Steinway & Sons

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Image:Steinway-logo.png Steinway & Sons is a piano maker based in New York City and Hamburg, Germany. Steinway pianos are among the most famous pianos in the world and are frequently used by professional pianists.

The firm was founded in 1853 in New York City by Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, who emigrated to America in 1851 and anglicised his name to Henry E. Steinway. By the 1860s they were the leading piano manufacturer in America. The innovations introduced by Steinway, including the cast iron frame and overstringing, have become a model for other piano manufacturers worldwide.

In 1866, Henry Steinway built Steinway Hall on 14th Street in New York City. It housed the company's offices and showrooms on the first floor, and a large auditorium on the second floor which became a center of culture and music. In 1880, son William established a community, Steinway, in Queens County, New York, to build piano factories and provide worker housing. It later became part of Long Island City, Astoria, Queens, New York.

Steinway's long established reputation and hand-crafting set them apart from others and their success is reflected by their presence on concert stages around the world. Steinway was for a time nearly the exclusive provider of high-end pianos. Production was greatest in the 1920s when they sold more than 6,000 pianos a year. Their total production now has been outnumbered by Yamaha and Kawai, though the Japanese manufacturers have catered more towards the mid-range piano market. At its peak, Yamaha manufactured more pianos in a year that Steinway had in its history.

After long-time financial woes, the firm was sold to CBS in 1972. CBS sold Steinway to Steinway Musical Properties Inc., which finally sold it to Selmer in 1995. The new combined company was renamed Steinway Musical Instruments, though Steinway's management has remained the same. Henry Ziegler Steinway, the great-grandson of the founder, still works for Steinway.

Today

Most pianists have a preference for either Hamburg-built Steinways or New York Steinways. While the differences are preferential and not qualitative, each has its loyalists. Influential artists such as the late Vladimir Horowitz and Van Cliburn insisted on the New York Steinway, with its mellower timbre and powerful bass, whereas others, including Marc-André Hamelin, Mikhail Pletnev, Krystian Zimerman, Alfred Brendel and Arcadi Volodos, prefer the Hamburg Steinway for its brighter treble and sweeter tone. Each is designed to be most appropriate for the venues in its home continent.

Today, more than 98 percent of the world's active concert pianists — over 1,300 artists — bear the title "Steinway Artist", which means that they all choose to perform on Steinway pianos exclusively. None of the artists is paid to do so, but each owns a Steinway.

Steinway is the exclusive piano at some of the world's most prestigious piano competitions, such as the Gina Bachauer Competition and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

External links

• Official website
• Nine-Part Series in the New York Times following the construction of a Steinway concert grand at their New York factory
• Steinway & Sons Collection at the La Guardia and Wagner Archives in New York
• Steinway in the pianoforte - photoarchive

Trivia

• "The Instrument of the Immortals" is an advertising slogan for Steinway pianos. It is attributed to Raymond Rubicam who used the phrase in 1919. [1]
• The Hyperion Cantos, set in a distant future, mention the Steinway as being one of the mythical music instruments, along with Stradivarius violins.
• Among Steinway's "Immoral Artists" roster are many 19th and 20th century greats such as George Gershwin, Edvard Grieg, Vladimir Horowitz, Franz Liszt, Cole Porter, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, Rudolf Serkin, and Igor Stravinsky.de:Steinway

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