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 Former factory building in Kraslice | |
| Company type | Cooperative |
|---|---|
| Industry | Musical instruments |
| Founded | 1948 |
| Founder | State of Czechoslovakia (Ninth-of-May Constitution) |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | |
| Owner | RIQ Investments |
| Website | www |
Amati Kraslice is a manufacturer of wind and percussion instruments based in Kraslice, Czech Republic. It was formed in 1948 as a national cooperative of several extant manufacturers and privatised in 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.
Before World War II, the town of Kraslice was mostly German-speaking, like the rest of Sudetenland, and was known in German as Graslitz. The area and its towns around the border of Bohemia and Saxony became known as the Musikwinkel (lit. 'music corner'), famous for its concentration of specialized musical instrument manufacturers. Kraslice housed 59 manufacturers before the war, [1] among them Hüller & Co, Bohland & Fuchs , A.K. Hüttl, and Julius Keilwerth. [2] During the war, much of the manufacturing capacity was converted to war-time use, and others had to halt production. [3]
After the war, the newly restored government of President Beneš aimed to make the state of Czechoslovakia entirely Slavic, and initiated a large scale expulsion of ethnic Germans. Most of the German-speaking population of Kraslice was expelled to Germany. Many of the expelled instrument makers would continue their businesses in the adjoining German parts of the Musikwinkel area in what is now Vogtlandkreis, which includes the towns of Markneukirchen, Klingenthal, and Schöneck.
Meanwhile, the remaining musical instrument manufacturers in Kraslice (now mostly ethnic Czechs) were organized into a cooperative of musical instrument manufacturers, named Amati after the famous Amati family of violin makers. In 1948 it was nationalized by the newly elected communist regime, along with all other manufacturing and agriculture.
Amati was privatized in 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia and became one of the largest instrument manufacturers in Europe. [4] It changed its name to Amati – Denak (Denak for dechové nástroje Kraslice, lit. 'wind instruments Kraslice'). [3] The company owned the Amati, Stowasser and V. F. Červený & Synové brands, which used to be independent companies themselves. [4] The main factory of the company is located in the western part of the Czech Republic in Kraslice, and its Červený factory was located in Hradec Králové. [5]
In 1994, Czech President Václav Havel presented his American counterpart, Bill Clinton, with an Amati tenor saxophone, on which Clinton played at the Reduta jazz club in Prague. [6]
In 2016 Amati – Denak was purchased by British band instrument manufacturer Geneva Instruments. [7] In 2020, Amati – Denak was declared insolvent and closed its Červený factory in Hradec Králové. [8] In 2021 the organisation was purchased by Brno-based RIQ Investments for 26.5 million Kč and restructured as a cooperative with the name Amati Kraslice. [9] As of 2023, Amati has between 50 and 100 employees. [10]
Amati Kraslice manufactures wind musical instruments, clarinets, trumpets, flutes, bassoons, saxophones, tubas, woodwinds, cases, stands, and other accessories. [11] Amati provides tours where the visitors can see how the instruments are made from the beginning stages to the end. [12]
Amati Kraslice distributes its products to the continents of Europe, America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. [13]
Hradec Králové is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 94,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reservation, the wider centre is protected as an urban monument zone.
The Czech First League, known as the Chance liga for sponsorship reasons, is a Czech professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Czech football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Seasons typically run from August to May, most games are played on Saturdays and Sundays with few games played on Fridays. All Chance liga clubs qualify for the Czech Cup.
Martin Frýdek is a Czech football manager and former player, whose position was midfielder. He was lastly the manager of Czech Fourth Division side Český Brod.
The reed contrabass is a metal double reed woodwind instrument in the bass-contrabass register, pitched in C. Although the bassoon-like double reed and metal construction make it superficially similar to a contrabass sarrusophone, it is descended from the ophicleide which it resembles in appearance, as well as in the arrangement of the simpler key work and fingering.
The piccolo trumpet is the smallest member of the trumpet family, pitched one octave higher than the standard B♭ trumpet. Most piccolo trumpets are built to play in either B♭ or A, using a separate leadpipe for each key. The tubing in the B♭ piccolo trumpet is one-half the length of that in a standard B♭ trumpet. Piccolo trumpets in G, F, and even high C are also manufactured, but are rarer.
The subcontrabass tuba is a rare instrument of the tuba family built an octave or more below the modern contrabass tuba. Only a very small number of these large novelty instruments have ever been built. Most are pitched in thirty-six-foot (36′) BBB♭ an octave lower than the BB♭ contrabass tuba, their fundamental note B♭-1 corresponding to a frequency of 15 Hz – such a slow vibration that it can scarcely be perceived as a note.
Vlčice is a municipality and village in Trutnov District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.
Ladislav Krejčí is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a left-winger for Hradec Králové.
Václav Pilař is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a winger for Hradec Králové. He represented the Czech Republic at international level between 2011 and 2015.
Pavel Černý is a Czech football player who currently plays for Chrudim on loan from Czech First League side Pardubice.
Tomáš Koubek is a Czech professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the Czech Republic national team.
Tomáš Malínský is a Czech retired professional footballer. He spent most of his career in FC Hradec Králové and FC Slovan Liberec. Malínský made one appearance for the Czech Republic national football team.
Markéta Ringelová is a Czech football player, who plays for Sparta Prague B in the Czech Women's Second League.
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Strunal Schönbach s.r.o. is a string instrument manufacturer based in Luby, Czech Republic. Strunal, in its current corporate structure that was established in 1992, is an outgrowth of Cremona, a joint-stock company founded in Schönbach in Czechoslovakia in 1922. In 1946, after World War II, the Cremona cooperative was founded in Luby.
Československé hudební nástroje, oborový podník was — during the era of communist Czechoslovakia from 1948 to 1992 — a state owned music instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Hradec Králové. The company name was later amended — "Československé hudební nástroje, státní podnik" — to reflect ownership by the government. In the 1970s, 50% of its musical instrument export products were supplied to the Soviet Union.
Adam Vlkanova is a Czech professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Czech First League club Hradec Králové.
Václav František Červený was a Czech brass instrument maker and inventor. He became the principal manufacturer in Austria-Hungary.
V. F. Červený & Synové is a Czech brand of brass instruments, established in 1842 by Václav František Červený and manufactured by Amati Kraslice.
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