Julius Genrikhovich Zimmermann (1851, Mecklenburg - 1923, Berlin) - Supplier to the court of His Imperial Majesty. A manufacturer of musical instruments and a music publisher of German origin, who worked for a long time in the Russian Empire.
Born into an old family of German piano masters. After studying banking in Berlin, he moved to St. Petersburg in 1876, where he opened a shop and a music publishing house. Soon Zimmermann became widely known as one of the best suppliers of musical instruments, and his company opened branches in Moscow (1882), London (1897), Riga (1903) and Leipzig (1886, became independent from 1929), where the production of strings began. , wooden, copper and plucked instruments of our own brand "JHZ". Masters invited from Markneukirchen worked in Zimmermann′s workshops, in particular the brass instrument master Josef Schimmer. In 1883 he opened a musical instrument factory in St. Petersburg, which produced, in particular, violins, mandolins, zithers, flutes, clarinets and cornets. Zimmerman′s store was located in Moscow on Kuznetsky Most in the house of Torletsky - Zakharyin.
Zimmerman was a representative of Blütner (St. Petersburg and Moscow), Schroeder (Moscow and Leipzig), Steinway and Sons (St. Petersburg and Moscow) and others.
For his services in the Russian Empire, Julius Zimmerman was awarded the Order of St. Stanislav (1901) and declared the exclusive supplier of musical instruments for the Russian army.
In 1886 Zimmermann returned to Germany and moved the center of his company to Leipzig, which also included a music publishing house. Since 1893 the company has been regularly presented at international exhibitions, where it has won gold medals for musical instruments of its own production.
In 1900, he took over the Adler-Musikwerke company in Leipzig. In 1904, Zimmermann acquired the Gustav Fiedler Piano Factory, where he continued to manufacture keyboards under that name, as well as under his own name “Jul. Heinr. Zimmermann ". The factory also produced various mechanical musical instruments and harmoniums of the Fortuna brand, and the Orgophone and Cantophone models became patented inventions.
By the end of the 19th century, the music publishing house "Zimmermann" was already publishing notes in millions of copies in Europe and America (in the USA - together with the English company G. Schirmer in New York). Zimmermann published sheet music by composers Balakirev, S. Lyapunov, P. Yuon, Sarasate, L. Shpohr, K. Reinecke, E. Köhler, F. Büchner, I. Andersen, E. Prill, V. Popp, K. Venus, V. N. Tsybin, A. Tershak, S. Yadasson, A. Lvov, V. Vasilevsky, N. Artemiev, N. Potapova, and others; schools of playing various instruments, fingerings of playing wind instruments, catalogs of musical literature.
In 1914, after the outbreak of the First World War, the company in Russia was declared an "enemy property". During the German pogroms in May 1915, one of the largest Zimmermann musical instruments store in Moscow on Kuznetsky Most was attacked by an angry crowd: pianos were thrown from the fourth floor of the building. In 1919 the company was nationalized. On the basis of the wind instrument factory, the Leningrad Wind Instrument Factory (now the St. Petersburg Wind Musical Instrument Factory) was created.
In 1919, Zimmermann opened a new workshop branch in Markneukirchen. Until 1936, balalaikas were mainly produced there, by master Paul Fischer, who then founded his own workshop.
In 1922, Julius Zimmermann handed over all the affairs to his sons - Wilhelm (1891-1946) and August (1877-1952). Died at the age of 70. In 1928, the company was split, part of the company for the production of musical instruments (including the workshop in Markneukirchen) went to August Zimmermann; existed until 1936. The music publishing house passed to Wilhelm Zimmermann, who later became the publisher of Nikolai Medtner. The music publishing house "Zimmermann" is still one of the largest in the world, the central office of the publishing house is located in Frankfurt am Main.