Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American
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 ...
company, founded in 1853 in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
by German piano builder
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway).
The company's growth led to the opening of a factory in New York City, United States, and later a factory in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
,
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 ...
.
The factory in the
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
borough of New York City supplies the Americas, and the factory in Hamburg supplies the rest of the world.
Steinway is a prominent piano company,
known for making pianos of high quality
and for inventions within the area of piano development. Steinway has been granted 139 patents in piano making, with the first in 1857.
The company's share of the high-end grand piano market consistently exceeds 80 percent.
The dominant position has been criticized, with some musicians and writers arguing that it has blocked innovation and led to a homogenization of the sound favored by pianists.
Steinway pianos have received numerous awards.
One of the first is a gold medal in 1855 at the
American Institute Fair
The American Institute Fair was held annually from 1829 until at least 1897 in New York City by the American Institute. The American Institute was founded in 1829 "for the encouragement of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and the arts." The ...
at the
New York Crystal Palace
New York Crystal Palace was an exhibition building constructed for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City in 1853, which was under the presidency of the mayor Jacob Aaron Westervelt. The building stood in Reservoir Square ...
.
From 1855 to 1862, Steinway pianos received 35 gold medals.
More awards and recognitions followed,
including three medals at the
International Exposition of 1867
The International Exposition of 1867 (french: Exposition universelle 'art et d'industriede 1867), was the second world's fair to be held in Paris, from 1 April to 3 November 1867. A number of nations were represented at the fair. Following a dec ...
in Paris.
The European part of the company holds a
royal warrant of appointment
Royal warrants of appointment have been issued for centuries to tradespeople who supply goods or services to a royal court or certain royal personages. The royal warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the issuer of ...
to
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
. Steinway & Sons was named ''Company of the Year'' in 1996 by ''
The Music Trades
''The Music Trades'' is a -year-old American trade magazine that covers a broad spectrum of music and music commerce, domestically and abroad. Founded in New York City in 1890, it has been based in Englewood, New Jersey, since the mid-1970s. ''Th ...
'' magazine. The award was given in recognition of Steinway's "overall performance, quality, value-added products, a well-executed promotional program and disciplined distribution which generated the most impressive results in the entire music industry."
In addition to the flagship Steinway piano line, Steinway markets two other, lower-priced brands of piano sold under the secondary brand names ''Boston'' and ''Essex''.
History
Foundation and growth
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg first made pianos in the 1820s from his house in
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 ...
, Germany. He made pianos under the ''Steinweg'' brand until he emigrated from Germany to America in 1850 with his wife and seven of his nine children. The eldest son,
C. F. Theodor Steinweg, remained in Germany, and continued making the Steinweg brand of pianos, partnering with Friedrich Grotrian, a piano dealer, from 1856 to 1865.
In 1853, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg founded Steinway & Sons. His first workshop in America was in a small loft at the back of 85 Varick Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The first piano made by Steinway & Sons was given the number 483 because Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg had built 482 pianos in Germany. Number 483 was sold to a New York family for $500, and is now on display at the German museum Städtisches Museum Seesen in
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 ...
, the town in which Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg began his career as a piano maker. A year later, demand was such that the company moved to larger premises at 82–88 Walker Street. It was not until 1864 that the family anglicized their name from ''Steinweg'' to ''Steinway''.
By the 1860s, Steinway had built a new factory at Park Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street (the present site of the
Seagram Building
The Seagram Building is a skyscraper at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with minor assistance from Philip Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, ...
) where it covered a whole block. With a workforce of 350 men, production increased from 500 to nearly 1,800 pianos per year. The employees were mostly German immigrants and the official language of the company was German. The pianos themselves 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 understanding of acoustics. Almost half of the company's 139 patented inventions were developed by the first and second generations of the Steinway family. Steinway's pianos won prizes at exhibitions in New York City,
London,
and Paris.
By 1862, Steinway pianos had received more than 35
medal
A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...
s.
Part of Steinway's early reputation arose from its successes in trade fairs.
In 1865, the Steinway family sent a letter to C. F. Theodor Steinweg asking that he leave the German Steinweg factory (by then located 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 ...
(Brunswick)) and travel to New York City to take over the leadership of the family firm due to the deaths of his brothers Henry and Charles from disease.
C. F. Theodor Steinweg obeyed, selling his share of the German piano company to his partner, Wilhelm Grotrian (son of Friedrich Grotrian), and two other workmen, Adolph Helfferich and H.G.W. Schulz. The German factory changed its name from ''C. F. Theodor Steinweg'' to ''Grotrian, Helfferich, Schulz, Th. Steinweg Nachf.'' ( en, Grotrian, Helfferich, Schulz, successors to Th. Steinweg), later shortened to ''
Grotrian-Steinweg
Grotrian-Steinweg, known as Grotrian in the US, is a German manufacturer of prestige pianos. The company is based in Braunschweig, Germany, commonly known as Brunswick in English. Grotrian-Steinweg makes premium grand pianos and upright pianos.
...
''.
In New York City, C. F. Theodor Steinweg anglicized his name to C. F. Theodore Steinway. During the next 15 years of his leadership, he kept a home in Braunschweig and traveled often between Germany and the United States.
![Steinway fab 4th ave nyc](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Steinway_fab_4th_ave_nyc.jpg)
Around 1870–80,
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, ...
(born Wilhelm Steinweg, a son of Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg) established a professional community, the
company town
A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...
''Steinway Village'', in what is now the
Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City.
Steinway Village was built as its own town and included a new factory (still used today) with its own foundry and sawmill, houses for employees, kindergarten, lending library, post office, volunteer fire department, and parks. Steinway Village later became part of
Long Island City
Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
.
Steinway Street
Steinway Street is a major street in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York, in the United States. Steinway Street is a 2.4 mile two-way street that runs north-south between Berrian Boulevard in Astoria and Northern Boulevard in Long ...
, one of the major streets in the Astoria and Long Island City neighborhoods of Queens, is named after the company.
In 1876, Steinway participated in the
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
in Philadelphia. The competition was principally between Steinway,
Chickering Chickering may refer to:
* Chickering, Suffolk, a place in Suffolk, England
* Chickering & Sons, the piano company that was created by Jonas Chickering
* Arthur M. Chickering, an arachnologist
* Arthur W. Chickering, a researcher of student devel ...
, and
Weber
Weber (, or ; German: ) is a surname of German origin, derived from the noun meaning " weaver". In some cases, following migration to English-speaking countries, it has been anglicised to the English surname 'Webber' or even 'Weaver'.
Notable pe ...
. According to journalist
James Barron
James Barron (September 15, 1768 – April 21, 1851) was an officer in the United States Navy. He served in the Quasi-War and the Barbary Wars, during which he commanded a number of famous ships, including and . As commander of the frigate , ...
's account of Steinway's participation in the competition, the company was able to secure success by bribing one of the judges. William Steinway denied to the exposition's organizers that a judge had been paid directly, although Barron states that the judge was bribed through an intermediary: the pianist Frederic Boscovitz. According to freelancer Isabel Wolff, William Steinway would admit in his diary that under his leadership the New York City arm of the company bribed judges at trade fairs to favor Steinway pianos. According to musicologist Donald W. Fostle, it is untrue that Steinway repeatedly bribed judges at trade fairs, and in the one documented case it is unclear if Steinway were enmeshed, along with others, in bribery or were the target of attempted extortion.
