Hals, also known as Brødrene Hals, was a piano manufacturing and

music publishing A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers began to play a role in the management of the intellectua ...

company based in

Christiania, Norway Oslo ( or ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of towns and cities in Norway, most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a Counties of Norway, county and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a populat ...

(now Oslo) that was active from 1847 through 1925.

History

Hals was founded in November 1847 by brothers Karl Hals (1822–1898) and Petter Hals (1823–1871). The company originally only made

upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...

s of various designs. It won medals at world's fairs in 1862, 1866, 1867 and 1900. After Petter died in 1871, Karl purchased his share of the business and became the company's sole owner. In 1880 Hals opened their own public concert hall which was known for its excellent acoustics. In 1886 the company began building harmoniums in addition to pianos, and in 1887 they expanded into music publishing after acquiring Petter Håkonsen's music publishing business. By 1890 the Hals factory had 100 employees. It became a

limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...

in 1900. The music publishing part of Hals ceased operation in 1909 when it merged with Carl Warmuth's music publishing firm to form

Norsk Musikforlag Norsk Musikforlag Aktieselskap is a Norwegian publisher that specializes in music-related publications such as method books and sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indi ...

. In 1925 the piano manufacturing part of the business was sold and absorbed into Grøndahl & Søn.

Referernces

{{reflist Music publishing companies Piano manufacturing companies Norwegian companies established in 1847 Companies based in Oslo Manufacturing companies established in 1847 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1925 1847 establishments in Norway 1925 disestablishments in Norway Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Norway Manufacturing companies based in Oslo