(Redirected from Steinway and Sons)'Steinway & Sons' is a
piano maker, founded 1853 in
New York City, with a second factory established 1880 in the city of
Hamburg,
Germany. Both Steinway factories have undergone great changes, and still make Steinway & Sons pianos today.
Steinway factory New York
History
Immigration
Modern Steinway-Decal
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, piano maker of the Steinweg brand, emigrated from Germany to America in 1850 with his family.
[1] One son
C.F.Theodor Steinweg remained in Germany, and continued making the Steinweg brand of pianos. In 1853, Steinweg founded Steinway & Sons. His first workshop was in a small loft at the back of 85 Varick Street in Manhattan, New York City.
[2] The first piano produced by Steinway & Sons was given the number 483 (Steinweg had built 482 pianos before founding Steinway & Sons). It was sold to a New York family for $500, and is now displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
[3] Only a year later demand was such that the company was forced to move to larger premises at 82-88 Walker Street. It was not until 1864 that the family anglicized their name legally to Steinway.
[4]
Steinway Factory
Steinway family members
By the 1860s Steinway had built a new factory and lumber yard. Now 350 men worked at Steinway & Sons and production increased from 500 to 1800 pianos in a year. Steinway pianos underwent numerous substantial improvements through innovations made both at the Steinway factory and elsewhere in the industry, based on emerging engineering and scientific research, including developments in the science of acoustics. Almost half of the company's 115 patented inventions were developed by the first and second generations of the Steinway family. Soon Steinway's pianos won several important prizes at Exhibitions in New York, Paris, and London.
Steinway factory Hamburg
Steinway Hall
In 1864, the son of
Henry E. Steinway,
William Steinway, who is credited with establishing Steinway’s remarkable success in marketing, built a set of elegant new showrooms housing over 100 pianos on East 14th Street. Two years later he oversaw the construction of
Steinway Hall to the rear of the showrooms. The first Steinway Hall was opened in 1866. It seated over 2,000 and quickly became an important part of New York’s cultural life, housing the New York Philharmonic for the next 25 years, until the Carnegie Hall opened in 1891.
[5] Concertgoers had to pass first through the piano showrooms, which had a remarkable effect on sales, increasing demand for new pianos by four hundred in 1867 alone.
[6] William Steinway also invented the "Concert & Artist" Department, which is still in operation today. The Steinway factory was then located on 4th Avenue (now Park Ave.) and East 55th Street in Manhattan.
New Steinway Factories
In 1880, William Steinway established a professional community, Steinway Village, in the Astoria section of Queens County, New York. The Steinway Village was built as its own town, which included a new factory (still used today) with its own foundries, post office, parks and housing for employees. Steinway Village later became part of Long Island City. To reach European customers who wanted Steinway brand pianos and to avoid high European taxes, William and Theodore established a new piano factory in the free
German city of
Hamburg in 1880.
[7] Also in 1880, the "Steinway-Haus" was established in Hamburg. Then, in 1909, another Steinway-Haus opened in Berlin. In the 1900s Steinway had established itself in major cultural centers: New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg.
New century
Steinway Art Case No. 128343 (Hamburg 1908)
By 1900, both Steinway factories produced more than 3,500 pianos a year, finding their place in many concert halls, schools, and private homes across the world. In 1857 Steinway began to produce a line of highly lucrative art case pianos, designed by well-known artists, which became popular among the rich and famous. These pianos today sell for vast sums of money in auctions around the world. In 1903 the 100,000th Steinway grand piano was given as a gift to the
White House. This was replaced in 1938 by the 300,000th, which remains in the White House to this day.
[8] Later Steinway diversified into the manufacture of
reproducing pianos. Several systems such as the
Welte-Mignon,
Duo-Art, and
Ampico were incorporated. During the 1920s Steinway had been selling up to 6,000 pianos a year. Piano production went down after the 1929, and during the
Great Depression Steinway produced just over 1,000 pianos a year. In the years between 1935 and WWII, demand rose again.
Second World War
During WWII the Steinway Factory in New York received orders from the Allied Armies to build wooden gliders to convey troops behind enemy lines. Few normal pianos could be made, but one particularly special model was built, the Victory Vertical. It was a small olive green piano with matching stool, designed to be launched from an airplane with a parachute, in order to bring music to the GIs.