![Steinway factory Schanzenstrasse Hamburg Germany](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Steinway_factory_Schanzenstrasse_Hamburg_Germany.jpg)
To reach European customers who wanted Steinway pianos, and to avoid high European import taxes, William Steinway and C. F. Theodore Steinway established a new piano factory in the free German city of Hamburg in 1880.
The first address of Steinway's factory in Hamburg was at Schanzenstraße in the western part of Hamburg,
St. Pauli
St. Pauli (Sankt Pauli; ) is a quarter of the city of Hamburg belonging to the centrally located Hamburg-Mitte borough. Situated on the right bank of the Elbe river, the nearby Landungsbrücken is a northern part of the port of Hamburg. St. ...
. C. F. Theodore Steinway became the head of the German factory, and William Steinway went back to the factory in Queens. The Hamburg and Queens factories regularly exchanged experience about their patents and technique despite the large distance between them, and they continue to do so today. C. F. Theodore Steinway was a talented inventor who made many improvements in the construction of the piano.
About a third of Steinway's patented inventions are under the name of C. F. Theodore Steinway. The Steinway factory in Hamburg was part laboratory, part factory. Much of the precision cutting and drilling machinery installed in the Queens factory was tried in the Hamburg factory first.
C. F. Theodore Steinway died in Braunschweig in 1889, having successfully competed against the Grotrian-Steinweg brand – both the Hamburg-based Steinway factory and the Braunschweig-based Grotrian-Steinweg factory became known for making premium German pianos.
Meanwhile, the 1880s saw the company embroiled in a series of labor disputes between the New York City factory and its workers. Back then, industrialists faced labor strikes frequently.
One dispute, in 1880, saw the company lead an industry-wide lockout of piano workers in New York City. In later disputes in the decade, the company hired detectives to spy on its workers, paid police for their backing and protection of company property, and evicted strike leaders from company housing.
In 1883, the Hungarian composer and pianist
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 ...
wrote in a letter to Steinway: "...The new Steinway grand is a glorious masterpiece in power, sonority, singing quality, and perfect harmonic effects, affording delight even to my old piano-weary fingers. Ever continuing success remains a beautiful attribute of the world-renowned firm of Steinway & Sons. ...Owing to my ignorance of the mechanism of piano construction I can but praise the magnificent result in the volume and quality of sound."
In 1890, Steinway received its first
royal warrant, granted by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.
The following year the patrons of Steinway included the
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
and other members of the
monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...
and
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
.
In subsequent years Steinway was granted royal and imperial warrants from the rulers of Italy, Norway, Persia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey.
Steinway Halls
![Buying tickets for a Charles Dickens reading at Steinway Hall, New York, New York, 1867](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Buying_tickets_for_a_Charles_Dickens_reading_at_Steinway_Hall%2C_New_York%2C_New_York%2C_1867.jpg)
From 1864 to 1866,
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, ...
, who is credited with establishing Steinway's success in marketing, oversaw the construction of
Steinway Hall
Steinway Hall (German: ) is the name of buildings housing concert halls, showrooms and sales departments for Steinway & Sons pianos. The first Steinway Hall was opened in 1866 in New York City. Today, Steinway Halls and are located in cities such ...
on East
14th Street in Manhattan, New York City. Steinway Hall had cost $200,000 to build.
It included the second largest concert hall in New York City as well as showrooms for Steinway pianos. To enter the concert hall concertgoers had to pass through the showrooms, a way to advertise Steinway pianos. Sales increased by more than 400 pianos in 1867. Steinway Hall quickly became one of New York City's most prominent cultural centers,
housing the
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
for the next 25 years until
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
opened in 1891.
In 1925, the Steinway Hall on East 14th Street was closed and a new Steinway Hall on West
57th Street was opened.
In 2013, Steinway sold the Steinway Hall on West 57th Street for $46 million and moved out of the building at the end of 2014. In 2016, a new Steinway Hall opened on
Sixth Avenue
Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...
.
A second Steinway Hall was opened in London in 1875.
It was located first on
Wigmore Street
Wigmore Street is a street in the City of Westminster, in the West End of London. The street runs for about 600 yards parallel and to the north of Oxford Street between Portman Square to the west and Cavendish Square to the east. It is named afte ...
, in 1924 it moved to St. George Street, and later it moved to its current address on
Marylebone
Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary.
An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...
Lane.
Expansion
![Piano in Entrance Hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/Piano_in_Entrance_Hall.jpg)
In 1857, Steinway began to make a line of art case pianos, designed by artists. In 1903, the 100,000th Steinway grand piano was given as a gift to the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
;
it was decorated by the artist
Thomas Wilmer Dewing
Thomas Wilmer Dewing (May 4, 1851November 5, 1938) was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. Schooled in Paris, Dewing was noted for his figure paintings of aristocratic women. He was a founding member of the Ten American ...
. The 100,000th Steinway grand piano was replaced in 1938 by the 300,000th,
which remains in use in the White House.
The piano is normally placed in the largest room of the White House, the
East Room
The East Room is an event and reception room in the Executive Residence, which is a building of the White House complex, the home of the president of the United States. The East Room is the largest room in the Executive Residence; it is used for ...
.
Later, Steinway diversified into the manufacture of
player piano
A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...
s. Several systems such as the
Welte-Mignon
M. Welte & Sons, Freiburg and New York was a manufacturer of orchestrions, organs and reproducing pianos, established in Vöhrenbach by Michael Welte (1807–1880) in 1832.
Overview
From 1832 until 1932, the firm produced mechanical musi ...
,
Duo-Art
Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company (Ampico), introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of th ...
, and
Ampico
American Piano Company (Ampico) was an American piano manufacturer formed in 1908 through the merger of Wm. Knabe & Co., Chickering & Sons, and Foster-Armstrong. They later purchased the Mason & Hamlin piano company as their flagship piano. The ...
were incorporated. During the 1920s, Steinway had been selling up to 6,000 pianos a year. In 1929, Steinway constructed one double-
keyboard
Keyboard may refer to:
Text input
* Keyboard, part of a typewriter
* Computer keyboard
** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping
** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware
Music
* Musi ...
grand piano. It has 164
keys
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
and 4
pedals
A pedal (from the Latin '' pes'' ''pedis'', "foot") is a lever designed to be operated by foot and may refer to:
Computers and other equipment
* Footmouse, a foot-operated computer mouse
* In medical transcription, a pedal is used to control p ...
. (In 2005, Steinway refurbished this instrument).
During World War II, the Steinway factory in Queens received orders from the Allied Armies to build wooden gliders to convey troops behind enemy lines. Steinway could make few normal pianos, but built 2,436 special models called the ''Victory Vertical'' or ''
G.I.
G.I. are initials used to describe the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen of the United States Air Force and general items of their equipment. The term G.I. has been used as an initialism of "Government Issue", "General Issue", or " ...
Piano''. It was a small piano that four men could lift, painted olive drab, gray, or blue, designed to be carried aboard ships or dropped by parachute from an airplane to bring music to the soldiers.
The factory in Hamburg, Germany, could sell very few pianos during World War II. No more than a hundred pianos per year left the factory. In the later years of the war, the company was ordered to give up all the prepared and dried wood their lumber yard held for war production. In an air raid over Hamburg, several Allied bombs hit the factory and nearly destroyed it. After the war, Steinway restored the Hamburg factory with help from the
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred over $13 billion (equivalent of about $ in ) in economic re ...
