Mason & Risch. A leading Canadian piano manufacturing firm established in 1871 in Toronto by the former A. & S. Nordheimer accountant Thomas G. Mason, with Vincent M. Risch and Octavius Newcombe. During its first six years it imported and sold music and instruments. Risch supervised piano tuning and repairs. The first piano was built in 1877. A year later the Mason-Risch-Newcombe partnership was dissolved, and Mason & Risch continued their business association, developing a cross-country retail chain (which later included the distribution of records and talking machines) and making extensive sales abroad. Among the many prizes and endorsements received by Mason & Risch was a tribute from Liszt, who sent them a life-size portrait of himself in 1881. By 1900 the company had built some 20,000 pianos; by 1950, over 65,000.... Quelle