Steinway & Sons Pianos
The name Steinway has become synonymous with the word 'Piano' itself. The company, founded originally in Germany, but moved to America by 1850, owes its fame to the over-strung iron-frame grand piano of 1859, and the similarly based upright of 1863. Steinway created pianos with unprecedented tension, giving the player the opportunity to command a dynamic range never reached before.
Steinway's Original Patent Drawing for the Overstrung, Iron-Frame piano
The first piano produced by the company, was sold to a New York family for $500. Over the next forty years, Henry and his sons developed the modern piano patenting 114 patented innovations. Many of these late nineteenth-century inventions were based on emerging acoustical theories of the renowned physicist Hermann von Helmholtz
German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway, the founder of Steinway & Sons
In 1871, Henry Sr. died and sons C.F. Theodore and William took over operations. An accomplished pianist, C.F. Theodore was responsible for 41 more patents, including one in 1875 for the modern concert grand piano. Today, Steinway remains a dominant force in the piano industry, crafting approximately 5,000 pianos a year worldwide. Over 1300 prominent concert artists and ensembles across the world bear the title Steinway Artist
