Steinway & Sons

Steinway & Sons is a piano maker based in New York City and Hamburg, Germany. Steinway pianos are undoubtedly the most famous pianos in the world, popularly known as "The Instrument of the Immortals", because of the devotion to the Steinway brand by many legendary pianists and composers.

Related Topics:
Piano - New York City - Hamburg - Germany

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The firm was founded in 1839 in Seesen, Germany, by Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg, who emigrated to America in 1851 and changed his surname to 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.

Related Topics:
1839 - Germany - Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg - Cast iron

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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.

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In 1880, son William established a company town, Steinway, in Queens County, New York, which later became part of Astoria, Queens, New York, to build piano factories and worker housing.

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Their success is reflected by their presence on the most prestigious concert stages in the world. Steinway was for a time nearly the exclusive provider of high-end pianos. Their production now has been outnumbered by Yamaha and Kawai, with each brand having its loyalists. At the top of their success in the 1920s they sold more than 6,000 pianos a year. Steinway's long established reputation and hand-crafting, particularly for those produced in Hamburg, set them apart from others.

Related Topics:
Yamaha - Kawai

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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. Only one member of the Steinway family still works for Steinway.

Related Topics:
CBS - 1972 - 1995

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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 insisted on the New York Steinway, with its clearer and more penetrating timbre, whereas others, including Marc-André Hamelin, Alfred Brendel and Arcadi Volodos, prefer the Hamburg Steinway for its more mellow, rich, warm tone. The differences in tone are determined by the quality of the construction, as well as piano's hammer manufacture (the New York Steinway uses considerably softer felt hammers (using a Texas-Australian composite) than their Hamburg counterparts). Despite the insistence by the Steinway management that there is no difference between the two, there are substantial differences in the manufacturing process, and the in skill level of the labor, resulting in dramatic differences between them.

Related Topics:
Vladimir Horowitz - Timbre - Marc-André Hamelin - Alfred Brendel - Arcadi Volodos - Tone - Felt

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Covered in the Harvard Business School case 9-500-028.

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