Steinway Pianos are known and cherished by musicians throughout the world. The history of Steinway & Sons is an iconic story of the American Dream.
The Steinway Family and Early Business
In 1836, carpenter Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg built his first fortepiano (Küchenflügel) secretly in the kitchen of his house in Germany. He immigrated to America is 1850 with his wife Juliane, three daughters and four sons to take advantage of the commercial advantages in building pianos in the USA. His oldest son, Karl, had moved to the United States to pursue clients already a year earlier. In New York, the family anglicized their surname to Steinway, and the sons adapted English first names as well. A further son named Theodore stayed behind in Germany and continued to build pianos there. In 1865 he joined the rest of the family in the USA, where they had set up production in a factory located in lower Manhattan.
Heinrich Steinweg, later Henry Steinway Source: Wikipedia
When father Henry Steinway died in 1871, oldest son Theodore and the younger sons William and Albert took over the management of the company. William was a marketing genius, who created the Steinway Hall, where the pianos were exhibited and sold in a concert auditorium. He also created a concert and artist business that encouraged famous musicians to play on Steinway models. In 1880, Theodore and William also founded a factory to build pianos in Hamburg, Germany.
In the years that followed, the brothers gained many patents, including one for the Duplex Scale, which lent unprecedented clarity of tone to their instruments. In addition to the building of concert grand pianos, the brothers Steinway also began to produce upright pianos as more affordable options for the general public.
Steinway & Sons in the 20th and 21st Century
By the beginning of the 20th century, Steinway & Sons began to build pianos with mechanical parts. The company completed its 100,000th instrument in 1903, and celebrated by presenting the American people with a concert grand piano for the White House, which remained there for 35 years. It was replaced in 1938 with an ‘Art Case’ piano, which is still in the White House today. An ‘Art Case’ piano refers to a tailor-made instrument created by artists and architects. The White House concert piano is crafted with gold leaf decoration representing the five musical forms indigenous to America: Its gilded mahogany legs are carved to look like American eagles as an embodiment of American spirit.
Source: White House Historical Association
During World War II, Steinway parachuted around 3,000 specially designed upright pianos to American soldiers fighting abroad so they could play and sing American songs to remind them of home.
Although Steinway & Sons has gone through ownership changes in the 21st century, it remains a private company with over 300 showrooms worldwide. Steinway concert grand pianos are still made through the nurturing handwork of skilled craftsmen and women. Each consists of roughly 12,000 individual parts and takes well over a year to assemble.
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