.
![Steinway advertisement 1922](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Steinway_advertisement_1922.jpg)
In the late 1960s, Steinway brought countersuit against ''Grotrian-Steinweg'' to stop them from using the name ''Steinweg'' on their pianos. Steinway won the case on appeal in 1975, forcing their competitor to use only the name ''Grotrian'' in the United States. The case set a
precedent
A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...
and established the concept of
Initial Interest Confusion
Initial interest confusion is a legal doctrine under trademark law that permits a finding of infringement when there is temporary confusion that is dispelled before the purchase is made. Generally, trademark infringement is based on the likelihood ...
, in which consumers might be initially attracted to a similarly named but lesser-known brand because of the stronger brand's good reputation.
The 500,000th Steinway
![Steinway No](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Steinway_No.500000.jpg)
In 1988, Steinway made its 500,000th piano. Designed by artist
Wendell Castle
Wendell Castle (November 6, 1932 – January 20, 2018) was an American sculptor and furniture maker and an important figure in late 20th century American craft. He has been referred to as the "father of the art furniture movement" and included ...
, it carries inscriptions of the names of the 832 pianists and 90 ensembles on the
Steinway Artist
Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...
roster of 1987, including
Van Cliburn
Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold Wa ...
,
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
and
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
.
Six years later the company launched ''C. F. Theodore Steinway Academy for Concert Technicians'', known simply as ''Steinway Academy'', at Steinway's factory in Hamburg, Germany. There, experienced piano tuners and piano technicians from all over the world receive further training in
piano tuning
Piano tuning is the act of adjusting the tension of the strings of an acoustic piano so that the musical intervals between strings are in tune. The meaning of the term 'in tune', in the context of piano tuning, is not simply a particular fixed ...
and
maintenance
Maintenance may refer to:
Biological science
* Maintenance of an organism
* Maintenance respiration
Non-technical maintenance
* Alimony, also called ''maintenance'' in British English
* Champerty and maintenance, two related legal doctrine ...
. By 2000, Steinway had made its 550,000th piano.
![One of John Lennons Steinway pianos, MIM PHX](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/One_of_John_Lennons_Steinway_pianos%2C_MIM_PHX.jpg)
In 2003, Steinway celebrated its 150th anniversary at
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
with a three-day concert series with performances by
Peter Cincotti
Peter Cincotti (born July 11, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter. He began playing piano at the age of three. While in high school, he regularly performed in clubs throughout Manhattan. In 2003, Cincotti's debut album, produced by Phil Ramon ...
,
Art Garfunkel
Arthur Ira Garfunkel (born November 5, 1941) is an American singer, poet, and actor. He is best known for his partnership with Paul Simon in the folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel.
Highlights of Garfunkel's solo music career include one top-10 ...
,
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he help ...
,
Ben Heppner
Thomas Bernard Heppner (born January 14, 1956) is a Canadian tenor and broadcaster, now retired from singing, who specialized in opera and other classical works for voice.
Early life and career
Heppner, of Mennonite descent, was born in Mur ...
,
Ahmad Jamal
Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.
Biography Early life
Jamal was born Fr ...
,
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...
,
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern American English, Southern-accented singing style, early Americana (music), Americana-influenced songs (often ...
,
Roger Williams
Roger Williams (21 September 1603between 27 January and 15 March 1683) was an English-born New England Puritan minister, theologian, and author who founded Providence Plantations, which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantation ...
,
Nancy Wilson, and the
Eroica Trio The Eroica Trio is an American piano trio consisting of Erika Nickrenz, piano; Sara Parkins, violin; and Sara Sant'Ambrogio, cello.
The trio take their name from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. They have toured and recorded widely, and released si ...
, among others. The first concert featured classical music, the second jazz, and the third pop. As part of the 150th anniversary, fashion designer
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer.
He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...
created a commemorative Steinway limited edition grand piano.
In 2005, Steinway celebrated the 125th anniversary of the establishment of its factory in Hamburg, Germany. The celebration featured a concert at the
Laeiszhalle
The Laeiszhalle (), formerly Musikhalle Hamburg, is a concert hall in the Neustadt of Hamburg, Germany and home to the Hamburger Symphoniker and the Philharmoniker Hamburg. The hall is named after the German shipowning company F. Laeisz, foun ...
concert hall in Hamburg with performances by
Vladimir
Vladimir may refer to:
Names
* Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name
* Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name
* Volodymyr for the Ukr ...
and Vovka Ashkenazy,
Lang Lang
Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...
, and
Detlef Kraus
Detlef Kraus (30 November 1919 – 7 January 2008) was a German pianist. He was an internationally known interpreter of the music of Johannes Brahms.
Born in Hamburg, Kraus gave his first concert at the age of 16, playing ''The Well-Tempered ...
. 1,800 people from 33 countries attended the concert. As part of the celebration, a 125th anniversary Steinway limited edition grand piano was designed by
Count Albrecht von Goertz.
Until his death on September 18, 2008, at the age of 93,
Henry Z. Steinway
Henry Ziegler Steinway (August 23, 1915 – September 18, 2008) was the last member of the Steinway family to be president of the piano company Steinway & Sons.
Biography
He was born on August 23, 1915, in Manhattan, New York City.
He was ...
, the great-grandson of the Steinway founder, still worked for Steinway and put his signature on custom-made limited-edition pianos. At several public occasions, Henry Z. Steinway represented the Steinway family. He started at the company in 1937 after graduating from
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
. He was president of the company from 1956 to 1977 and was the last Steinway family member to be president of Steinway.
Changes in ownership
In 1972, after a lengthy strike, a long-running financial struggle, high legal expenses, and a lack of business interest among some of the Steinway family members, the firm was sold to
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
. At that time, CBS owned many enterprises in the entertainment industry, including electric guitar and amplifier maker
Fender, drum maker
Rogers Rogers may refer to:
Places
Canada
*Rogers Pass (British Columbia)
*Rogers Island (Nunavut)
United States
* Rogers, Arkansas, a city
* Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement
* Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated community
...
, electro-mechanical piano maker
Rhodes
Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...
, and the baseball team
New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
. CBS had plans to form a musical
conglomerate that made and sold music in all forms and through all outlets, including records, radio, television, and musical instruments.
This new conglomerate was evidently not as successful as CBS had expected, and Steinway was sold in 1985, along with classical and church organ maker
Rodgers Rodgers is a patronymic surname of Old English origin derived from the Norman personal name "Roger", with the addition of the genitive suffix "-s" and meaning “son of Roger.” The intrusive “d” in Rodgers is either a Welsh or Scottish addi ...
and flute and piccolo maker
Gemeinhardt
Gemeinhardt Co. is a manufacturer of flutes and piccolos. These musical instruments are developed by this company for all levels of musicians, beginners to professionals. It is owned by its major supplier, Angel Industries Co. Ltd of Taiwan, wid ...
, to a group of Boston-area investors led by Robert and John P. Birmingham.
In order to acquire Steinway, the investors founded the musical conglomerate Steinway Musical Properties. In 1995, Steinway Musical Properties was acquired by
Selmer Industries to form the musical conglomerate
Steinway Musical Instruments
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is a worldwide musical instrument manufacturing and marketing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, based in Astoria, New York, the United States. It was formed in a 1995 merger between the Conn-Selmer#The H&A Se ...
