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174-584: Steinway & Sons , also known as Steinway ( / ˈ s t aɪ n w eɪ / ), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in New York City by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to a move to a larger factory in New York, and later opening an additional factory in Hamburg , Germany. The New York factory, in

348-404: A bridge to a soundboard that amplifies the sound by coupling the acoustic energy to the air. When the key is released, a damper stops the string's vibration, ending the sound. Most notes have three strings, except for the bass, which graduates from one to two. Notes can be sustained when the keys are released by the use of pedals at the base of the instrument, which lift the dampers off

522-647: A coalition government . An uprising in Braunschweig in 1919, led by the communist Spartacus League , was defeated when Freikorps troops under Georg Ludwig Rudolf Maercker took over the city on order of the German Minister of Defence, Gustav Noske . An MSPD-led government was subsequently established; in December 1921, a new constitution was approved for the Free State of Brunswick , now

696-561: A grand piano , the frame and strings are horizontal, with the strings extending away from the keyboard. The action lies beneath the strings and uses gravity as its means of return to a state of rest. Grand pianos range in length from approximately 1.5–3 m (4 ft 11 in – 9 ft 10 in). Some of the lengths have been given more-or-less customary names, which vary from time to time and place to place, but might include: All else being equal, longer pianos with longer strings have larger, richer sound and lower inharmonicity of

870-587: A loudspeaker . The electric pianos that became most popular in pop and rock music in the 1960s and 1970s, such as the Fender Rhodes use metal tines in place of strings and use electromagnetic pickups similar to those on an electric guitar . The resulting electrical, analogue signal can then be amplified with a keyboard amplifier or electronically manipulated with effects units . In classical music, electric pianos are mainly used as inexpensive rehearsal or practice instruments. Electric pianos, particularly

1044-745: A parliamentary republic within the Weimar Republic , again with Braunschweig as its capital. After the Landtag election of 1930, Brunswick became the second state in Germany where the Nazis participated in government, when the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) formed a coalition government with several conservative and right-wing parties. With the support of Dietrich Klagges , Brunswick's minister of

1218-410: A pedal keyboard at the base, designed to be played by the feet. The pedals may play the existing bass strings on the piano, or rarely, the pedals may have their own set of bass strings and hammer mechanisms. While the typical intended use for pedal pianos is to enable a keyboardist to practice pipe organ music at home, a few players of pedal piano use it as a performance instrument. Wadia Sabra had

1392-704: A socialist workers' council forced Duke Ernest Augustus to abdicate. On 10 November, the council proclaimed the Socialist Republic of Brunswick under one-party government by the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD); however, the subsequent Landtag election on 22 December 1918 was won by the Majority Social Democratic Party of Germany (MSPD), and the USPD and MSPD formed

1566-544: A 15 kilometer radius. Braunschweig's urban area makes it a bigger city compared to others with a similar size e.g. Aachen , Wiesbaden or Gelsenkirchen , and since the urban area is not significantly smaller than Hanover , it makes itself an important and major city in Lower Saxony . Companies like New Yorker , Salzgitter AG , Jägermeister , Siemens , Bosch , Volkswagen , Nordzucker , Continental , Kosatec  [ de ] and others are headquartered or have

1740-408: A Dutchman, Americus Backers , to design a piano in the harpsichord case—the origin of the "grand". This was achieved by about 1777. They quickly gained a reputation for the splendour and powerful tone of their instruments, with Broadwood constructing pianos that were progressively larger, louder, and more robustly constructed. They sent pianos to both Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven , and were

1914-496: A beautiful attribute of the world-renowned firm of Steinway & Sons. ...Owing to my ignorance of the mechanism of piano construction I can but praise the magnificent result in the volume and quality of sound." In 1890, Steinway received its first royal warrant , granted by Queen Victoria . The following year the patrons of Steinway included the Prince of Wales and other members of royalty and nobility. In subsequent years Steinway

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2088-482: A branch in this area. Information about the Urban Agglomeration in 2024 : Population : 401,234 Area size: 585.16 Density : 698 per square Kilometer Migration background percentage : 44.7% Largest cities, districts and towns : Braunschweig , Salzgitter , Kreis Wolfenbüttel , Lehrte , Kreis Cremlingen , Kreis Gifhorn , Vechelde , Lengede The population of the urban area with

2262-414: A built-in amp and speaker). Alternatively, a person can play an electronic piano with headphones in quieter settings. Digital pianos are also non-acoustic and do not have strings or hammers. They use digital audio sampling technology to reproduce the acoustic sound of each piano note accurately. They also must be connected to a power amplifier and speaker to produce sound (however, most digital pianos have

2436-437: A built-in amp and speaker). Alternatively, a person can practise with headphones to avoid disturbing others. Digital pianos can include sustain pedals, weighted or semi-weighted keys, multiple voice options (e.g., sampled or synthesized imitations of electric piano, Hammond organ , violin , etc.), and MIDI interfaces. MIDI inputs and outputs connect a digital piano to other electronic instruments or musical devices. For example,

