
Christian August Gerhard and Michael Schott the younger were both second generation organ builders and several of the other names in Ueber Klavierinstrumente refer to a family or dynasty of instrument makers. Thus, the listing of ‘Blersch, in Straubingen’ might refer to either Johann Peter Plersch (1729–1791) or Johann Alois Plersch (c1765–1817), uncle and nephew, both of whom were organ builders in the town of Straubing. ‘Errlich, in Mergentheim’ might refer to Johann Adam Ehrlich (1703–1784) of Wachbach, a satellite town of Bad Mergentheim, or to his son Johann Anton Ehrlich (1742–1824), who was based in the town of Bad Mergentheim itself. ‘Stumm, auf dem Hundsrück’ must refer to the organ building dynasty founded by Johann Michael Stumm (1683–1747) of Sulzbach. The town, some 15km west of Frankfurt am Main, is in the mountainous Hünsrück region of Rhineland-Palatinate.
In addition to Schott, Thon records the names of two other makers active in the town of Bamberg: ‘Hansin’ (identified as Karl Justus Hansen) and ‘Ehrlich’ (identified as Christoph Ehrlich). Hansen’s ancestry and training remain unknown, although in his book Die Bamberger Hof-Musik unter den drei letzten Fürstbischöfen (1885, p.36), Marschalk von Ostheim gives his birthplace as Göttingen, so it is possible Hansen was related to the organ builders Johann Tobias Hansen and Johann Justus Hansen (father and son), whose workshop was situated in Angerstein, a satellite town of Göttingen. We do know that Hansen was appointed Hoforgelbauer in Bamberg on 22 December 1790, and married Maria Elisabeth Krämer in Martinskirche there on 14 February 1791. He died in Bamberg on 19 June 1841 and was buried in the Cathedral of St Peter and St George two days later.
Slightly more is known about Christoph Ehrlich (1781–1830), who was active in Bamberg from c1805 onwards. His workshop produced various instrument types, including giraffe pianos and guitars, and there are some extant examples. The son of the organ builder Johann Bernhard Ehrlich, Christoph was born in Waldenburg, in the Hohenlohe district of Baden-Württemberg, on 22 April 1781, and probably received his initial training in his father’s workshop. Moreover, in his study ‘Der Instrumentenmacher Christoph Ehrlich (1781–1830): Beschreibung und Analyse von zwei Gitarren aus dem Historischen Museum Bamberg’ (2003/4), Thomas Ochs reports that after seeing military service during the Napoleonic Wards, Ehrlich moved to Bamberg, where he worked successively for two organ builders: Hansen (perhaps Karl Justus Hansen) and Achatius Diemer. Ehrlich subsequently married Diemer’s widow and established his own workshop on the Oberer Stephansberg in Bamberg.

It should also be stressed that some of the identifications remain uncertain. Does Thon’s listing of ‘Hesse, in Ochsenhausen’ refer to the organ builder Joseph Höß (1745–1797), who had his workshop in the town? Might Thon’s ‘Rommel, in Linz’ refer to Johann Caspar Rommel (1721–1800), who was based not in Linz but in the town of Roßdorf, Thuringia? Perhaps more likely is the organ builder Nikolaus Rummel (c1708–1794), whose premises were indeed in the town of Linz.
Further archival work is necessary to identify other makers in Thon’s list and to determine whether any of their workshops produced clavichords. Some of the ‘new’ names might in the future assist in the attribution of an instrument, which has only a partial inscription or where the maker’s label has been lost. It also requires additional work to determine which of these ‘new’ makers produced harpsichords or clavichords. However, in her study ‘Johann Adam Ehrlich (1703–1784) und Sohn Johann Anton Ehrlich (1742–1824): zwei kunsterfahrene Orgel- und Instrumentenmacher’ (1995, pp.181–221) Rosemarie Volz reports that an inscription on an organ he built for the Stadtkirche in Neuenstadt am Kocher (1741) reads ‘1741 ist dies Orgelwerk von mir, Johann Adam Ehrlich, Orgel- und Instrumentenmacher in Wachbach verfertiget worden’, so it is possible that we have at least one more potential stringed keyboard instrument maker.