Carl Wilhelm Moritz (1810-1855) was a German musical instrument builder.

Biography

Moritz was born in Berlin, the son of instrument builder Johann Gottfried Moritz, who had invented the 5 valve

bass tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the new ...

together with Wilhelm Wieprecht. Carl Wilhelm took over his father's business when his father retired, 5 years before his death. Wieprecht was a musical director for the royal military bands in Berlin, and in 1835 gave C. W. Moritz the task of producing baroque kettle drums and other military drums for the reforms of military music happening at the time. Moritz was able to design numerous improvements to these drums, including using thinner kettle walls than had previously been possible, and improved tuning keys. On 8 May 1838, a concert was given to celebrate a visit to Berlin by the

Tsar Nicholas I , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date ...

of Russia, which featured over 1,000 musicians and 200 drummers, and used Moritz's drums. Original timpani and drums built by Moritz are still kept in museums today. Carl Wilhelm Moritz also invented a number of new wind instruments, as his father. This included an early tenor tuba and bass bassoon. After his death, his son Carl Albert Moritz continued the family business of instrument building, supplying

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

with instruments such as the bass trumpet, bass trombone and the construction of a "waldhorn tuba", the so-called Wagner tuba for performances of the Ring des Nibelungen. lfred Berner: Moritz, Blasinstrumentenmacher. In: Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Band 18, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1997, , S. 146/ref> The Moritz family business continued operation in Berlin under the name "C. W. Moritz" until it finally closed in 1959, due to economic conditions after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The business had operated continuously since 1808.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moritz, Carl Wilhelm 19th-century German inventors German musical instrument makers Businesspeople from Berlin