2610-483: A digital piano's MIDI out signal could be connected by a patch cord to a synth module , which would allow the performer to use the keyboard of the digital piano to play modern synthesizer sounds. Early digital pianos tended to lack a full set of pedals, but the synthesis software of later models such as the Yamaha Clavinova series synthesised the sympathetic vibration of the other strings (such as when

2784-484: A factory at Park Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street (the present site of the Seagram Building ) where it covered a whole block. With a workforce of 350 men, production increased from 500 to nearly 1,800 pianos per year. The employees were mostly German immigrants and the official language of the company was German. The pianos themselves underwent numerous substantial improvements through innovations made both at

2958-636: A few decades of use. Beginning in 1961, the New York branch of the Steinway firm incorporated Teflon , a synthetic material developed by DuPont , for some parts of its Permafree grand action in place of cloth bushings, but abandoned the experiment in 1982 due to excessive friction and a "clicking" that developed over time; Teflon is "humidity stable" whereas the wood adjacent to the Teflon swells and shrinks with humidity changes, causing problems. More recently,

3132-627: A form of piano wire made from cast steel ; it was "so superior to the iron wire that the English firm soon had a monopoly." A better steel wire was developed in 1840 by the Viennese firm Martin Miller, and a period of innovation and intense competition ensued, with rival brands of piano wire being tested against one another at international competitions, leading ultimately to the modern form of piano wire. Several important advances included changes to

3306-407: A greater range of preferences. Piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings . Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temperament . A musician who specializes in piano is called a pianist . There are two main types of piano:

3480-525: A harmonic produced from three octaves below. This lets close and widespread octaves sound pure, and produces virtually beatless perfect fifths . This gives the concert grand a brilliant, singing and sustaining tone quality—one of the principal reasons that full-size grands are used in the concert hall. Smaller grands satisfy the space and cost needs of domestic use; as well, they are used in some small teaching studios and smaller performance venues. Upright pianos, also called vertical pianos, are more compact with

3654-510: A higher offer, $ 512 million, to take the company private. The Steinway Musical Instruments board recommended that shareholders accept this, and in September 2013 Paulson announced completion of the acquisition. After the 2008 economic downturn , Steinway grand piano sales fell by half, and 30 percent of the union employees were laid off at the New York factory between August 2008 and November 2009. Sales were down 21 percent in 2009 in

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3828-680: A homogenization of the sound favored by pianists. Steinway pianos have received numerous awards. One of the first is a gold medal in 1855 at the American Institute Fair at the New York Crystal Palace . From 1855 to 1862, Steinway pianos received 35 gold medals. More awards and recognitions followed, including three medals at the International Exposition of 1867 in Paris. The European part of

4002-583: A hundred pianos per year left the factory. In the later years of the war, the company was ordered to give up all the prepared and dried wood their lumber yard held for war production. In an air raid over Hamburg, several Allied bombs hit the factory and nearly destroyed it. After the war, Steinway restored the Hamburg factory with help from the Marshall Plan . In the late 1960s, Steinway brought countersuit against Grotrian-Steinweg to stop them from using

4176-514: A judge had been paid directly, although Barron states that the judge was bribed through an intermediary, the pianist Frederic Boscovitz. According to freelancer Isabel Wolff, William Steinway admitted in his diary that under his leadership the New York City arm of the company bribed judges at trade fairs to favor Steinway pianos. According to musicologist Donald W. Fostle, it is untrue that Steinway repeatedly bribed judges at trade fairs, and in

4350-430: A lengthy strike, a long-running financial struggle, high legal expenses, and a lack of business interest among some of the Steinway family members, the firm was sold to CBS . At that time, CBS owned many enterprises in the entertainment industry, including electric guitar and amplifier maker Fender , drum maker Rogers , electro-mechanical piano maker Rhodes , and the baseball team New York Yankees . CBS had plans to form

4524-599: A line of art case pianos, designed by artists. In 1903, the 100,000th Steinway grand piano was given as a gift to the White House ; it was decorated by the artist Thomas Wilmer Dewing . The 100,000th Steinway grand piano was replaced in 1938 by the 300,000th, which remains in use in the White House. The piano is normally placed in the largest room of the White House, the East Room . Later, Steinway diversified into

4698-478: A lower octave's corresponding sharp overtone rather than to a theoretically correct octave. If octaves are not stretched, single octaves sound in tune, but double—and notably triple—octaves are unacceptably narrow. Stretching a small piano's octaves to match its inherent inharmonicity level creates an imbalance among all the instrument's intervallic relationships. In a concert grand, however, the octave "stretch" retains harmonic balance, even when aligning treble notes to

4872-613: A massive, strong, cast iron frame. Also called the "plate", the iron frame sits atop the soundboard , and serves as the primary bulwark against the force of string tension that can exceed 20 tons (180 kilonewtons) in total for a modern grand piano. The single piece cast iron frame for square piano was patented in 1825 in Boston by Alpheus Babcock , combining the metal hitch pin plate (1821, claimed by Broadwood on behalf of Samuel Hervé) and resisting bars (Thom and Allen, 1820, but also claimed by Broadwood and Érard). Babcock later worked for