The factory in Hamburg, Germany, being American-owned, made very few pianos: no more than a hundred pianos per year left the factory. In the later years of the war the company was ordered to give away all the prepared and dried wood from the lumber yard for war production. In an air raid over Hamburg the factory was hit by several Allied bombs and was nearly destroyed.
Steinway No.500.000 (New York 1988)
After The War
Steinway completed restoration of the Hamburg factory with some help from the
Marshall Plan. Eventually, the post-war cultural revival boosted the demand for entertainment, and Steinway increased piano production at both New York and Hamburg factories from 2,000 in 1947, to 4,000 pianos a year by the 1960s. During the years of the
Cold War, Steinway remained one of the very few products of the
Free world purchased by the
Soviet Union, and Steinways were found at the
Bolshoi Theatre,
Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra,
Moscow Conservatory,
St. Petersburg Conservatory, and the
St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra in
Leningrad, among other schools and symphony orchestras in the USSR.
Transformations
In
1972, after long-running financial struggle, legal issues with the Grotrian-Steinweg brand, which were eventually finalized, and a lack of interest regarding the business among some of the Steinway family, the firm was sold to
CBS. CBS sold Steinway in the
1985 to a group of investors, Steinway Musical Properties Inc.
[9]
In
1988 Steinway & Sons made their 500,000th piano, making a milestone in the history of musical instruments. The piano was built by the Steinway factory in New York with some participation from the Hamburg Steinway factory. The 500,000th Steinway was designed by artist
Wendell Castle and was named "The grand of the artists". Several hundred Steinway Artists signed the piano with their names. It is still on its concert tour around the world.
In
1995 Steinway Musical Properties, parent company of Steinway & Sons, merged with the Selmer Company, and formed
Steinway Musical Instruments, which acquired the flute manufacturer Emerson in 1997, then piano keyboard maker
Kluge in 1998, and the
Steinway Hall in 1999. . The new combined company was renamed
Steinway Musical Instruments, and they made more acquisitions in the following years. Since 1996
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is traded at the
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the name LVB (Ludwig van Beethoven).
New Millennium
By the year 2000, Steinway had made its 550,000th piano. The company updated and expanded production of its two other brands, Boston and Essex pianos, in addition to the flagship
Steinway & Sons. More Steinway showrooms, salons and halls opened across the world, mainly in Japan, Korea and China.
Today,
Henry Ziegler Steinway, the great-grandson of the founder, now approaching 90, still works for Steinway and puts his signature on custom-made limited edition pianos. In
2003 Steinway celebrated their 150th anniversary at
Carnegie Hall, Henry Z. Steinway represented the family.
[10]
In April
2005, the Steinway factory in Hamburg celebrated their 125th anniversary. Steinway employees together with Steinway artists, dealers and friends from around the world celebrated at the
Laeiszhalle - Music Hall of Hamburg. There was a big anniversary concert, which culminated in a showcase performance by Steinway artist
Lang Lang. As part of celebration, the 125th anniversary limited edition Steinway Art-Case piano by renowned designer
Albrecht Graf Goertz was presented to public. The 125th anniversary of the Hamburg Steinway factory was marked by a large-scale festival of music, held on April 17, 2005.
Today
Steinway D-274 iron cast frames
Pianos
'Steinway New York' produces seven sizes of grand piano and two sizes of upright piano.
[11]
★ grand: S-155, M-170, L-179, O-180, A-188, B-211, D-274
★ upright: professional model 1098, professional model K-52
'Steinway Hamburg' produces seven sizes of grand piano and two sizes of upright piano.
[12]
★ grand pianos: S-155, M-170, O-180, A-188, B-211, C-227, D-274
★ upright pianos: V-125, K-132.
New York & Hamburg
Many of the great pianists of the past (called 'the Immortals' by Steinway) and many active concert pianist pianists today have expressed a preference for either the New York or the Hamburg piano.
Vladimir Horowitz played a New York model D,
Arthur Rubinstein preferred the Hamburg model D.
Sergei Rachmaninoff owned two New York Steinways in his Beverly Hills home, and one New York D in his New York home, however, he chose a Hamburg D for his new villa Senar in Switzerland. The difference between New York and Hamburg Steinways is less noticeable today, although some objective differences are well known:
[13] the American models have a black satin finish and square or
Sheraton corners; Hamburg models have a high gloss polyester finish and rounded corners.
13
At present, 2,500 Steinway pianos are built in New York every year, and 1,500 Steinway pianos are built in Hamburg. The market is loosely divided into two sales areas, New York Steinway supply North and South America with their pianos; Hamburg Steinway supply their pianos to the rest of the world. At all main Steinway showrooms across the world pianos can be ordered from both factories. New York and Hamburg factories exchange parts and craftsmanship in order to "make no compromise in quality", in the words of Henry E. Steinway.
[14] Steinway parts for both factories come from the same places: Canadian maple is used for the rim; the soundboards are made from Sitka spruce from Alaska. Both factories use similar crown parameters for their diaphragmatic soundboards. Recently Steinway has acquired some of its suppliers in order to maintain quality: the German manufacturer Kluge in Wuppertal, which supplies all the keyboards was bought in December 1998; in November 1999, it purchased the company which supplies its iron frames, O. S. Kelly Co., Springfield.
[15]
Art-Case
The Art-Case design is popular again. Renown designers such as
Dakota Jackson,
Karl Lagerfeld and
Albrecht Graf Goertz have created original designs for limited edition Steinway pianos. Recently Steinway introduced the first of its Legendary Collection, a re-creation of the Art-Case
Alma Tadema, the original of which sold at auction in New York in 1997 for $1.2 million, and which is now in the
Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
[16][17]
The Steinway Crown Jewel Collection is a series of pianos veneered in exclusive and exotic woods such as
Satinwood,
Bubinga and
Macassar ebony.
[18]
The Steinway Concert & Artist Program
In contrast to other makers, who presented their pianos to pianists, William Steinway engaged the great Russian pianist
Anton Rubinstein to play an American concert tour in 1872, with 215 concerts in 239 days.
[19] It was a triumph for both Rubinstein and Steinway & Sons. Later
Ignacy Jan Paderewski played 107 concerts in the time of 117 days, travelling through America with his own railroad car and Steinway concert piano. The Concert & Artist program was born.
Steinway grand piano D-274 (Hamburg)
According to Steinway & Sons, 98% of piano soloists chose to play publicly on a Steinway during the 2005–2006 North American concert season.
[20] The majority of the world's concert halls have a D-274, some have both New York and Hamburg D's to satisfy a greater range of performing artists. Today over 1,300 concert artists and ensembles bear the title "Steinway Artist," which means that they have chosen to perform on Steinway pianos. Each owns a Steinway and none is paid to do so.
[21] Well known piano competitions such as the
Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition[22] and the
Van Cliburn International Piano Competition are sponsored by Steinway and use Steinway instruments exclusively.
[23]
The Steinway Artist Program has not been without opponents and controversy. Steinway artists are expected to perform exclusively on Steinway instruments wherever a Steinway is standing or can be carried to. In 1972, Steinway responded to
Garrick Ohlsson's statement that
Bösendorfer was "the
Rolls-Royce of pianos" by trucking away the Steinway concert grand Ohlsson was about to play in a recital at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.
24 Ohlsson ended up performing on a Bösendorfer borrowed at the eleventh hour, and Steinway barred him from using its instruments for some time.
Angela Hewitt was dropped from Steinway’s roster in 2002 after performing a concert on a
Fazioli piano.
The Canadian pianist
Louis Lortie has complained that Steinway is trying to establish a monopoly on the concert world by becoming “the
Microsoft of pianos.”
[24].
All-Steinway Schools
The
Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, OH holds the longest partnership with Steinway & Sons.
[25] They have used Steinway pianos exclusively since 1877, just 24 years after Steinway & Sons was established. In 2007, they obtained their 200th Steinway piano. Other notable all-Steinway schools are
The Juilliard School in New York and the
Yale School of Music. Recently the
Crane School of Music was added to the All-Steinway school roster, receiving 141 pianos in one $3.8 million order, the largest Steinway has ever processed. There are more than 80 schools across the world in which students perform and are taught only on Steinway pianos.
[26]
Brands
Other than the flagship "Steinway & Sons," Steinway markets two other brands designed by
Steinway & Sons. These pianos use features for tone and touch from the Steinway piano however they are made using production-line technique. Therefore, labour costs are lower which is one of the reasons why they are at a lower price-point. Production-line technique in this case should not be confused with "mass-produced" though.
★ 'Boston': Made for the general piano market but at lower prices than Steinway's name brand. Boston pianos are designed by Steinway using Steinway patents, but manufactured at the
Kawai factory in
Hamamatsu, Japan. Approximately 5,000 Boston pianos are built every year. There are five Boston grands and four Boston uprights available in a variety of finishes. Boston grands feature a wider tail design (a feature of the Steinway models A, B, C & D) resulting in a larger soundboard area than conventionally shaped pianos of comparable sizes.
★ 'Essex': Made for consumers seeking a lower price point than Steinway or Boston pianos, Essex pianos are designed by Steinway using Steinway patents. Grand Pianos Continue to be made in Korea at the
Young Chang factory, with the exception of one model(EGP-155) currently made at the
Pearl River factory in China to updated designs by Steinway & Sons.
Trivia
★ The world record for the highest price ever paid for a piano is $2 million paid by George Michael for the Steinway piano on which
John Lennon composed "Imagine".
[27]
★
Paul McCartney takes his own Steinway on every concert tour.
★
Vladimir Horowitz played his own Steinway D at all his concerts. A special waterproof case was built to transport it.
[28]
★
Van Cliburn has nine New York and Hamburg D's in his Dallas home.
[29]
★
Billy Joel owns a New York Steinway on which he composed many of his popular songs.
★ The Steinway model D-274 has over 12,000 parts, of which about half are part of the piano's action, which transmits the force of the musician's touch from keys to strings.
★
Glenn Gould played his own Steinway D in most of his studio recordings of music by
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Mozart and
Arnold Schoenberg.
★ A Steinway piano has about two hundred strings: one or two strings for each note in the bass section, and three strings for each note in the middle and descant sections.
★ The 52 white keys on a Steinway piano are made of ivorite, in place of ivory. The 36 black keys are made of ebony wood, or ebonite composite material.
★
Lang Lang plays a Steinway D in performances across the world.
★ Every Steinway is made to the same technical standards, yet every Steinway ends up being slightly different from every other in responsiveness to touch, and in delivery of tonal nuance and detail.
★ About 70% of the 580,000 Steinways made over 150 years are still in use today, because older Steinways are constantly being rebuilt and repaired.
★ Steinway makes less than 1% of world's upright pianos a year and about 7% of world's grand pianos a year, and remains the 6th in production and sales volumes after
Yamaha, Samick, Kawai, Pearl River and Young Chang.
Patents
Rim patent for bending wood
Rim bending today (Hamburg)
;There are 115 registered Steinway patents, including
[30]
★ "Pianoforte-Action" with repetition. Inventor Henry Steinway, Jr. (May, 1857)
★ "Pianoforte-Action" with improved repetition. Inventor Henry Steinway, Jr. (June, 1858)
★ The construction of grand pianos with overstringing. Inventor Henry Steinway, Jr. (December, 1859)
★ "Pianoforte-Action" with escape for improved repetition. Inventor Henry Steinway, Jr. (May, 1861)
★ "Improvement in Piano-Forte Action" for better "touch" to the action. Inventor Henry Steinway, Jr. (April, 1862)
★ The metallic frame for action in upright pianos. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (August, 1868)
★ The metallic frame for action in grand pianos. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. ( August, 1869)
★ "Improvement in Sound-Boards for Piano-Fortes" bridge dowels. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (April, 1869)
★ Grand piano action with spring to lessen the force needed to press the key. C.F. Theodor Steinway. (June, 1871)
★ The duplex agraffe scale for grand piano. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (May, 1872)
★ Reinforced soundboard ribs. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (February, 1873).
★ The soustenuto pedal mechanism for all kinds of piano-fortes. Inventor Albert Steinway. (October, 1874)
★ The capo tasto agraffe for grand piano. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (November, 1875).
★ The mechanism for disengaging the action to produce a silent keyboard. Inventor Albert Steinway. (May, 1877)
★ The grand piano case design (the current design). Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (July, 1878)
★ The wood bending machines for the rim. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (June, 1880)
★ Hammer with tight ligature and hardened felt portion. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (August, 1880)
★ Layered soundboard bridge. Inventor C.F. Theodor Steinway. (October, 1880)
★ Treble bell frame for grand piano. Inventor C.F> Theodor Steinway. (March, 1885)
★ Upright piano case with swinging panel. Inventor Frederik Steinway. (May, 1907)
★ String-Frame for unpight pianos. Inventor Henry Ziegler. (February, 1908)
★ Sliding keylid for upright pianos. Inventor Theodore E. Steinway. (July, 1911)
★ Design for the Steinway grand piano No. 500,000. By Wendell K. Castle. (July, 1991).
★ Piano key leveling. Inventor William S. Youse. (August, 1997)
References
1. Lieberman: ''Steinway & Sons''. pp. 14-15.
2. Goldenberg: ''Steinway''. p. 20.
3. Steinway History, Steinway & Sons Official Website, 2007. Accessed June 15, 2007.
4. Lieberman: ''Steinway & Sons''. p. 17.
5. Lieberman: ''Steinway & Sons''. p. 48.
6. Lieberman: ''Steinway & Sons''. p. 51.
7. "Steinway History", Steinway & Sons Official Website, 2007. Accessed June 2, 2007.
8. "A Piano is Born, Needing Practice", ''The New York Times'', April 2 2004. Accessed June 2 2007.
9. "CBS Steinway Sale", ''The New York Times'', September 14 1985. Accessed June 1 2007.
10. "Fanfare for the Uncommon Piano", ''The New York Times'', June 6 2003. Accessed June 2 2007.
11. "Steinway Catalogue", ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed July 2 2007.
12. "Pianos", ''Steinway & Sons Official German Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
13. "Steinways with German Accents", ''The New York Times'', August 27 2003. Accessed June 1 2007.
14. "World's Finest Pianos", ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
15. "About Us", ''Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc.'', 2007. Accessed June 2 2007.
16. "Alma-Tadema Re-Creation", ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
17. Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Sir Edward John Poynter, Steinway & Sons. "Pianoforte and Pair of Stools", ''The Clark'', 2007.
18. "The Crown Jewel Collection", ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
19. Lieberman: ''Steinway & Sons''. pp. 56-58.
20. "The Artists", ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
21. "Artist's Choice, ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 2 2007.
22. "Our Sponsors", ''The Gina Bachauer International Piano Foundation'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
23. "Partners", ''Van Cliburn Foundation'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
24. "Piano Versus Piano", ''The New York Times'', May 9 2004. Accessed June 1 2007.
25. “Oberlin and Steinway: A 122-Year Partnership”, ''Oberlin Conservatory News'', 1999. Accessed June 1 2007.
26. All-Steinway Schools in Australia include Melbourne University, The Cranbrook School in Sydney and Somerset College on the Gold Coast.“All Steinway Schools”, ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
27. "Steinway & Sons Factory Nears End of Million Makeover", ''The New York Times'', July 12 2000. Accessed June 1 2007.
28. "Horowitz Retinue", ''The New York Times'', May 14 1982. Accessed June 1 2007.
29. "At Home with Van Cliburn", ''The New York Times'', March 3 1994. Accessed June 2 2007.
30. “Steinway Patents”, ''Steinway & Sons Official Website'', 2007. Accessed June 1 2007.
Further reading
★ Susan Goldenberg: ''Steinway: from glory to controversy; the family, the business, the piano''. Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1996. ISBN 0-88962-607-3.
★ Robert V. Ratcliffe: ''Steinway & Sons''. ISBN 0-8118-3389-5
★ Richard K. Lieberman: ''Steinway & Sons''. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1995. ISBN 0-300-06364-4
★ Miles Chapin: ''88 keys: the making of a Steinway piano''. New York: Potter, 1997. ISBN 0-517-70356-4
★ Theodore Steinway: ''People and pianos: a century of service to music''. New York: Steinway, 1953.
★
★ 3rd. edition, Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Amadeus Pr. LLC, 2005. ISBN 1-57467-112-X
External links
★
Steinway Musical Instruments
★
Steinway & Sons New York
★
Steinway & Sons Hamburg
★
Steinway Artists from A-Z
★
Atlantic Monthly article by Michael Lenehan on the making of a Steinway concert grand, 1982
★
Nine-Part Series in the ''New York Times'' following the construction of a Steinway concert grand at their New York factory
★
Steinway & Sons Collection at the La Guardia and Wagner Archives in New York
★
Steinway & Sons Collection - Dublin Ireland piano faq
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