Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 151
Scan 151
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
14 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 129. See the scan on archive.org.
1M. STEINERT & SONS COMPANY, INC.
3Morris Steinert, the founder of this company, was born at Scheinfeld, Germany, in 1831. As a boy he had lessons on the harpsichord and guitar and incidentally learned to play the violoncello. He came to the United States in 1854 and joined Maretzek's opera-orchestra as a 'cellist, then traveled with a minstrel troupe, and for a time worked in Savannah, Georgia, as an organist and clerk in a music store.
5This firm was founded at Athens, Georgia, in 1860.27 The outbreak of the Civil War led Mr. Steinert to move north to New Haven, Connecticut, where he opened a music store, taught, organized an orchestra and as the first dealer established by Steinway & Sons,27 built up a prosperous business which gradually spread out through New England and the Middle West. The exclusive Steinway franchise has remained continuously with the company.
7The company also represented the Aeolian Company early, handling pianofortes, reed organs, the Aeolian Orchestrelle and pipe organs. "During the last quarter of the nineteenth century Steinert was the largest music house in the world, dealing in all sorts of instruments and printed music as well as pianos."27 In this period the company became established in Boston under Alexander Steinert, son of the founder, and the headquarters of the business has remained in Boston.
9Morris Steinert died in 1912 and his son Alexander became the head of the firm. His brother Rudolph, Alexander's son Robert S. who entered in 1916, and Rudolph's son Alan, also actively engaged in the business. Another son, Alexander Steinert, Jr., is one of the well known young American composers. Alexander Steinert died in November 1933 and Robert S. Steinert became President of the Company, while Jerome F. Murphy, who became associated with the founder in 1898, succeeded in 1934 to the general management and control of the business. The offices and ware-rooms are now located at [address hidden]
11In 1903 the company began the manufacture of its own pianofortes while still holding its dealer franchises for other makes. Several grades of pianofortes were made in the former Jewett Factory at Leominster, under a fine supervisor trained in Denmark, and were finished in Boston. Steinert was the finest. The others
1327 Statement of Jerome F. Murphy, of M. Steinert & Sons Company, Inc.
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