Ernst Louis Arnold, first in a bandoneon dynasty.

Our special thanks to Petra Reissig, for this valuable information about her forefather.

Ernst Louis Arnold was born on 09.03.1838 in Carlsfeld, a little village in the mountains Erzgebirge.

He worked in the factory of Carl Zimmermann as a foreman. In 1864 Carl Zimmermann saled his factory to Ernst Louis Arnold, Petra’s forefather.

In this year, Ernst Louis Arnold started his production of bandoneons. The name of the factory was E.L.A. (Ernst Louis Arnold)

He had 3 daughters (Emma, Emilie and Hedwig) and 3 sons (Ernst Hermann, Wilhelm Paul and Ernst Alfred).

Here are some fotos of the family Ernst Louis Arnold.

Ernst Louis and his wife:                                                                                                                                                 

The daughters, from left to right: Emma, Emilie (mother of Petra's grandfather) and Hedwig

                 

                                son Ernst Hermann                                                          son Ernst Alfred

                                              

Ernst Louis died on 31.08.1910 in Carlsfeld.

In 1911 Alfred Arnold with his brother Wilhelm Paul promoted the factory Alfred Arnold (double AA).

Ernst Hermann was the boss of the factory E.L.A.

Many people worked in these two factories. Many bandoneons were sold to South America, specially to Argentina and Uruguay.

The brothers Ernst Hermann and Alfred were competitors, but this fact was very good for the development of  bandoneons,.

Ernst Hermann was born in 1859 and Alfred was born in 1877.

Alfred died on 05.11.1933.

Ernst Hermann died on 19.02.1946.

After  world war II, the factory E.L.A. was continued by

Klingenthaler Musikinstrumente. In this factory they built only accordions.

The production of the factory Alfred Arnold shift to Obertshausen. The son of Wilhelm Paul, Arno Arnold was the boss of this factory.

The link www.arno-arnold.de provides information about the Arnold family.

Alfred Arnold had 3 children. Helene, Horst and Milda. Helene is now 96 years old and her sister 89 years old. They live in a seniorenhome in Johanngeorgenstadt Erzgebirge.

In this house Ernst Louis Arnold started in 1864 his production of bandoneons.

     

Later he build the new factory in Carlsfeld.

Here are some photos about the factory E.L.A. in Carlsfeld with the living house.

 

    

The living house at left, and the factory at right.

and this is an old drawing of the factory: