Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, anglicized name Henry Engelhard Steinway, (February 22, 1797 – February 7, 1871)
[Biography]
at Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie
''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, german: Universal German Biography) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language.
It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Aca ...
was a German-American piano maker who made
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
s in both
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. He was the founder of the piano company
Steinway & Sons
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Henry E. Steinway, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to ...
.
Early life
Steinway was born Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg in
Wolfshagen im Harz
Wolfshagen im Harz (or Wolfshagen) is a subdivision of the town of Langelsheim in the district of Goslar in Lower Saxony, Germany.
Geography
Wolfshagen im Harz is located in the Upper Harz on the northern edge of the Harz in the Harz Nature Pa ...
,
Duchy of Brunswick
The Duchy of Brunswick (german: Herzogtum Braunschweig) was a historical German state. Its capital city, capital was the city of Braunschweig, Brunswick ().
It was established as the successor state of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel ...
in the
Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...
(modern Lower Saxony, Germany).
[ His childhood was marked by many tragedies and twists of fate.][Ratcliffe, Ronald V. (2002). Steinway & Sons. San Francisco : Chronicle Books. ] He attended public school in his home town. At the age of 8, he was an orphan and thrown upon his own resources, until his father and brothers, once thought to have been killed in action, returned and claimed him once more. Then, at 15, he was orphaned once again, and it was at this time that he joined the German Army. In 1814, he joined the Schwarze Schar, the volunteer corps of Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (german: Friedrich Wilhelm; 9 October 1771 – 16 June 1815), was a German prince and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Oels. Nicknamed "The Black Duke", he was a military officer who led th ...
in the war against Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
's occupation of parts of Germany but remained in the garrison throughout the Napoleonic War
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
campaign of the Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
in 1815.[
]
Career
He left service on June 23, 1822, and began to work as a carpenter, and later he became an apprentice to an organ builder in the town of Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Goslar and located on the northwestern slopes of the Harz mountain range. The Old Town of Goslar and the Mines ...
. He soon discovered his love for music and became an organ player in the church.
He started building instruments, though hidden in the kitchen of his house because of the strong rules of the guild. In Braunschweig
Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...
, he started by building guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
s and zither
Zithers (; , from the Greek word ''cithara'') are a class of stringed instruments. Historically, the name has been applied to any instrument of the psaltery family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat bo ...
s, and then graduated to pianos, of small proportions initially and gradually increasing in size.
In 1835 he made his first square piano
The square piano is a type of piano that has horizontal strings arranged diagonally across the rectangular case above the hammers and with the keyboard set in the long side, with the sounding board above a cavity in the short side. It is variously ...
, which he presented to his bride Juliane at their wedding. In 1836 he built his first grand piano in his kitchen in the town of Seesen
Seesen is a town and municipality in the Goslar (district), district of Goslar, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the northwestern edge of the Harz mountain range, approx. west of Goslar.
History
The Duchy of Saxony, Saxon settlement ...
. This piano was later named the "kitchen piano", and is now on display at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art with a Steinweg 1836 square piano. In 1839, he exhibited three pianos at the state trade exhibition in Braunschweig, Germany and was awarded a gold medal.
Because of the unstable political climate following the revolutions of 1848 in the German states
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
and the limited economic opportunities for a man working outside a guild, Steinweg decided to leave the country. He emigrated from Braunschweig to New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1850 with five of his sons, but before leaving he gave the company to his son, Christian Friedrich Theodor Steinweg. Later in New York, he anglicized his name to Henry E. Steinway upon advice from friends, who concluded that the German surname
Personal names in German-speaking Europe consist of one or several given names (''Vorname'', plural ''Vornamen'') and a surname (''Nachname, Familienname'').
The ''Vorname'' is usually gender-specific. A name is usually cited in the " Western orde ...
''Steinweg'' would be disadvantageous for doing business. In the early 1850s, Steinway and his sons worked for other piano companies until they could establish their own production under the name of Steinway & Sons.
The overstrung scale in a square piano earned the Steinway Piano first prize at the New York Industrial Fair of 1855. In 1862 they gained the first prize in London in competition with the most eminent makers in Europe; and this victory was followed in 1867 by a similar success at the Universal exposition in Paris. According to pianistic giants such as Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
, Anton Rubinstein
Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sai ...
, and other high authorities, the Steinways have done more to advance the durability, action, and tone-quality of their instruments than any other makers of Europe or America.
Personal life
He married Juliane Thiemer, daughter of Martin Helwig Gottlieb Thiemer, a master glove maker, and Dorothea Julianne von Bierkamp, on May 15, 1825, in Seesen, Germany. He and his wife, Juliane, had ten children:[ pp. IX.]
* C.F. Theodore Steinway (1825–1889)
* Doretta Steinway (1828–1900), married Jacob Ziegler
* Charles H. Steinway (1829–1865)
* Henry Steinway, Jr. (1831–1865)
* Wilhelmina Steinway (1833–1875), married Theodore Vogel
* William Steinway
William Steinway, also known as Wilhelm Steinway (born Wilhelm Steinweg; March 5, 1835 – November 30, 1896), son of Steinway & Sons founder Henry E. Steinway, was a businessman and civic leader who was influential in the development of Astoria, ...
(1835–1896)
* Hermann Steinweg (1836–?), was passenger on steamer "Helena Sloman" to New York City being 14 yrs old
* Albert Steinway (1840–1877)
* Anna Steinway (1842–1861)
* Juliane Steinway (died in infancy)
Henry Engelhard Steinway died in New York City, United States, on February 7, 1871.
References
External links
Steinway & Sons – European and international headquarters
Steinway & Sons – American headquarters
The Steinway & Sons Collection in ''La Guardia and Wagner Archives''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinway, Henry E.
Henry E.
Piano makers
American musical instrument makers
German musical instrument makers
German emigrants to the United States
German military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars
American manufacturing businesspeople
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
1797 births
1871 deaths
People from the Harz
People from Goslar (district)
People from the Duchy of Brunswick
Music in Braunschweig
American artists