5046-604: A member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th century to the middle of the 17th century. By the year 1600, Brunswick was the seventh largest city in Germany. Although formally one of the residences of the rulers of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire , Brunswick was de facto ruled independently by a powerful class of patricians and the guilds throughout much of

5220-417: A microtone piano manufactured by Pleyel in 1920. Abdallah Chahine later constructed his quartertone "Oriental piano" with the help of Austrian Hofmann . With technological advances , amplified electric pianos (1929), electronic pianos (1970s), and digital pianos (1980s) have been developed. The first electric pianos from the late 1920s used metal strings with a magnetic pickup , an amplifier and

5394-574: A migration background is 178,998 in 2023, making it 44.7% of the population. This makes the agglomeration one of the most diverse in Germany and the most in Lower Saxony. The city is unique because unlike most cities with migrant populations concentrated inside the city itself, higher number of migrant populations are also found in surrounding areas. Braunschweig's urban agglomeration has a higher migration percentage compared to its city due to industrialization and other major factors since 2011. One of

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5568-457: A musical conglomerate that made and sold music in all forms and through all outlets, including records, radio, television, and musical instruments. This new conglomerate was evidently not as successful as CBS had expected, and Steinway was sold in 1985, along with classical and church organ maker Rodgers and flute and piccolo maker Gemeinhardt , to a group of Boston-area investors led by Robert and John P. Birmingham. In order to acquire Steinway,

5742-400: A musical device exploited by Liszt. When the invention became public, as revised by Henri Herz , the double escapement action gradually became standard in grand pianos and is still incorporated into all grand pianos currently produced in the 2000s. Other improvements of the mechanism included the use of firm felt hammer coverings instead of layered leather or cotton. Felt, which Jean-Henri Pape

5916-441: A piano are made of a steel core wrapped with one or two layers of copper wire, to increase their mass whilst retaining flexibility. If all strings throughout the piano's compass were individual (monochord), the massive bass strings would overpower the upper ranges. Makers compensate for this with the use of double (bichord) strings in the tenor and triple (trichord) strings throughout the treble. The plate (harp), or metal frame, of

6090-439: A piano are made of materials selected for strength and longevity. This is especially true of the outer rim, which is most commonly made of hardwood , typically hard maple or beech , and its massiveness serves as an essentially immobile object from which the flexible soundboard can best vibrate. According to Harold A. Conklin, the purpose of a sturdy rim is so that, "... the vibrational energy will stay as much as possible in

6264-476: A piano can be played acoustically, or the keyboard can be used as a MIDI controller, which can trigger a synthesizer module or music sampler . Some electronic feature-equipped pianos such as the Yamaha Disklavier electronic player piano, introduced in 1987, are outfitted with electronic sensors for recording and electromechanical solenoids for player piano-style playback. Sensors record the movements of

6438-419: A piano is usually made of cast iron. A massive plate is advantageous. Since the strings vibrate from the plate at both ends, an insufficiently massive plate would absorb too much of the vibrational energy that should go through the bridge to the soundboard. While some manufacturers use cast steel in their plates, most prefer cast iron. Cast iron is easy to cast and machine, has flexibility sufficient for piano use,

6612-471: A piano. An inventory made by his employers, the Medici family, indicates the existence of a piano by 1700. The three Cristofori pianos that survive today date from the 1720s. Cristofori named the instrument un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte ("a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud"), abbreviated over time as pianoforte , fortepiano , and later reduced to only piano . Cristofori's great success

6786-434: A position in which it is ready to play again almost immediately after its key is depressed, so the player can repeat the same note rapidly when desired. Cristofori's piano action was a model for the many approaches to piano actions that followed in the next century. Cristofori's early instruments were made with thin strings and were much quieter than the modern piano, though they were louder and had more sustain compared to

6960-516: A preference for pianos from Steinway's Hamburg factory over those made in New York, or vice versa. Emanuel Ax , concert pianist and piano teacher at the Juilliard School , has said that "... the differences have more to do with individual instruments than with where they were made." Larry Fine , American piano technician and author of The Piano Book , considers Hamburg Steinways to be of higher quality than those from New York. In 2010,

7134-522: A resting place, consistent with its location by a ford across the Oker River. An alternative explanation of the city's name is that it comes from Brand , or burning, indicating a place which developed after the landscape was cleared through burning. The city was first mentioned in documents from the St. Magni Church from 1031, which give the city's name as Brunesguik . Up to the 12th century, Brunswick

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7308-596: A small number of acoustic pianos in the 2010s are produced with MIDI recording and digital sound module -triggering capabilities, the 19th century was the era of the most dramatic innovations and modifications of the instrument. Modern pianos have two basic configurations, the grand piano and the upright piano, with various styles of each. There are also specialized and novelty pianos, electric pianos based on electromechanical designs, electronic pianos that synthesize piano-like tones using oscillators, and digital pianos using digital samples of acoustic piano sounds. In

