Joseph Schiffmacher 1827 - 1888

Picture

                     Lost For Over

                  A Century


While doing geneology research my brother Rudi in Germany  came across a mention of Joseph as
a Composer and Pianist. Further research showed  that Joseph was in fact quite prolific and that he studied and worked with people like Sigismund Thalberg and Frederic Chopin.
Over the ensuing years Rudi located quite a number of compositions for the piano at different "locations"such
as archives and private collections and today we have close to 100 compositions - just recently Rudi
"discovered" another 14 pieces at the British Archives in London. So far we have no idea why they are there and how they got there. Another 3 pieces ( new to us ) where now located at the French National Archives in Paris.
A pupil of Joseph's ( Mme Aline Tasset ) wrote a book entitled < la Main et lÁme du piano d'ápres Joseph Schiffmacher >, which loosely translated means : "The Hand and the Soul of the Piano according to J. Sch".
where she seems to "talk" about Techniques and  Styles developed by the Professor of Music at Universities of Strasburg, Paris, Geneve and Lyon. We know also about two other printed Publications mentioning Joseph Schiffmacher by Jean - Jaques Eigeldinger ( Cambridge University Press ) and by a 
Jan Marisse Huizing,  Joseph is also mentioned in  the Biography of  Chopin.
For me personally there is another mystery, joseph wrote a piece called < retraite mexicaine>, which means  "mexican retreat", so the question is : did he actually come to mexico etc?

In the 90's, when i still lived in the Vancouver area of British Columbia and close to the US Border, we took our kids to Blaine, Wa.  for Piano Lessons from Mr. Richard Clark. As mentioned in the short Biography by Mr. Clark, we had talked about our "Ancestor" and his Music and when i finally handed him about 5 lbs of Music Sheets, Richard took a very good and serious look at Joseph's Music, seriously enough that with time he had arranged for a Piano Teachers Association of  Whatcom County Recital of Joseph's Music. The Music was well received and well regarded by many and as a result we ( all involved at that time ) decided to  turn some of the pieces into a CD. That CD is now out and avilable and has 16 selected pieces on it played by the very capable hands of Mr. Dan Sabo of Bellingham.

Siegfried  Schiffmacher - 2012