.
In June 2013, private equity firm
Kohlberg & Company
Kohlberg & Company is an American private equity firm that focuses on leveraged buyout transactions. Founded by investor Jerome Kohlberg, Jr., the firm invests in a variety of transactions including leveraged carveout, take-private transactions, ...
offered to buy Steinway parent company
Steinway Musical Instruments
Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc. is a worldwide musical instrument manufacturing and marketing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, based in Astoria, New York, the United States. It was formed in a 1995 merger between the Conn-Selmer#The H&A Se ...
for $438 million. Two months later hedge fund
Paulson & Co. Inc. made a higher offer, $512 million, to take the company private. The Steinway Musical Instruments board recommended that shareholders accept this, and in September 2013 Paulson announced completion of the acquisition.
Recent history
After the
2008 economic downturn
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
, Steinway grand piano sales fell by half, and 30 percent of the union employees were laid off at the Queens factory between August 2008 and November 2009.
Sales were down 21 percent in 2009 in the United States.
But sales began increasing a little in 2010, and they continued to improve the following year.
In 2015, Steinway went back to the
player piano
A player piano (also known as a pianola) is a self-playing piano containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism, that operates the piano action via programmed music recorded on perforated paper or metallic rolls, with more modern i ...
industry from around the 1920s by introducing a digital player piano series called Spirio.
The technology in the Spirio pianos was created in 2007 by Wayne Stahnke, an Austrian engineer who has previously made digital player piano systems for other piano companies, like
Yamaha Yamaha may refer to:
* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below).
** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...
and
Bösendorfer
Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92-key models in addition to instrument ...
. Wayne Stahnke's technology, originally called ''Live Performance Model LX'', was sold to Steinway in 2014 and re-branded as ''Spirio''.
In contrast to player pianos by other brands, a recording option is not available in the Steinway Spirio. In 2018, a recording option was made available in Steinway Spirio pianos, known as the Spirio ''r.''
In 2015, Steinway made its 600,000th piano. The piano features the
Fibonacci
Fibonacci (; also , ; – ), also known as Leonardo Bonacci, Leonardo of Pisa, or Leonardo Bigollo Pisano ('Leonardo the Traveller from Pisa'), was an Italian mathematician from the Republic of Pisa, considered to be "the most talented Western ...
spiral and
Macassar ebony veneer. It took 6,000 hours of work over 4 years to make the piano. It was priced at $2.4 million.
As of early 2021, Paulson & Co. remains the ultimate parent of Steinway & Sons., with head office at 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
Models
Steinway pianos are sold by a worldwide network of around 200 authorized Steinway dealers who operate around 300 showrooms.
The primary differentiation between Steinway models is noted by their model letter, which denotes their size and is one of the most important indicators of their price.
Steinway pianos are also a fixture in the secondary market. The price of a used Steinway can vary tremendously, depending on the model (size), age, condition, and the quality of restoration work that has been done. The price of a well-maintained Steinway might be about 50 percent the price of a new one; a piano in average used condition (or worse) might go for 25 percent or less. Both new Steinways and used Steinways retain their value, with an increase of about 4 percent a year. Additionally, Steinway offers certified pre-owned pianos, which ensures that any restoration work done on the piano has used Steinway parts.
Grands and uprights
Steinway makes the following models of
grand pianos and
upright pianos:
Steinway's factory in Hamburg makes seven models of the grand piano and two models of an upright piano. (The numerical portion of the model designations represent the length of the grand pianos and the height of the upright pianos in
centimetre
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the Electromagnetic spectrum, measured by the Metre and its deriveds scales. The Microwave are in-between 1 meter to 1 millimeter.
A centimetre (international spelling) or centimeter (American spellin ...
s).
* Grand pianos: S-155, M-170, O-180, A-188, B-211, C-227,
D-274
* Upright pianos: V-125,
K-132
Steinway's factory in Queens makes six models of the grand piano and one model of an upright piano. (Steinway has previously made upright pianos in different dimensions.)
* Grand pianos: S (5'1"), M (5'7"), O (5'"), A (6'2"), B (6'11"),
D (8'")
*Upright Pianos: K (52" high).
Special Designs
![Clark Art Institute - piano a](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Clark_Art_Institute_-_piano_a.JPG)
Designers and artists such as
Karl Lagerfeld
Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer.
He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...
,
Dakota Jackson
Dakota Jackson (born August 24, 1949) is an American furniture designer known for his eponymous furniture brand, Dakota Jackson, Inc., his early avant-garde works involving moving parts or hidden compartments, and his collaborations with the Stei ...
,
Walter Dorwin Teague
Walter Dorwin Teague (December 18, 1883 – December 5, 1960) was an American industrial designer, architect, illustrator, graphic designer, writer, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Dean of Industrial Design", Teague pioneered in the ...
, Arthur Blackmore,
Joseph Burr Tiffany
Joseph Burr Tiffany (February 13, 1856 - April 3, 1917) was an American interior designer of the late 19th century, today best known for his 1889 decoration of the first floor of Wilderstein, the Rhinebeck, New York home of the Suckley family. His ...
,
Louis Comfort Tiffany
Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...
,
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, (; born Lourens Alma Tadema ; 8 January 1836 – 25 June 1912) was a Dutch painter who later settled in the United Kingdom becoming the last officially recognised denizen in 1873. Born in Dronryp, the Netherlands, ...
,
George Schastey, and the
Herter Brothers Herter is a German occupational surname for a herdsman. Notable people with the surname include:
* Albert Herter (1871–1950), American painter; son of Christian, the furniture maker
* Christian Herter (1895–1966), American politician; son of ...
have created original designs for Steinway pianos. These specially designed pianos fall under the art case piano line or the limited edition piano line.
Steinway began creating art case pianos in 1857 and the making of art case pianos reached its peak in the late 19th century. Today, Steinway only builds art case pianos on rare occasions. The art case pianos are unique, because Steinway builds only one of each. Some of Steinway's most notable art case pianos are the ''Alma-Tadema grand piano'' from 1887, the 100,000th Steinway piano from 1903, the 300,000th Steinway piano from 1938, and the ''Sound of Harmony'' from 2008. The ''Alma-Tadema grand piano'' was designed by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and received great public acclaim when it was exhibited in London.
The piano is made of
ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus ''Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when pol ...
, inlaid with
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
and
mother of pearl
Nacre ( , ), also known as mother of pearl, is an organicinorganic composite material produced by some molluscs as an inner shell layer; it is also the material of which pearls are composed. It is strong, resilient, and iridescent.
Nacre is ...
, with carved case, lid, and legs, and painted in the inside lid by artist
Edward Poynter
Sir Edward John Poynter, 1st Baronet (20 March 183626 July 1919) was an English painter, designer, and draughtsman, who served as President of the Royal Academy.
Life
Poynter was the son of architect Ambrose Poynter. He was born in Paris, Fr ...
. It was bought by financier
Henry Gurdon Marquand
Henry Gurdon Marquand (April 11, 1819 – February 26, 1902) was an American financier, philanthropist and art collector known for his extensive collection.
Early life
Marquand was born in New York City on April 11, 1819, not long after the death ...
for his New York City mansion. In 1997, it was sold at
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction house in London for $1.2 million, setting a price record for a piano sold at auction. It is now on display at the art museum
Clark Art Institute
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculp ...
