Entrepreneur. He founded the C. Bechstein Pianoforte Co., considered one of the world’s finest piano manufacturers, in Berlin in 1853. The sonorous yet creamy sound of this company’s instruments influenced composer Claude Debussy, who once enthused,  “All piano music should be written for Bechsteins”,  and over the years they have been favored by such virtuosos as Edwin Fischer,  Artur Schnabel,  Wilhelm Backhaus,  Wilhelm Kempff,  and Dinu Lipatti.  Bechstein was born in Gotha,  Germany.  At 14 he was apprenticed to piano-maker Johann Gleitz and later traveled to Paris to study piano-building techniques.  His reputation was established in 1857 when pianist Hans von Bulow performed Liszt’s Sonata in B Minor on a Bechstein concert grand in Berlin.  He later set up showrooms throughout Europe and his last project,  London’s Bechstein Hall (now Wigmore Hall),  was completed in 1901.  After decades of marginal status following the end of World War II,  the Bechstein company was revived in the 1990s and now specializes in the manufacture of high quality upright pianos.    (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouse:  Louise Doering Bechstein (1828 – 1899)* *Calculated relationship