7482-481: A three-day concert series with performances by Peter Cincotti , Art Garfunkel , Herbie Hancock , Ben Heppner , Ahmad Jamal , Ramsey Lewis , Randy Newman , Roger Williams , Nancy Wilson , Yundi Li and Eroica Trio , among others. The first concert featured classical music, the second jazz, and the third pop. As part of the 150th anniversary, fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld created a commemorative Steinway limited edition grand piano. In 2005, Steinway celebrated

7656-660: A vertical structure of the frame and strings. The mechanical action structure of the upright piano was invented in London in 1826 by Robert Wornum, and upright models became the most popular model for domestic use. Upright pianos take up less space than a grand piano and as such are a better size for use in private homes for domestic music-making and practice. The hammers move horizontally and return to their resting position via springs, which are susceptible to degradation. Upright pianos with unusually tall frames and long strings were sometimes marketed as upright grand pianos, but that label

7830-530: A worldwide "piano bank" from which performing pianists, especially Steinway Artists , can select a Steinway piano with the touch and tonal characteristics they prefer for use in a certain concert, recording, or tour. Steinway prepares, tunes, and delivers the piano of the performer's choice to the designated concert hall or recording studio at the performer's expense. The "piano bank" consists of approximately 250 Steinway pianos valued collectively at $ 12.5 million in 2019. Some pianists and technicians have expressed

8004-632: Is 9.9 °C (49.8 °F). The average annual rainfall is 614.8 mm (24.20 in) with July as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in July, at around 18.7 °C (65.7 °F), and lowest in January, at around 1.8 °C (35.2 °F). The Braunschweig weather station has recorded the following extreme values: Parks and gardens in the city include the botanical garden Botanischer Garten der Technischen Universität Braunschweig , founded in 1840 by Johann Heinrich Blasius ,

8178-551: Is Thorsten Kornblum of the Social Democratic Party (SPD); he has been mayor since 2021. The most recent mayoral election was held on 12 September 2021, with a runoff held on 26 September, and the results were as follows: The Braunschweig city council governs the city alongside the Mayor. The most recent city council election was held on 12 September 2021, and the results were as follows: Braunschweig's city centre

8352-465: Is misleading. Some authors classify modern pianos according to their height and to modifications of the action that are necessary to accommodate the height. Upright pianos are generally less expensive than grand pianos. Upright pianos are widely used in churches, community centers, schools, music conservatories and university music programs as rehearsal and practice instruments, and they are popular models for in-home purchase. The toy piano , introduced in

8526-580: Is much more resistant to deformation than steel, and is especially tolerant of compression. Plate casting is an art, since dimensions are crucial and the iron shrinks about one percent during cooling. Including an extremely large piece of metal in a piano is potentially an aesthetic handicap. Piano makers overcome this by polishing, painting, and decorating the plate. Plates often include the manufacturer's ornamental medallion. In an effort to make pianos lighter, Alcoa worked with Winter and Company piano manufacturers to make pianos using an aluminum plate during

8700-560: Is named after the company. In 1876, Steinway participated in the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The competition among piano makers principally involved Steinway, Chickering , and Weber . According to journalist James Barron 's account of Steinway's participation in the competition, the company was able to secure success by bribing one of the judges. William Steinway denied to the exposition's organizers that

8874-561: Is now the Astoria neighborhood of Queens in New York City. Steinway Village was built as its own town, and included a new factory (still used today) with its own foundry and sawmill, houses for employees, kindergarten, lending library, post office, volunteer fire department, and parks. Steinway Village later became part of Long Island City . Steinway Street , one of the major streets in the Astoria and Long Island City neighborhoods of Queens,

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9048-463: Is simply their size (which is indicated by their model letter), which is also one of the most important indicators of their relative prices. Steinway pianos are also sold in the secondary market. The price of a used Steinway can vary tremendously, depending on the model (size), age, condition, and the quality of any restoration work that has been done. Additionally, Steinway offers certified pre-owned pianos, using Steinway-approved parts. Steinway makes

9222-596: Is the 2nd largest city in Lower Saxony . Braunschweig is considered as one of the oldest cities in Germany, founded in 1031 by Henry the Lion . Braunschweig first reached its peak of over 100,000 in 1890. In the 1960s and 1970s industrialization boomed in Braunschweig due to automobile and other companies coming to Braunschweig and surrounding cities like Wolfsburg and Salzgitter . Braunschweig's population reached its highest peak of population in 1975 with population of about 273,000. Braunschweig's population started to decline in

9396-564: Is the same material that is used in quality acoustic guitar soundboards. Low-cost pianos often have plywood soundboards. Braunschweig A powerful and influential centre of commerce in medieval Germany, Brunswick was a member of the Hanseatic League from the 13th until the 17th century. It was the capital city of three successive states: the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1269–1432, 1754–1807, and 1813–1814),

9570-487: Is unknown. Piera Sonnino (1922–1999), an Italian author, writes of her imprisonment in Braunschweig in her book, This Has Happened , published in English in 2006 by MacMillan Palgrave. The Allied air raid on October 15, 1944, destroyed most of the city's churches, and the Altstadt (old town), the largest homogeneous ensemble of half-timbered houses in Germany. 100 out of 800 half-timbered houses survived as well as

9744-481: The Sound of Harmony from 2008. The Alma-Tadema grand piano was designed by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and received great public acclaim when it was exhibited in London. The piano is made of ebony , inlaid with ivory and mother of pearl , with carved case, lid, and legs, and painted in the inside lid by artist Edward Poynter . It was bought by financier Henry Gurdon Marquand for his New York City mansion. In 1997, it

9918-814: The Bürgerpark , the Löwenwall with an obelisk from 1825, the Prinz-Albrecht-Park , and the Inselwallpark . Other parks and recreation areas are Stadtpark , Westpark , Theaterpark , Museumpark , Heidbergsee , Südsee , Ölpersee , the zoological garden Arche Noah Zoo Braunschweig and the nearby Essehof Zoo . Braunschweig is made up of 19 boroughs (German: Stadtbezirke ), which themselves may consist of several quarters (German: Stadtteile ) each. The 19 boroughs, with their official numbers, are: The current mayor of Braunschweig

10092-594: The Chickering & Mackays firm who patented the first full iron frame for grand pianos in 1843. Composite forged metal frames were preferred by many European makers until the American system was fully adopted by the early 20th century. The increased structural integrity of the iron frame allowed the use of thicker, tenser, and more numerous strings. In 1834, the Webster & Horsfal firm of Birmingham brought out

10266-654: The Congress of Vienna in 1815, Brunswick was made capital of the re-established independent Duchy of Brunswick , later a constituent state of the German Empire from 1871. In the aftermath of the July Revolution in 1830, in Brunswick duke Charles II was forced to abdicate. His absolutist governing style had previously alienated the nobility and bourgeoisie , while the lower classes were disaffected by

10440-435: The Duchy of Brunswick (1814–1918), and the Free State of Brunswick (1918–1946). Today, Brunswick is the second-largest city in Lower Saxony and a major centre of scientific research and development. The date and circumstances of the town's foundation are unknown. Tradition maintains that Brunswick was created through the merger of two settlements, one founded by Brun(o) , a Saxon count who died in 880, on one side of

10614-582: The Fibonacci spiral and Macassar ebony veneer. It took 6,000 hours of work over 4 years to make, and was priced at $ 2.4 million. As of early 2021, Paulson & Co. remains the ultimate parent of Steinway & Sons, with head office at 1251 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Steinway pianos are sold by a worldwide network of around 200 authorized Steinway dealers who operate around 300 showrooms. The primary differentiation between Steinway models

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10788-669: The Grüne Moschee in Wolfenbüttel, Fatih Moschee Salzgitter and the Albanischer-Kulturverein in Gifhorn. A total of 84,994 of Braunschweig's residents, including citizens with second passport , had a migration background in 2023 (31.2% of the total population). Weststadt has the highest migration percentage being 63%. Among those, 39,785 were non-German citizens (15%); the following table lists up

10962-479: The Iron Curtain . The city lost its historically strong economic ties to what was then East Germany ; for decades, economic growth remained, on average, below the rest of the country while unemployment was above-average for West Germany. On 28 February 1974, as part of a district reform in Lower Saxony, the rural district of Braunschweig , which had surrounded the city, was disestablished. The major part of

11136-453: The Kawai firm built pianos with action parts made of more modern materials such as carbon fiber reinforced plastic , and the piano parts manufacturer Wessell, Nickel and Gross has launched a new line of carefully engineered composite parts. Thus far these parts have performed reasonably, but it will take decades to know if they equal the longevity of wood. In all but the lowest quality pianos,

11310-645: The Late Middle Ages and the Early modern period . Because of the growing power of Brunswick's burghers , the Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , who ruled over one of the subdivisions of Brunswick-Lüneburg, finally moved their Residenz out of the city and to the nearby town of Wolfenbüttel in 1432. The Princes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel did not regain control over the city until the late 17th century, when Rudolph Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg , took

11484-791: The Steinway concert grand (Model D) weighs 480 kg (1,060 lb). The largest piano available on the general market, the Fazioli F308, weighs 570 kg (1,260 lb). The pinblock, which holds the tuning pins in place, is another area where toughness is important. It is made of hardwood (typically hard maple or beech) and is laminated for strength, stability and longevity. Piano strings (also called piano wire ), which must endure years of extreme tension and hard blows, are made of high carbon steel. They are manufactured to vary as little as possible in diameter, since all deviations from uniformity introduce tonal distortion. The bass strings of