.
The 100,000th Steinway piano was given as a gift to the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
in 1903 and is made of
cherry tree
A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit).
Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...
with
gold leaf
Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets (usually around 0.1 µm thick) by goldbeating and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades. The most commonly used gold is 22-kara ...
. It is decorated with
coats of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its wh ...
of the thirteen original states of America and painted by
Thomas Dewing
Thomas Wilmer Dewing (May 4, 1851November 5, 1938) was an American painter working at the turn of the 20th century. Schooled in Paris, Dewing was noted for his figure paintings of aristocratic women. He was a founding member of the Ten America ...
with dancing figures representing the nine
Muses
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the p ...
. The 100,000th Steinway piano was replaced in 1938 by the 300,000th Steinway piano. The
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
gilded
Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was tradi ...
mahogany legs of the 300,000th piano are carved as
eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just ...
s and are molded by sculptor
Albert Stewart.
The piano remains in use in the White House.
The ''Sound of Harmony'' is decorated with inlays of 40 different woods, including the lid, which replicates artwork by Chinese painter Shi Qi.
It took about four years
to build the grand piano and it was priced at €1.2 million.
The piano was chosen for use at the
Expo 2010 Shanghai China
Expo 2010, officially the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, was held on both banks of the Huangpu River in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October 2010. It was a major World Expo registered by the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), in the tr ...
.
Examples of limited edition pianos include ''The Steinway Limited Edition'' by Karl Lagerfeld created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Steinway company in 2003,
and the 125th-anniversary grand piano by
Count Albrecht von Goertz designed to celebrate the 125th anniversary in 2005 of the foundation of the Steinway factory in Hamburg, Germany.
In 1993, Steinway introduced a new line of specially designed pianos, the ''Steinway Crown Jewel Collection''.
The collection consists of grand and upright pianos in Steinway's traditional design, but instead of the traditional ebony finish the pianos of the ''Steinway Crown Jewel Collection'' are made in veneers of rare woods from around the world. The collection contains
wood veneer
In woodworking, veneer refers to thin slices of wood and sometimes bark, usually thinner than 3 mm (1/8 inch), that typically are glued onto core panels (typically, wood, particle board or medium-density fiberboard) to produce flat panels s ...
s such as
Macassar ebony,
East Indian rosewood
''Dalbergia latifolia'' (synonym ''Dalbergia emarginata'') is a premier timber species, also known as the Indian rosewood ( Tamil / தமிழ்: Eetti / ஈட்டி). It is native to low-elevation tropical monsoon forests of south east ...
, and kewazinga
bubinga
''Guibourtia'' is a flowering plant genus in the family Fabaceae, also known by the common names as Rhodesian copalwood, African Rosewood, Amazique, Bubinga, Kevazingo, and Ovangkol. Scientific Name being Guibourtia spp.
Description
''Guibourti ...
.
Brands
![Boston piano](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Boston_piano.jpg)
In addition to the ''Steinway & Sons'' brand, Steinway markets two other brands: ''Boston'' for the mid-level market and ''Essex'' for the entry-level market. Boston and Essex pianos are made using lower-cost components and labor. Pianos of these two brands, made with Steinway owned designs, are manufactured in Asia by suppliers.
Steinway allows only its authorized Steinway dealers to carry new Boston and Essex pianos.
* Boston: made for the general mid-ranged piano market at lower prices than Steinway's name brand. Boston pianos are manufactured by
Kawai
is a musical instrument manufacturing company headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. It is best known for its grand pianos, upright pianos, digital pianos, electronic keyboards and electronic synthesizers. The company was founded in Augus ...
in
Hamamatsu
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and
Karawang
Karawang (Kota Karawang or Karawang Kota) is the capital of the Karawang Regency of West Java, Indonesia. It is 32 miles east of Jakarta, and had a population of 307,880 at the 2020 Census, spread over two districts of the regency - West Karawang a ...
,
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. There are five sizes of Boston grand pianos and three sizes of Boston upright pianos available in a variety of finishes. Grand piano models are GP-156 PE, GP-163 PE, GP-178 PE, GP-193 PE, and GP-215 PE. Upright piano models are UP-118 PE, UP-126 PE, and UP-132 PE. Boston pianos incorporate some of the features of Steinway pianos such as a wider tail design (a feature of the Steinway piano models A-188, B-211, C-227, and D-274) resulting in a larger
soundboard area than conventionally shaped pianos of comparable sizes, a maple inner rim, and Steinway's patented Octagrip pinblock.
* Essex: made for the entry-range market and is lower priced than Steinway and Boston pianos. Since 2005, Essex pianos are made at the
Pearl River
The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-all ...
piano factory in
Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Prior to 2005, they were made by
Young Chang
HDC YoungChang (Hangul: HDC영창) is a South Korean manufacturer of pianos and industrial wood working machinery, headquartered in Incheon, South Korea. Young Chang currently holds 50% of the South Korean piano market. The company is among the l ...
in Korea. There are two sizes of Essex grand pianos and four sizes of Essex upright pianos available in a wide variety of finishes and furniture designs. Grand piano models are EGP-155 and EGP-173. Upright piano models are EUP-108, EUP-111, EUP-116, and EUP-123. Like the Boston pianos, Essex pianos incorporate some of the features of Steinway pianos as well: a wider tail design, an all-wood action with Steinway geometry with rosette-shaped hammer flanges, and reinforced hammers with metal fasteners.
Piano bank
Steinway maintains a worldwide "piano bank" from which performing pianists, especially
Steinway Artists, can select a Steinway piano for use in a certain concert, recording, or tour.
The idea is to provide a consistent pool of Steinway pianos with various characteristics for performing pianists' individual touch and tonal preferences. Performing artists choose a piano for use at a certain venue after trying some of the pianos of the "piano bank". This allows a range of Steinway pianos with various touch and tonal characteristics to be available for performers to choose from.
Steinway takes responsibility for preparing, tuning, and delivering the piano of the performer's choice to the designated concert hall or recording studio. The performer bears the cost of these services.
The "piano bank" consists of approximately 250 Steinway pianos valued collectively at $12.5 million in 2019.
Manufacture
German and American factories
Some pianists of the past and some active pianists today have expressed a preference for Steinway pianos made at Steinway's factory in Hamburg, or at Steinway's factory in Queens.
Emanuel Ax
Emanuel "Manny" Ax (born 8 June 1949) is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is a teacher in the Juilliard School.
Early life
Ax was born to a Polish-Jewish family in Lviv, Ukraine, (in what was then the Soviet Union) to Joachim and ...
, concert pianist and piano teacher at the
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
, has said that "... the differences have more to do with individual instruments than with where they were made."
Larry Fine
Louis Feinberg (October 5, 1902 – January 24, 1975), known professionally as Larry Fine, was an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is best known as a member of the comedy act the Three Stooges.
Early life
Fine was born to a Russian Je ...
, American piano technician and author of ''The Piano Book'', considers Hamburg Steinway pianos to be of a higher quality than Queens Steinway pianos. In 2010, the Steinway factory in Queens made some changes in its manufacturing processes and materials in order to upgrade the quality of the Queens Steinway pianos. Larry Fine was invited by Steinway officials to tour the Queens factory to see some of the manufacturing changes. Fine wrote in his ''Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer'' of Spring 2011 that the changes have improved the quality of Queens Steinway pianos, but that Hamburg Steinway pianos are still of a higher quality than Queens Steinway pianos.
