Tradition

Anton Braun
Instrument making since 1896

The "Anton Braun" workshop was founded in 1896 by violin maker Anton Braun (1877–1927) in Temesvár, which was then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had previously learned the craft from his brother Johann Braun (1860-1922) who was 17 years his senior, in Szeged.
Anton Braun had two sons: The firstborn,
Johann Bruno Braun (1905–1968), learned the violin-making craft from his father. After the birth of the second son, Anton Michael Braun (1911–1978), , the parents decided to expand the business to include other instrument groups in order to offer the second-born a secure future in the company as well. For this purpose, they expanded the violin-making workshop with retail premises and opened a music shop. In addition to trading wind instruments, this shop also offered the appropriate maintenance and repair services in the in-house workshop.

Anton Michael also learned the craft of wind instrument making in the family business. After successfully completing his journeyman's examination in 1928, he continued his training in Graslitz, Czechoslovakia, where he spent six months deepening his knowledge in the manufacture of brass and woodwind instruments at the company Willnauer & Co. "Fabrication von Blechblasinstrumenten" (Brass Instrument Manufacture).
When he returned from this journey later that year—his father having already passed away the previous year—he took over the wind instrument division of the family workshop, while his older brother Johann Bruno continued to manage the violin-making department.
To ensure the business remained competitive for the future, Anton Michael took on dealerships for numerous leading manufacturers and modernized the workshop so completely and comprehensively that any type of service for these instruments became possible. The company grew dynamically during the 1930s and 1940s, expanding to include several retail branches and adding wholesale operations to their retail business.
At times, up to 40 people were employed: 20 to 25 in the workshop and 15 in the commercial sectors. Since he was a passionate and highly successful saxophone player himself—even filling in for professional orchestras—it was a natural next step for him to expand the workshop to include the manufacture of his own saxophones.
In 1941, Anton Michael Braun's son,
Anton Johannes Braun, was born.
Just three years later, in 1944, Soviet troops confiscated the entire inventory and the shops during the Second World War.
Despite this severe setback, Anton Michael Braun ventured a new beginning together with his older brother: they built up a small craft business (with 2 employees) that specialized in the repair and new construction of wind and string instruments.
1956: After finishing school, the young Anton J. Braun also worked in this family business during the day, while attending evening classes at an Abendgymnasium (evening high school) to earn his higher education entrance qualification (Abitur).
When private craft businesses were banned in 1958, Anton Michael Braun, along with his son and two employees, moved to the state-owned factory "Victoria" in 1959 to establish a saxophone department. From then on, Anton J. Braun worked as an instrument designer in this division. The department grew rapidly: within a few months, the initial four employees became around 50, and after a few years, the workforce even reached 70. The saxophones were exported to both the West and the Soviet Union of that time.
After completing his Abitur, Anton J. Braun balanced his work with a six-year, part-time degree in electromechanics, which he successfully completed with the state examination. While still completing his studies, he also earned his master craftsman title (Meistertitel) in his trade as an instrument designer.
When his father, Anton Michael Braun, retired in 1973, Anton J. Braun finally took over the management of the operations.
Since the saxophone manufacturing department of the state-owned "Victoria" factory was poorly equipped technologically and offered no future prospects for new talent, Anton J. Braun saw no further potential there. At the same time, the university urgently needed him for research and ultimately secured his release from the factory. In 1976, he handed over the management of the operations and transitioned into academia at the "Polytechnic Institute of Timișoara" (Temeswar). From then on, he conducted research at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering within the Department of Manufacturing Technology (Fac. mecanică, Cat. T.M., cercetări).
Just how justified his concerns about the operations were became clear a year later: in 1978, the saxophone manufacturing department at "Victoria" was permanently dissolved.
In order to keep the instrument-making tradition alive, he fled to Germany in 1977 for another fresh start. Following his arrival in Egelsbach in Hesse, it did not take long before he opened a small music shop with an attached repair workshop in Frankfurt am Main in 1980. In parallel, he began setting up today's flute-making workshop in Egelsbach.

