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Steinway & Sons is a piano maker based in New York City and Hamburg, Germany.
The firm was founded in 1853 in New York City by Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, who emigrated to America in 1851 and Americanized his name to Henry E. Steinway. By the 1860s Steinway was the leading piano manufacturer in America. The innovations popularized by Steinway, including the cast iron frame and overstringing, have become models 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. The Steinway factory was then located on 4th Avenue (now Park Ave.) and East 55th Street in Manhattan. In 1880, Henry's son William established a community, Steinway, in Queens County, New York, including a new factory which is still in use today and worker housing. Steinway Village later became part of Long Island City, Astoria, Queens, New York. To reach all the European customers, who wanted more and more Steinway brand pianos, the Steinway family established 1880 a new, second factory in Germany in the town of Hamburg.
Steinway's long established reputation and high standard of craftsmanship set the firm apart from other makers and their success is reflected by their presence on the majority of concert stages around the world. Steinway provides more than 95% of the worlds concert halls with their concert grand model. Production was greatest in the 1920s when the firm sold more than 6,000 pianos a year. Their total production has now reached over 570,000.
After long-time financial battles and a general lack of interest regarding the business among the present generation of the Steinway family, the firm was sold to CBS in 1972. CBS sold Steinway to a group of investors, Steinway Musical Properties Inc., which after years of losses in turn sold it to Selmer in 1995. The new combined company was renamed Steinway Musical Instruments. Although Henry Ziegler Steinway, the great-grandson of the founder and now approaching 90, still works for Steinway, the management has seen its position as the preeminent concert piano challenged even further by makers like Bösendorfer and Fazioli.
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Today
Most pianists who play Steinway pianos have a preference for either Hamburg Steinways or American 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 American Steinway, with its "growling" bass and mellow timbre, whereas others, including Marc-André Hamelin, Mikhail Pletnev, Krystian Zimerman, Lola Astanova, Alfred Brendel prefer the Hamburg Steinway for its brilliance and sweeter timbre.
Today over 1,300 concert artists bear the title "Steinway Artist," which means that they have chosen to perform on Steinway pianos. None of the artists are paid to do so. All Steinway Artists: Steinway Artists from A-Z
The Steinway Artist Program has not been without controversy. Steinway artists are expected to perform exclusively on Steinway instruments at all times. The company has been known to impose penalties on performers who deviate from this program. Angela Hewitt was dropped from Steinway’s roster in 2002 after performing a concert on a Fazioli piano. Louis Lortie has complained that Steinway is trying to establish a monopoly on the concert world by becoming “the Microsoft of pianos.” Numerous other pianists have had similar complaints.
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.
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Brands
Other than "Steinway and Sons," Steinway carries a few other brands all marketed by Steinway itself.
Boston: The Boston brand is targeted for the traditional general piano markets, the same as the Steinway brand, but at lower prices. Boston pianos are designed by Steinway using Steinway patents, but manufactured by Kawai in Hamamatsu, Japan. As of 2006, the Boston model line offers five sizes of grands and four uprights, with the usual finish variations. Boston grands feature a fatter or boxier tail end design resulting in a larger sound board area than conventionally shaped pianos of comparable sizes, which Boston claims to produce richer sound resonance, equivalent to 4 to 5 inch longer pianos of other brands.
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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. *
The Hyperion Cantos, set in a distant future, mention the Steinway as being one of the mythical music instruments, along with Stradivarius violins.
It is interesting to note that Hamburg Steinways have rounded boards at either end of the keys, but the New York Steinways have squared boards.
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