The Steinway piano market is divided into two sales areas: the Queens Steinway factory, which supplies North and South America, and the Hamburg Steinway factory, which supplies the rest of the world.
At all main Steinway showrooms across the world, customers can order pianos from either factory. The Hamburg and Queens factories exchange parts and craftsmanship, and Steinway parts for both factories come from the same places: Canadian
maple
''Acer'' () is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated since http ...
is used for the rim, and the
soundboards are made from
Sitka spruce
''Picea sitchensis'', the Sitka spruce, is a large, coniferous, evergreen tree growing to almost tall, with a trunk diameter at breast height that can exceed 5 m (16 ft). It is by far the largest species of spruce and the fifth-larg ...
from
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. Both factories use similar crown parameters for their diaphragmatic soundboards. To maintain quality, Steinway has acquired some of its suppliers. Steinway bought the German manufacturer Kluge in Wuppertal, which supplies keyboards, in December 1998, and in November 1999, purchased the company that supplies its
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
plates, O. S. Kelly Co. in Springfield, Ohio.
A majority of the world's concert halls own at least one Steinway piano, and some (for example
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...
) have model D-274s from both the Hamburg factory and the Queens factory to satisfy a greater range of preferences.
Components
![Steinway grand piano interior](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Steinway_grand_piano_interior.JPG)
Each Steinway grand piano consists of more than 12,000 individual parts. A Steinway piano is handcrafted and takes nearly a year to build.
Steinway maintains its own lumber yards at both the Hamburg factory and the Queens factory, aging and drying lumber from nine months to five years. Less than 50 percent is finally used in the making of Steinway pianos. More than 70 percent of the
walnut
A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''.
Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true ...
stock is discarded. The woods are purchased when they are available rather than when they are needed.
Rim
The rim of Hamburg-made Steinway pianos consists of layers of hard rock maple and mahogany and the rim of Queens-made Steinway pianos consists of layers of hard rock maple only.
The layers are glued and pressed together into one piece in one operation using rim-bending presses that
C. F. Theodore Steinway invented in 1880. After the rim-bending process, the rim has to rest from the stress of being bent. It is placed in a conditioning room for a month or more to reduce the moisture content of the wood to approximately six percent.
Plate
Inside the Steinway piano, a
cast iron
Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...
plate provides the strength to support the
string
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
tension from 16 tons up to 23 tons. The iron plate is installed above the soundboard and is
bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...
d, lacquered, polished, and decorated with the Steinway logo. Steinway fabricates plates in its own foundry.
Soundboard and bridges
Steinway makes its
soundboard from solid
spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' (), a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal (taiga) regions of the Earth. ''Picea'' is the sole genus in the subfami ...
, which allows the soundboard to transmit and amplify sound. The soundboard in Steinway pianos are double-crowned with Steinway's diaphragmatic design. The diaphragmatic soundboard, which was granted a patent in 1936, tapers in thickness from the center to the edges, which permits more freedom of movement resulting in a richer and more lasting tonal response.
Steinway
bridges
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...
are made of vertically laminated hard rock maple with a hard rock maple cap. The bridges are measured for specific height requirements for each piano and are hand notched.
Keys and action
![Keyboard of grand piano - Steinway & Sons (Hamburg factory)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Keyboard_of_grand_piano_-_Steinway_%26_Sons_%28Hamburg_factory%29.jpg)
Steinway
keys
Key or The Key may refer to:
Common meanings
* Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm
* Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock
* Key (map ...
are made of Bavarian spruce. The surface of the white keys is made of
polymer
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic a ...
; earlier, they had been made of elephant
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
. Around the 1950s, Steinway switched from using ivory, and some years later use of ivory for piano keys was outlawed. The action parts are mounted on Steinway's tubular metallic frame. The Steinway hammers are cut from
virgin wool
Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool.
As ...
felt
Felt is a textile material that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers together. Felt can be made of natural fibers such as wool or animal fur, or from synthetic fibers such as petroleum-based acrylic or acrylonitrile or wood ...
, containing no admixture of other materials.
In 1962, the Queens Steinway factory introduced the Permafree action for its grand pianos, using
Teflon
Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is a synthetic fluoropolymer of tetrafluoroethylene that has numerous applications. It is one of the best-known and widely applied PFAS. The commonly known brand name of PTFE-based composition is Teflon by Chemou ...
parts in place of cloth bushings. The Teflon was intended to withstand wear and humidity changes better than cloth. The Teflon bushings resulted in certain unforeseen problems mainly during changes in weather; they were discontinued in 1983. The Hamburg Steinway factory never implemented the Teflon bushings in its pianos.
Strings and pinblock
The pianos have steel
strings
String or strings may refer to:
*String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...
in the midsection and treble, with bass strings made of copper-wound steel. The strings are uniformly spaced with one end coiled around the
tuning
Tuning can refer to:
Common uses
* Tuning, the process of tuning a tuned amplifier or other electronic component
* Musical tuning, musical systems of tuning, and the act of tuning an instrument or voice
** Guitar tunings
** Piano tuning, adjusting ...
pins, which in turn are inserted in a
laminate
Lamination is the technique/process of manufacturing a material in multiple layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, appearance, or other properties from the use of the differing materials ...
d wooden block called the pinblock or wrestplank. The tuning pins keep the strings tight and are held in place by friction. Steinway also employs front and rear duplex scales, in which the main vibrating section of the string is augmented by a much smaller vibration in the two ends of the string which are fastened in place. Steinway was a friend of the German physicist
Hermann von Helmholtz
Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, ...
, and this friendship led to the development and Steinway patent in 1872 of front and back aliquots, allowing the traditionally dead sections of strings to
vibrate in sympathy with the main string. The result is a fuller, more complex sound.
The pinblock, also known as wrestplank, in Steinways is made of seven layers of hard-textured wood that are glued together, set at a 45° angle to the run of the grain. It is designed to keep the piano in tune longer.
Affiliates
Steinway Artists
![Opening of Chopin Year in Warsaw 2010](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Opening_of_Chopin_Year_in_Warsaw_2010.jpg)
In contrast to other piano makers, who presented their pianos to pianists,
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, ...
engaged the Russian pianist
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 ...
to play Steinway pianos during Rubinstein's first and only American concert tour from 1872 to 1873, with 215 concerts in 239 days. It was a success for both Rubinstein and Steinway. Thus, the Steinway Artist program was born.
Later the Polish pianist
Ignacy Jan Paderewski
Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...
toured America playing 107 concerts on Steinway pianos in 117 days.
, around 1,800 pianists worldwide are official ''Steinway Artists'', which means that they have chosen to perform on Steinway pianos exclusively, and each owns a Steinway. None is paid to do so.
Steinway Artists come from different genres: classical, jazz, pop, and rock. A few examples of Steinway Artists are
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
,
Harry Connick Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 best-selling male artists in the Uni ...
,
Billy Joel
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
,
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevich Kissin (russian: link=no, Евге́ний И́горевич Ки́син, translit=Evgénij Ígorevič Kísin, yi, link=no, יעווגעני קיסין, translit=Yevgeni Kisin; born 10 October 1971) is a Russian concert pianis ...
,
Diana Krall
Diana Jean Krall (born November 16, 1964) is a Canadian jazz pianist and singer known for her contralto vocals. She has sold more than 15 million albums worldwide, including over six million in the US. On December 11, 2009, '' Billboard'' maga ...