11658-477: The Steinway & Sons brand, Steinway markets two other brands: Boston for the mid-level market and Essex for the entry-level market. Boston and Essex pianos are made using lower-cost components and labor. Pianos of these two brands, made with Steinway owned designs, are manufactured in Asia by suppliers. Steinway allows only its authorized Steinway dealers to carry new Boston and Essex pianos. Steinway maintains

11832-462: The grand piano and the upright piano . The grand piano offers better sound and more precise key control, making it the preferred choice when space and budget allow. The grand piano is also considered a necessity in venues hosting skilled pianists. The upright piano is more commonly used because of its smaller size and lower cost. When a key is depressed, the strings inside are struck by felt-coated wooden hammers. The vibrations are transmitted through

12006-616: The hammered dulcimers , which were introduced in the Middle Ages in Europe. During the Middle Ages, there were several attempts at creating stringed keyboard instruments with struck strings. By the 17th century, the mechanisms of keyboard instruments such as the clavichord and the harpsichord were well developed. In a clavichord the strings are struck by tangents, while in a harpsichord they are mechanically plucked by quills when

12180-549: The transposing piano in 1801. This rare instrument has a lever under the keyboard to move the keyboard relative to the strings, so a pianist can play in a familiar key while the music sounds in a different key. The minipiano is an instrument patented by the Brasted brothers of the Eavestaff Ltd. piano company in 1934. This instrument has a braceless back and a soundboard positioned below the keys—long metal rods pull on

12354-410: The "aliquot" throughout much of the upper range of the piano, always in locations that caused them to vibrate sympathetically in conformity with their respective overtones—typically in doubled octaves and twelfths. Some early pianos had shapes and designs that are no longer in use. The square piano (not truly square, but rectangular) was cross strung at an extremely acute angle above the hammers, with

12528-530: The 125th anniversary of the establishment of its factory in Hamburg, Germany. The celebration featured a concert at the Laeiszhalle concert hall in Hamburg with performances by Vladimir and Vovka Ashkenazy, Lang Lang , and Detlef Kraus . 1,800 people from 33 countries attended the concert. As part of the celebration, a 125th anniversary Steinway limited edition grand piano was designed by Count Albrecht von Goertz . Until his death on September 18, 2008, at

12702-522: The 1820s, the center of piano innovation had shifted to Paris, where the Pleyel firm manufactured pianos used by Frédéric Chopin , and the Érard firm manufactured those used by Franz Liszt . In 1821, Sébastien Érard invented the double escapement action, which incorporated a repetition lever (also called the balancier ) that permitted repeating a note even if the key had not return to its resting position. This facilitated rapid playing of repeated notes,

12876-473: The 1940s. Aluminum piano plates were not widely accepted and were discontinued. Prior to this, a piano made almost entirely of aluminum was placed aboard the airship Hindenburg . The numerous parts of a piano action are generally made from hardwood, such as maple, beech, or hornbeam ; however, since World War II, makers have also incorporated plastics. Early plastics used in some pianos in the late 1940s and 1950s, proved problematic when they lost strength after

13050-514: The 1980s. In the 1990s - after the German reunification - it began to grow again as many East Germans moved there due to its close close proximity to former East Germany . Currently, Braunschweig has a strong focus on research and development. According to 2019 data, it has the highest R&D intensity (ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP ) in the entire EU and over 4% of all employed people are R&D personnel. In 2015, 91,785 people (or 36.3% of

13224-430: The 19th century, is a small piano-like instrument that generally uses round metal rods to produce sound, rather than strings. The US Library of Congress recognizes the toy piano as a unique instrument with the subject designation, Toy Piano Scores: M175 T69. In 1863, Henri Fourneaux invented the player piano , which plays itself from a piano roll . A machine perforates a performance recording into rolls of paper, and

13398-614: The Allied Armies to build wooden gliders to convey troops behind enemy lines. Steinway could make few normal pianos, but built 2,436 special models called the Victory Vertical or G.I. Piano . It was a small piano that four men could lift, painted olive drab, gray, or blue, designed to be carried aboard ships or dropped by parachute from an airplane to bring music to the soldiers. The factory in Hamburg, Germany, could sell very few pianos during World War II. No more than

13572-508: The BraWo Park's parking lot is today, held about 800 male prisoners, who were forced to work in the arms production at Büssing-NAG . After about 300 had died due to disease, hunger, and maltreatment over the course of just a few months, a further 200 were transferred to the infirmary of a nearby subcamp in early January 1945 in order to reduce the number of deaths. However, this was only effective to some degree, as another 80 bodies landed in

13746-540: The English crown in 1168, through his marriage to King Henry II of England 's daughter Matilda , sister of Richard the Lionheart . However, Henry's son Otto , who regained influence and was eventually crowned Holy Roman Emperor , continued to foster the city's development. During the Middle Ages , Brunswick was an important center of trade, one of the economic and political centers in Northern Europe and

