Ludwig Hupfeld, Born November 26, 1864 in Maberzell, today's Fulda; died October 8,1949 in Leipzig
Hupfeld attended the royal Gymnasium in Fulda and had a business education in Cologne. In 1892 Hupfeld took over the Leipzig instrumentbusiness of J.M. Grob & Co which was situated in Leipzig-Eutritzsch. After the take-over the company name was changed to: „Hupfeld Musikinstrumentenwerke“. Later on in 1904 the company became „Ludwig Hupfeld AG“. AG stands for AktienGesellschaft, which can be translated simply as 'Limited company' (Ltd.). The Ludwig Hupfeld AG was the biggest manufacturer of mechanical music instruments in Europe in the 1920s. After the second world war the company was taken over. in 1949 that the firm was named “VEB Deutsche Pianounion”. This company still produced regular piano's bearing the name Hupfeld. Today the “Pianofabrik Leipzig GmbH & Co.KG” is located on the Ludwig-Hupfeld Strass 16 in Böhlitz-Ehrenberg and produces piano's of the Hupfeld and Rönisch brand
Hupfeld made several sorts of instruments, from push-ups to player piano's, reproducing piano's and several small to very large orchestrions. A list of Instruments made by the Hupfeld Company can be found here.
Production began in 1892 In 1918 shared a factory with Pianofabriek Carl Rönisch, Dresden In 1920 Hupfeld took over the A. H. Grunert Company In 1924 Hupfeld bought the Georg Steck factory in Gotha from Aeolian. In 1926 a merger with Gebr. Zimmermann From 1949 VEB Deutsche Union From 1990 Leipziger Pianofortefabriek with the make Hupfeld and Rönisch (regular piano's only)