Steinway & Sons is a company that manufactures and sells
pianos. Many people, including famous concert artists, consider Steinway pianos to be the best in the world.
Steinway was founded by Henry E. Steinway, who was born with the name Steinweg in Harz, Germany in 1797. In 1820 he moved to Seesen to try his luck as a cabinet-maker. He had an affinity with music and soon he built his first (upright) piano, in secret because there was a strict guild system in those days. Later he started his first real workshop with his sons and there in 1836 they built the first Steinway grand piano. Three years later his instruments were first shown in Braunschweig and by 1850 he had already sold 482 keyboard instruments.
When Henry E. Steinway was 53 years old, he moved to America with his family. They settled in New York in 1850 and on 5 May 1853 the company Steinway & Sons was founded. Business went well and by 1859 some 500 pianos were built per year. There was a continuous search for new techniques to reach the perfect sound for the pianos and this has led to some revolutionary inventions in the building of pianos.
Henry E. Steinway died in 1871, leaving the company to his sons who continued his mission "To build the best piano possible!". Steinway & Sons has developed 113 patents in the area of piano building.
In 1880 a European production facility was founded in Hamburg. Five years later, in 1885, the Steinway Hall was founded in London. Success continued and in 1903 the 100,000th instrument was finished and donated to the American people. Between 1923 and 1928 a new factory was built in Hamburg, which is still there and working today.
Steinway pianos are very popular still. The two factories in New York and Hamburg produce more than 600 pianos and 3000 grand pianos each year.
Steinway & Sons produces grand pianos in six designs, ranging in size from 155cm to 274 cm long, and upright pianos in two, with a height of 125cm or 132 cm. Each has a reach of 7 ¼ octaves. They are available with the standard polished black finishing, but also in polished white, polished mahogany and matte walnut. And they are very expensive (40,622 Euro for the smallest grand piano).