13920-536: The Fender Rhodes, became important instruments in 1970s funk and jazz fusion and in some rock music genres. Electronic pianos are non-acoustic; they do not have strings, tines or hammers, but are a type of analog synthesizer that simulates or imitates piano sounds using oscillators and filters that synthesize the sound of an acoustic piano. They must be connected to a keyboard amplifier and speaker to produce sound (however, some electronic keyboards have

14094-630: The German manufacturer Kluge in Wuppertal, which supplies keyboards, in December 1998, and in November 1999 purchased the company that supplies its cast iron plates, O. S. Kelly Co. in Springfield, Ohio. A majority of the world's concert halls own at least one Steinway piano, and some (for example Carnegie Hall ) have model D-274s from both the Hamburg factory and the New York factory to satisfy

14268-726: The Grotrian-Steinweg brand – both the Hamburg-based Steinway factory and the Braunschweig-based Grotrian-Steinweg factory became known for making premium German pianos. Meanwhile, the 1880s saw the company embroiled in a series of labor disputes between the New York City factory's management and workers. Back then, industrialists faced labor strikes frequently. One dispute, in 1880, saw the company lead an industry-wide lockout of piano workers in New York City. In later disputes in

14442-460: The New York factory made some changes in its manufacturing processes and materials to improve quality, and Fine was invited to tour the factory to see some of the changes. Fine wrote in his Acoustic & Digital Piano Buyer of Spring 2011 that the changes have improved the quality of the New York pianos, but that the Hamburg pianos are still of higher quality. Steinway has two sales areas: the factory in New York supplies North and South America, and

14616-601: The River Oker – the legend gives the year 861 for the foundation – and the other the settlement of a legendary Count Dankward , after whom Dankwarderode Castle (the "Castle of Dankward's clearing"), which was reconstructed in the 19th century, is named. The town's original name of Brunswik may be a combination of the name Bruno and Low German wik (related to the Latin vicus ), a place where merchants rested and stored their goods. The town's name, therefore, may indicate

14790-521: The Steinway factory and elsewhere in the industry based on emerging engineering and scientific research, including developments in the understanding of acoustics. Almost half of the company's 139 patented inventions were developed by the first and second generations of the Steinway family. Steinway's pianos won prizes at exhibitions in New York City, London, and Paris. By 1862, Steinway pianos had received more than 35 medals . Part of Steinway's early reputation arose from its successes in trade fairs. In 1865,

14964-951: The Steinway family sent a letter to C. F. Theodor Steinweg asking that he leave the German Steinweg factory (by then located in Braunschweig (Brunswick)) and travel to New York City to take over the leadership of the family firm due to the deaths of his brothers Henry and Charles from disease. C. F. Theodor Steinweg obeyed, selling his share of the German piano company to his partner Wilhelm Grotrian (son of Friedrich Grotrian) and two other workmen, Adolph Helfferich and H. G. W. Schulz. The German factory changed its name from C. F. Theodor Steinweg to Grotrian, Helfferich, Schulz, Th. Steinweg Nachf. (English: Grotrian, Helfferich, Schulz, successors to Th. Steinweg ), later shortened to Grotrian-Steinweg . In New York City, C. F. Theodor Steinweg anglicized his name to C. F. Theodore Steinway. During

15138-561: The Steinway piano line, Steinway markets two other, lower-priced brands of piano sold under the brand names Boston and Essex . Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg first made pianos in the 1820s from his house in Seesen , Germany. He made pianos under the Steinweg brand until he emigrated from Germany to America in 1850 with his wife and seven of his nine children. The eldest son, C. F. Theodor Steinweg , remained in Germany, and continued making

15312-556: The Steinweg brand of pianos, partnering with Friedrich Grotrian, a piano dealer, from 1856 to 1865. In 1853, Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg founded Steinway & Sons. His first workshop in America was in a small loft at the back of 85 Varick Street in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The first piano made by Steinway & Sons was given the number 483 because Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg had built 482 pianos in Germany. Number 483

15486-655: The United States. But sales began increasing a little in 2010, and they continued to improve the following year. In 2015, Steinway went back to the player piano industry from around the 1920s by introducing a digital player piano series called Spirio. The technology in the Spirio pianos was created in 2007 by Wayne Stahnke, an Austrian engineer who has previously made digital player piano systems for other piano companies, like Yamaha and Bösendorfer . Wayne Stahnke's technology, originally called Live Performance Model LX ,

15660-910: The acquiescence of the state government. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, several state institutions were placed in Braunschweig, including the Luftfahrtforschungsanstalt in Völkenrode , the Hitler Youth Academy for Youth Leadership , and the SS - Junkerschule Braunschweig . With the Reichswerke Hermann Göring in Salzgitter and the Stadt des KdF-Wagens , as well as several factories in

15834-460: The age of 93, Henry Z. Steinway , the great-grandson of the Steinway founder, still worked for Steinway and put his signature on custom-made limited-edition pianos. At several public occasions, Henry Z. Steinway represented the Steinway family. He started at the company in 1937 after graduating from Harvard University . He was president of the company from 1956 to 1977 and was the last Steinway family member to be president of Steinway. In 1972, after