, and
Lang Lang
Lang Lang (; born 14 June 1982) is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, ...
.
Some examples of ''Immortal Steinway Artists'' are
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook.
Born in Imperial Russi ...
,
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
,
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...
,
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz; yi, וולאַדימיר סאַמוילאָוויטש האָראָוויץ, group=n (November 5, 1989)Schonberg, 1992 was a Russian-born American classical pianist. Considered one of the greatest pianists of all ...
,
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film.
Born to ...
, and
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...
.
Steinway expects Steinway Artists to perform on Steinway pianos where they are available and in appropriate condition.
Artur Schnabel
Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-American classical pianist, composer and pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th centur ...
complained once that "Steinway refused to let me use their pianos
.e., Steinway pianos owned by Steinwayunless I would give up playing the
Bechstein piano – which I had used for so many years – in Europe. They insisted that I play on Steinway exclusively, everywhere in the world, otherwise they would not give me their pianos in the United States. That is the reason why from 1923 until 1930 I did not return to America. ...
n1933, Steinway changed their attitude and agreed to let me use their pianos in the United States, even if I continued elsewhere to play the Bechstein piano ... Thus, from 1933 on, I went every year to America." In 1972, Steinway responded to
Garrick Ohlsson
Garrick Olof Ohlsson (born April 3, 1948) is an American classical pianist. He is the only American to have won first prize in the International Chopin Piano Competition, at the VIII competition in 1970. He also won first prize at the Busoni Com ...
's statement that
Bösendorfer
Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92-key models in addition to instrument ...
was "the
Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to:
* Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct
Automobiles
* Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
of pianos" by trucking away the Steinway-owned grand piano that Ohlsson was about to give a recital on at
Alice Tully Hall
Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in the Upper West Side neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and philanthropist whose donations assist ...
in New York City. Ohlsson ended up performing on a Bösendorfer piano borrowed at the eleventh hour, and Steinway would not let him borrow Steinway-owned pianos for some time. Ohlsson has since made peace with Steinway.
Angela Hewitt
Angela Hewitt, (born July 26, 1958) is a Canadian classical pianist. She is best known for her Bach interpretations.
Career
Hewitt was born in Ottawa, Ontario, daughter of the Yorkshire-born Godfrey Hewitt (thus she also has British nationality ...
was removed from the Steinway Artist roster around 2002 after she purchased and performed on a
Fazioli
Fazioli Pianoforti (), translated as Fazioli Pianos, produces grand and concert pianos from their factory in Sacile, Italy. The company was founded by engineer and pianist Paolo Fazioli in 1981. The craftsmen at Fazioli build 140 pianos a year. ...
piano.
After the Canadian pianist
Louis Lortie
Louis Lortie, OC, CQ (born 27 April 1959) is a Canadian ( Québécois) pianist.
Education
Born in Montreal, Lortie made his debut with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the age of thirteen and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra three years l ...
was removed from the Steinway Artist roster in 2003,
he complained in a newspaper article that Steinway is trying to establish a monopoly on the concert world by becoming "the
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
of pianos."
A Steinway spokesman said, in response to Lortie's decision to perform a concert on a Fazioli piano, that Steinway does not want anyone on the Steinway Artist roster who does not want to play the Steinway exclusively.
According to musicologist Stuart de Ocampo, "That Steinway aggressively sought out and paid (in various forms) for artist endorsements must be stressed in order to combat an idealistic notion that the greatest flocked to Steinway simply because it was the best." More generally, Stuart de Ocampo endorses the view of Donald W. Fostle, who wrote in a company history of Steinway that "the genius of Steinways ... ultimately lay in their ability to persuade millions of persons across decades and continents that in this realm of supreme subjectivity, individual variation, incertitude, and ever-changing conditions, there was an absolute best. The assertion, repeated often enough, took on the coloration of fact", but Stuart de Ocampo concludes that "Innovations in piano construction carved out a unique sound for the Steinway pianos in the mid-nineteenth century. Medals at fairs and international exhibitions were the basis of Steinway & Sons' early reputation."
Paying for pianists' endorsements back then was not specific to Steinway. As there were financial incentives for testimonials, several famous pianists had no qualms about endorsing more than one piano brand.
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 ...
endorsed Steinway,
Bösendorfer
Bösendorfer (L. Bösendorfer Klavierfabrik GmbH) is an Austrian piano manufacturer and, since 2008, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yamaha Corporation. Bösendorfer is unusual in that it produces 97- and 92-key models in addition to instrument ...
,
Chickering Chickering may refer to:
* Chickering, Suffolk, a place in Suffolk, England
* Chickering & Sons, the piano company that was created by Jonas Chickering
* Arthur M. Chickering, an arachnologist
* Arthur W. Chickering, a researcher of student devel ...
,
Erard Erard may refer to:
* St. Erard or Erhard of Regensburg, bishop of Regensburg in the 7th century
* Erard I, Count of Brienne (1060 - 1114)
* Sébastien Érard (1752 - 1831), French instrument maker of German origin who specialised in the production ...
, Ibach, Mason & Risch, and
Steck at the same time. Today, no pianist is paid by Steinway,
and when Steinway Artists loan pianos from Steinway for a concert or recording session the artists do have to pay Steinway for preparing, tuning, and delivering of the piano.
According to management academic David Liebeskind, the Steinway Artist program "... is one of the only pure product endorsements programs, as no artist is paid to play on or endorse a Steinway piano."
The Steinway Artist program has been copied by other piano companies, but Steinway's program is unique in that a pianist must promise to play pianos of the Steinway brand ''only'' to become a Steinway Artist.
The Steinway Artist designation restricts a pianist's use of pianos by other makers and implies an obligation to perform on Steinway pianos.
All-Steinway Schools
The All-Steinway School designation is given by Steinway to educational institutions of music in which not less than 90 percent of the pianos are designed by Steinway. Steinway does not offer the pianos free of charge but requires that the institutions buy them.
Performance venues, teaching studios, and practice rooms for piano students must be equipped with Steinway pianos. Teaching studios and practice rooms for other students may be equipped with Boston or Essex pianos; some All-Steinway Schools have chosen to have Steinway pianos in these rooms also. It is required that the pianos are kept in performance-quality condition and All-Steinway Schools must have piano technicians that participate in Steinway's technical training programs. If the pianos are not maintained in performance-quality condition, Steinway can withdraw the All-Steinway School designation.
The
Oberlin Conservatory of Music
The Oberlin Conservatory of Music is a private music conservatory in Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. It was founded in 1865 and is the second oldest conservatory and oldest continually operating conservatory in the United States. It is one of ...
in Ohio holds the longest partnership with Steinway. They have used Steinway pianos exclusively since 1877, 24 years after Steinway was founded. In 2007, they obtained their 200th Steinway piano, a model
D-274 manufactured at Steinway's factory in Hamburg, Germany. Other examples of All-Steinway Schools are the
Yale School of Music
The Yale School of Music (often abbreviated to YSM) is one of the 12 professional schools at Yale University. It offers three graduate degrees: Master of Music (MM), Master of Musical Arts (MMA), and Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA), as well as a joi ...
at
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
in Connecticut,
the
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship.
Hi ...
in Pennsylvania, Royal Holloway, University of London, the University of Melbourne Faculty of VCA and MCM in Australia, and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
In 2007, the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, New York, was added to the All-Steinway School roster, receiving 141 pianos in one $3.8 million order. In 2009, the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music in Ohio became designated an All-Steinway School, based on a $4.1 million order of 165 new pianos, one of the largest orders Steinway has ever processed.
, there are more than 190 All-Steinway Schools around the world.
Piano competitions
Several international piano competitions use Steinway pianos. Since the Cleveland International Piano Competition chose to use only Steinway pianos in 1999, Steinway has been selected exclusively by such competitions as the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Fort Worth, Texas, the Gina Bachauer International Piano Competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig, Germany, the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, Belgium, the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition in Bolzano, Italy, and the Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition in Paris.
Privately-owned fleets of Steinway Pianos
Whilst some institutions in the UK are designated as All-Steinway Schools, others lease significant fleets of Steinway Pianos from private interests such as The Musiq Group, who own the largest privately owned collection of Steinway Pianos in the UK and also offer maintenance and servicing. The Royal Northern College of Music, Rugby School, The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Harrow School and many others hold considerable numbers of Steinway, A, B, C and D models.
Awards
![Sudden Mania to Become Pianists created upon hearing Steinway's Piano at the Paris Exposition](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Sudden_Mania_to_Become_Pianists_created_upon_hearing_Steinway%27s_Piano_at_the_Paris_Exposition.jpg)
The Steinway company and its leaders have won numerous awards,
including:
* In 1839,
Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg exhibited three pianos at the state trade exhibition in Braunschweig, Germany, and was awarded a gold medal.
* In 1855, Steinway attended the Metropolitan Mechanics Institute fair in Washington, D.C. and won 1st prize.
* In 1855, Steinway exhibited at the
American Institute Fair
The American Institute Fair was held annually from 1829 until at least 1897 in New York City by the American Institute. The American Institute was founded in 1829 "for the encouragement of agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and the arts." The ...
in the
New York Crystal Palace
New York Crystal Palace was an exhibition building constructed for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City in 1853, which was under the presidency of the mayor Jacob Aaron Westervelt. The building stood in Reservoir Square ...
in what is now Bryant Park in New York City. Steinway won a gold medal. A reporter wrote the following about Steinway: "Their square pianos are characterized by the great power of tone, depth and richness in the bass, a full mellowness in the middle register and brilliant purity in the treble, making a scale perfectly equal and singularly melodious throughout its entire range. In touch, they are all that could be desired."
* From 1855 to 1862, Steinway pianos received 35 medals in the United States alone, since which time Steinway entered their pianos at international exhibitions only.
* In 1862, for the 1862 International Exhibition, International Exhibition in London, Steinway shipped two square pianos and two grand pianos to England (two to Liverpool and two to London) and won 1st prize.
* In 1867, Steinway won three awards at the International Exposition (1867), International Exposition in Paris: the Grand Gold Medal of Honor, the Grand Annual Testimonial Medal, and honorary membership of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts. These awards won in Europe increased the demand for Steinway pianos, thus the reason the family looked into opening a store in London. The International Exposition of 1867 established Steinway as the leading choice for pianos in Europe.
* In 1876, at the
Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
in the United States, Steinway received the two highest awards and a certificate of the judges showing a rating of 95.5 of a possible 96.
* In 1885, Steinway received the gold medal at the International Inventions Exhibition in London and the grand gold medal of the Royal Society of Arts in London.
* In 2007, the National Medal of Arts was awarded to
Henry Z. Steinway
Henry Ziegler Steinway (August 23, 1915 – September 18, 2008) was the last member of the Steinway family to be president of the piano company Steinway & Sons.
Biography
He was born on August 23, 1915, in Manhattan, New York City.
He was ...
and presented by US President George W. Bush in an East Room ceremony at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
. Henry Z. Steinway received the award for "... his devotion to preserving and promoting quality craftsmanship and performance, as an arts patron and advocate for music and music education; and for continuing the fine tradition of the Steinway piano..."
* In 2014, Steinway received the Red Dot product design award for the ''Arabesque'' limited edition grand piano. The jury wrote: "The design of the Arabesque impresses through elegance and individuality. It thus excellently complements the high-class product line of this renowned manufacturing house."
Patented inventions
Steinway has been granted 139 patents in piano making; the first in 1857.
Some examples of these are:
* Patent No. 26,532 (December 20, 1859):
The bass strings are "overstrung" above the treble strings to provide more length and better tonal quality.
The invention won 1st prize medal at the 1862 International Exhibition in London. Today, the invention is a standard feature of grand piano construction.
* Patent No. 126,848 (May 14, 1872):
Steinway invented the duplex scale on the principle of enabling the freely oscillating parts of the string, directly in front of and behind the segment of the string actually struck, also to resound. The outcome is a large range and fullness of overtones – one of the characteristics of the Steinway sound.
* Patent No. 127,383 (May 28, 1872):
In a Steinway piano, the cast iron plate rests on wooden dowels without actually touching the
soundboard. It is lightly curved, creating a large hollow between the plate and the soundboard. This cavity acts as a reinforcement of the resonant properties.
* Patent No. 156,388 (October 27, 1874):
Steinway invented the middle piano pedal, called the sostenuto pedal. The sostenuto pedal gives the pianist an ability to create what is called an pedal point, organ pedal point by keeping a specific note's damper, or notes' dampers, in their open position(s), allowing those strings to continue to sound while other notes can be played without continuing to resonate.
* Patent No. 170,645 (November 30, 1875):
Steinway's ''Regulation Action Pilot'', also known as ''Capstan Screw'', lifts the parts that drive the hammer toward the string. The Steinway device was adjustable, an advance that simplifies the chore of modifying a piano's action to a pianist's liking.
* Patent No. 233,710 (October 26, 1880):
The bridge transmits the vibration of the strings to the soundboard. In a Steinway piano, the bridge consists of vertically glued laminations; a principle that ensures that vibrations are easily developed and forwarded.
* Patent No. 314,742 (March 31, 1885):
The rim of Hamburg-made Steinway pianos consists of layers of hard rock maple and mahogany and the rim of Queens-made Steinway pianos consists of layers of hard rock maple only.
The layers are pressed together into one piece in one operation.
* Patent No. 2,051,633 (August 18, 1936):
The soundboard resembles a membrane. The special molding, gradually tapering from the center to the edge, provides great flexibility and freer vibration across the board.
* Patent No. 3,091,149 (May 28, 1963):
The pinblock, also known as wrestplank, is designed to keep the piano in tune longer. Steinway uses seven glued layers of hard-textured wood, set at a 45° angle to the run of the grain.
Acquisitions
Music
Steinway pianos have appeared in numerous records and concerts. A few examples include:
See also
* ''Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037''
* ''Pianomania''
Steinway Bros. Oral History collectionat Oral History of American Music
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Company websites
Steinway & Sons Boston , EssexLouis Renner GmbHKluge Klaviaturen GmbH
Articles
Article about Steinway & Sonsin ''The Brander''
in ''The New York Times''
Online archives and museums
*
Steinway & Sons Collection in the La Guardia and Wagner Archives
Steinway grand piano from 1868in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
William Steinway's diary, family tree of the Steinway family, photos, and morein the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution
Steinway & Sons collection, 1853-1997from the Watson Library Special Collections, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steinway and Sons
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