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Musical Courier 1896-12-02: Vol 33 Iss 874, 1896
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1The Musical Courier.
2PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
3BY THE—
4MUSICAL COURIER COMPANY.
5(Incorporated under the Laws of the State of New York.)
619 Union Square W., New York.
7TELEPHONE: – – 1953-18th.
8Cable Address, "Pegujar," New York.
9NEW YORK, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1896.
10EXTRA.
11WILLIAM STEINWAY.
12MR. WM. STEINWAY, the head of the house of Steinway & Sons, died at his home, 26 Gramercy Park, this city, this (Monday) morning, at 3:30 o'clock, surrounded by his family and business associates.
13A detailed review of his characteristics, his power, his influence and his personality will appear in the regular issue of THE MUSICAL COURIER on Wednesday morning.
14This EXTRA MUSICAL COURIER is issued for the purpose of giving immediate information and the details of his biography, together with a sketch of the house.
15Besides being the head of the house of Steinway, and exercising a vast number of official and semi-official functions, Mr. Steinway was president of Abbey, Schoeffel & Grau, Limited, which is the firm that controls the Metropolitan Opera.
16WILLIAM STEINWAY, president of the world renowned house of Steinway & Sons, and distinguished alike for public spiritedness, marked ability, and purity of character, was born in Seesen, near the city of Brunswick, Germany, March 5, 1836. He came from a family of good reputation, some of whose members had served their country with honorable distinction as soldiers and magistrates.
17His father, Henry Engelhard Steinway, was a successful artisan and prosperous piano manufacturer of Seesen. William was educated at the excellent and thorough schools of his native town, finishing at the celebrated Jacobsohn High School. At the age of fourteen he was proficient in English and French, as well as in German, and had already begun to display remarkable aptitude for music—a trait which, in practical America, is often looked upon as a token of weakness in a busy man, but with him was an indication of genius. At fourteen he could play the most difficult compositions upon the piano, and his unerring ear enabled him to tune the instrument perfectly, even for concert use. His father, Henry E. Steinway, was a man of active mind and extended reading and awake to opportunities; and he conceived the idea of transferring his business to the New World. In 1849 he sent his second son, Charles, to the United States to investigate. Charles returned a favorable report. After full consideration Mr. Steinway removed his business and his family to New York city, leaving his oldest son, C. F. Theodore Steinway, to succeed him in the business in Seesen. They reached New York June 9, 1850, and became residents of a city in which they were destined to win fortune and a world-wide renown.
18William Steinway, then fourteen years of age, was offered by his father the choice of a trade or education as a great musician. He preferred the former, and was apprenticed to William Nuns & Co., of 88 Walker street. On March 5, 1853, he joined his father and his brothers Charles and Henry in the founding of the house of Steinway & Sons. Father and Sons had sufficient capital to manufacture on an extended scale, but they wisely began in a small way in a rear building on Varick street, rented for the purpose. At that time many cultivated people thought no piano good which was not imported from Europe. With four or five workmen the Steinways built one piano a week, father and sons taking part as artisans in their production. William made the sounding boards. Their pianos soon attracted the attention of musicians and the public. The beauty and power and the fine workmanship shown in the instruments were recognized at once. The Steinway pianos conquered their way by their own indisputable merits, and the demand for them rapidly increased. More extensive quarters soon became necessary, and were engaged in 1854 at No. 88 Walker street. Mr. Nuns had failed and the Steinways rented the quarters he had occupied. It may be said here that William Steinway lost $300 back wages by Mr. Nuns' failure. He forgave the debt, however, and through affection and respect even assisted Mr. Nuns with monthly contributions until the latter's death, in 1864, at the age of eighty years, thus early in life displaying the largeness of heart and unostentatious generosity of character which have always been conspicuous traits of the man.
19The growing magnitude of the business now compelled father and son to resign their fascinating work at the bench and to devote their whole attention to the general management of the affairs of the rising house. It fell to the lot of William Steinway to conduct the mercantile and financial affairs of the firm; and he brought to his department an ability and force which insured the continual triumphant growth of the business. In 1859 the Steinways built their present factory on Fourth avenue from Fifty-second to Fifty-third street, taking possession in April, 1860, and in 1863, by the addition of its southerly wing, bringing same to its present colossal proportions. In March, 1865, Charles and Henry, Jr., died; and Theodore, giving up the flourishing business in Brunswick, Germany, came to New York and became a partner in the New York house. In 1866 the firm began the construction of the beautiful marble building, known as Steinway Hall, on Fourteenth street, to be used as headquarters offices for the firm and containing a large music hall with 2,400 seats, which until 1890, when the space was rebuilt for their growing business, was famous in the musical annals of the metropolis.
20The Steinway piano soon began to challenge the attention of the world. After being awarded thirty-five American medals they won a first prize medal at the World's Fair in London in 1862. In 1867, at the Paris International Exposition, they won the first of the grand gold medals of honor for their perfect square, upright and grand pianos, after a close and exciting contest with the best makers of Europe. This was a remarkable success; and the Steinway system of construction thereupon became the standard with the piano makers of the world. Equally great were their successes at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876, and the International Inventions Exhibition at London in 1885, on which latter occasion the Grand Gold Medal was awarded them for the supreme excellence of their pianos and their useful and meritorious inventions; and a grand gold medal was also awarded them by the London Society of Arts, the Prince of Wales being president. Not only did large orders for Steinway pianos, but distinguished honors, now pour in upon the firm from all quarters.