Flute making since 1984

In1984, he received his first flute-making commission from the flutist Michael Hasel, who had recently joined the "Berlin Philharmonic" under the direction of Herbert von Karajan. Michael Hasel's request was a piccolo that met the highest orchestral demands, aligning perfectly with the orchestra's musical style in both tuning (445Hz) and tonal quality.
The successful construction of this piccolo flute at the start of the 1984 season triggered a wave of follow-up orders from regional orchestras. The demand was so great that he closed his previous shop in Frankfurt to dedicate himself exclusively to flute making in his own workshop in Egelsbach from then on.
In cooperation with Michael Hasel (member of the Berlin Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet) und Rolf Bissinger (member of the Frankfurt Opera), further instruments were created in the following years.

• 1993: Anton J. Braun's wooden flute (featuring a patented wooden headjoint).
• 1999: A patented cylindrical octave flute (piccolo flute down to low c).
• 2010: The likewise patented conical octave flute (piccolo flute down to low C). This represents a further development of the Braun piccolo flutes manufactured since 1985 and is the world's first octave Boehm flute to successfully establish itself in everyday professional orchestral use.

Since the two musicians played in two completely differently oriented orchestras, they provided Anton J. Braun with insights into their respective requirements. The art lay in balancing these different demands: their feedback flowed directly into the development process to create an instrument capable of unfolding the required tonal character in any of these musical contexts.
Since 1998, Anton J. Braun's daughter,Eva-Marie Simon (née Braun), has been working in her father's business. Step by step, she has immersed herself in the family knowledge passed down and steadily refined over generations. In doing so, she ensures the continuation and high quality standards of the company into the fourth generation. Professionally, she successfully graduated from the "Fachschule für Musikinstrumentenbau" (Technical School for Musical Instrument Making) in Ludwigsburg as a woodwind instrument maker. In addition, she looks back on a diverse musical background: following initial foundations in piano during her elementary school years, she took up the flute at around 20 years of age. From 1999 to 2007, she simultaneously dedicated herself to singing lessons and choral singing. This was followed by periods in the youth choir of the Hessischer Rundfunk, the Figuralchor, and the Singakademie, performing with them at venues including the Alte Oper Frankfurt.

Since 2015, her husband,Dipl.-Geol. Ludwig Simon (Precision Mechanics & Materials Technology), has been working by her side, enriching the traditional craft with an additional scientific component.
Having been introduced to the subtleties of flute making by his father-in-law, he practices the craft today alongside his wife, linking this foundation with his own family roots in precision mechanics.

Family tree

Anton Braun (Senior)  Tischler ( 1832 - 1904 ) Mako / Österreich-Ungarn
Anton Braun  Geigenbauer ( 1877 - 1927 ) Firmengründer in Temesvár 1896	Michael (Mihály) Braun  Geigenbauer ( 1870 - 1942 ) Kolozsvár / Österreich-Ungarn	Johann (János) Braun  Geigenbauer ( 1860 - 1922 ) Szeged / Österreich-Ungarn
		Preis-Medaillen von Gewerbe Ausstellungen
Anton Michael Braun  Blasinstrumentenmacher ( 1911 - 1978 ) Temesvár / Österreich-Ungarn	Johann Bruno Braun  Geigenbauer ( 1905 - 1968 ) Temesvár / Österreich-Ungarn
Dipl.-Ing./R.  Anton J. Braun  Maschinenbau und Instrument Konstrukteur (* 1941 ) Timisoara / Rumänien seit 1977 in Deutschland	LITERATUR Peter Benedek "HUNGARIAN VIOLIN MAKING" Documentation of the instruments exhibited in 1995 at the Munich Stadtmuseum, featuring the world's most famous and important Hungarian violin makers.      ISBN-13 : ‏ 978-3981719123 Lyndesay G.Langwill "AN INDEX OF MUSICAL WIND-INSTRUMENT MAKERS" Fifth Edition 1977 Auguste Bosc "MUSIQUE ADRESSES UNIVERSEL" Paris   10 Édition 1928
Eva-Marie A. Simon  Holzblasinstrumentenmacherin (* 1980 ) Egelsbach / Deutschland	Dipl.-Geol. Ludwig Simon Feinmechanik & Materialtechnologie (* 1981 ) Budapest / Ungarn
Sohn & Tochter

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