21The Steinways became successively the court piano manufacturers to the Queen of England, the Queen of Spain, the Emperor of Germany, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the Queen of Italy. Illustrious composers and artists bought and used their instruments, including Liszt, Wagner, Helmholtz, Rubinstein, Paderewski, Theodore Thomas, Patti, Gerster, Joseffy, and others. The public of America were conquered, and the firm prospered in fortune and reputation with each succeeding year. The completion of piano No. 25,000, made for the Czarowitz of Russia, was celebrated by the firm and its 1,000 workmen May 4, 1872. Piano No. 50,000, believed to be the finest grand ever produced by the house up to that time, was bought by Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild, of Vienna, and dispatched by the Hamburg steamer Bohemia, September 15, 1893. The number reached at present, July 1, 1895, is 85,000, and Steinway & Sons' Piano Works are conceded to be by far the largest establishments in their line in the world.
22Henry E. Steinway died in 1871, at the age of seventy-four, and Albert Steinway, the youngest son, died in 1877. The firm has, however, admitted the grandsons of the founder to membership, one after the other, and has always retained the time-honored name of Steinway & Sons. C. F. Theodore died in 1889, and William now remains alone at the head of the house, and its only surviving founder. In 1872 the firm was compelled to establish additional works in Astoria, for the constant open air and kiln drying of 7,000,000 feet of the finest lumber for the cases of their pianos, and for making each grand piano case of bent wood of one continuous length, as also the vibrating parts of each. Model houses have since been erected, with good ventilation, pure water, perfect drainage and gas.
23Always high-minded and public-spirited in the treatment of their men, the firm built a public school for 1,000 children in Long Island City in 1877; and the firm have maintained, at their own expense, in addition to the English course of instruction, which is furnished by the city, a teacher for free tuition in the German language and music. They also maintain a free circulating library and a model free kindergarten. In 1881 a public bath was built at the expense of the firm of Steinway, Long Island City, with fifty dressing rooms, and surrounding the same a fine park was opened, with a fountain of drinking water, the whole lighted by gas. The Protestant Union Church there has also been endowed by the firm, and in addition presented with the grand cathedral organ from Steinway Hall.
24Besides his educational benefactions at Steinway, Long Island City, William Steinway, by his influence and pecuniary assistance, is constantly making it possible for many young people of both sexes to enjoy a thorough musical training. In his native town of Seesen he has founded six annual prizes for the best three male and three female students, and pays the annual school money for the children of no less than seventy-five parents. He has also presented that city with a lovely park, which the grateful inhabitants by official vote called "Steinway Park," besides making William Steinway an honorary citizen.
25William Steinway has also, in 1894, founded two annual prizes at the New York Normal College, viz., gold watches of $75 value each, one to be awarded to the most proficient student in German, and the other to the student showing the greatest progress in the same language. Besides a number of charitable societies and aged musicians and teachers, he is also assisting a number of schools and libraries with annual contributions in money, and has presented many educational and charitable institutes with pianos, and founded annual prizes in several other schools. The relations between Mr. Steinway and his great army of employees are most pleasant and harmonious. They are all highly skilled and intelligent mechanics, and they appreciate the fatherly care which he bestows upon them and their families. It is an important and striking fact that the success of the Steinways has put an end completely to the importation of pianos to America. It is also a remarkable fact that 70 per cent. of the pianos now exported to Europe are made by the Steinways.
26The house has created a large foreign trade and is compelled to maintain its own warehouses in London and Hamburg. It would fill a goodly sized book to mention and describe the many honors and distinctions which have been showered upon William Steinway in person. Want of space prevents us from mentioning more than a few of them. In 1867, after the close of the Paris Exposition, William Steinway and his brother, C. F. Theodore Steinway, were unanimously elected members of the Royal Prussian Academy of Fine Arts at Berlin, Germany. In the same year the Grand Gold Medal was bestowed upon them by his Majesty King Charles of Sweden, accompanied by an autograph letter of Prince Oscar of Sweden, now King. They were also elected members of the Royal Academy of Arts at Stockholm.
27June 12, 1892, Emperor William II., of Germany, appointed William Steinway piano manufacturer for the Imperial Court of Germany. During a pleasure trip abroad an audience was granted to him on invitation by the Emperor and Empress of Germany in the marble palace in Potsdam, September 11, 1892. The Emperor presented Mr. Steinway with his portrait and the imperial autograph, "Wilhelm, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Marble Palace, September 11, 1892," written in the presence of his guest. The Empress also wrote him an autograph letter thanking him for his gifts to the Emperor William I. Memorial Church building at Berlin. This honor was followed June 12, 1893, by the bestowal upon him by the Emperor of the order of the Red Eagle, third class, the highest distinction ever conferred upon a manufacturer. April 15, 1894, William Steinway was elected honorary member of the Royal Italian Academy of St. Cecilia, of Rome, the oldest and most renowned academy in the Old World, having been founded by Palestina, the celebrated composer, in 1584. The diploma of membership is in itself a work of art.
28Mr. Steinway has prospered in his individual fortune with the growth of the great house, which he has done so much to establish. But he has never been so closely identified with practical business affairs as to be oblivious to the public interests of the city and country in which he became a resident in 1850. Always a lover and a patron of the fine arts, he has also taken an active and successful part in public affairs, and being endowed with great physical strength and powers of endurance, as also fine orator-
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