16008-403: The bad economic situation. During the night of 7–8 September 1830, the ducal palace in Brunswick was stormed by an angry mob, set on fire, and destroyed completely. Charles was succeeded by his brother William VIII . During William's reign, liberal reforms were made and Brunswick's parliament was strengthened. During the 19th century, industrialisation caused a rapid growth of population in

16182-418: The best of both of the older instruments, combining the ability to play at least as loudly as a harpsichord with the ability to continuously vary dynamics by touch. Cristofori's new instrument remained relatively unknown until an Italian writer, Scipione Maffei , wrote an enthusiastic article about it in 1711, including a diagram of the mechanism, that was translated into German and widely distributed. Most of

16356-528: The borough of Queens , supplies the Americas, and the factory in Hamburg supplies the rest of the world. Steinway is a prominent piano company, known for its high quality and for inventions within the area of piano development. Steinway has been granted 139 patents in piano making, with the first in 1857. The company's share of the high-end grand piano market consistently exceeds 80 percent. The dominant position has been criticized, with some musicians and writers arguing that it has blocked innovation and led to

16530-414: The century, as the piano became more common it allowed families to listen to a newly published musical piece by having a family member play a simplified version . The piano is widely employed in classical , jazz , traditional and popular music for solo and ensemble performances, accompaniment, and for composing , songwriting and rehearsals. Despite its weight and cost, the piano's versatility,

16704-730: The city by siege. In the 18th century Brunswick was not only a political, but also a cultural centre. Influenced by the philosophy of the Enlightenment , dukes like Anthony Ulrich and Charles I became patrons of the arts and sciences. In 1745, Charles I founded the Collegium Carolinum , predecessor of the Brunswick University of Technology , and in 1753 he moved the ducal residence back to Brunswick. With this he attracted poets and thinkers such as Lessing , Leisewitz , and Jakob Mauvillon to his court and

16878-651: The city further to represent his authority. Under Henry's rule, the Cathedral of St. Blasius was built and he also had the statue of a lion, his heraldic animal, erected in front of the castle. The lion subsequently became the city's landmark. Henry the Lion became so powerful that he dared to refuse military aid to the Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa , which led to his banishment in 1182. Henry went into exile in England. He had previously established ties to

17052-611: The city itself (including Büssing and the Volkswagenwerk Braunschweig ), the Braunschweig region became one of the centres of the German arms industry . During the Second World War , Braunschweig was a sub-area headquarters of Wehrkreis XI (one of Germany's military districts), and was the garrison city of the 31st Infantry Division that took part in the invasions of Poland, Belgium, and France, largely being destroyed during its retreat following

17226-637: The city's crematory until the subcamp's closing in March 1945, when Büssing-NAG had to halt production due to severe bombing damages. Today the Gedenkstätte Schillstraße , located very close to the former premises of the subcamp, documents Braunschweig's history during the Third Reich . Büssing-NAG also had another subcamp in the nearby Vechelde , which held a further 400 male prisoners. The subcamp SS-Reitschule , named so as it

17400-555: The city, eventually causing Brunswick to be for the first time significantly enlarged beyond its medieval fortifications and the River Oker. On 1 December 1838, the first section of the Brunswick–Bad Harzburg railway line connecting Brunswick and Wolfenbüttel opened as the first railway line in Northern Germany, operated by the Duchy of Brunswick State Railway . On 8 November 1918, at the end of World War I ,

17574-649: The city. Emilia Galotti by Lessing and Goethe 's Faust were performed for the first time in Brunswick. In 1806, the city was captured by the French during the Napoleonic Wars and became part of the short-lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807. The exiled Duke Frederick William raised a volunteer corps, the Black Brunswickers , who fought the French in several battles. After

17748-511: The clavichord—the only previous keyboard instrument capable of dynamic nuance responding to the player's touch, the velocity with which the keys are pressed. While the clavichord allows expressive control of volume and sustain, it is relatively quiet even at its loudest. The harpsichord produces a sufficiently loud sound, especially when a coupler joins each key to both manuals of a two-manual harpsichord, but it offers no dynamic or expressive control over individual notes. The piano in some sense offers

17922-480: The company held a royal warrant of appointment to Queen Elizabeth II . Steinway & Sons was named Company of the Year in 1996 by The Music Trades magazine. The award was given in recognition of Steinway's "overall performance, quality, value-added products, a well-executed promotional program and disciplined distribution which generated the most impressive results in the entire music industry." In addition to

18096-570: The concert hall concertgoers had to pass through the showrooms, a way to advertise Steinway pianos. Sales increased by more than 400 pianos in 1867. Steinway Hall quickly became one of New York City's most prominent cultural centers, housing the New York Philharmonic for the next 25 years until Carnegie Hall opened in 1891. In 1925, the Steinway Hall on East 14th Street was closed and a new Steinway Hall on West 57th Street

18270-410: The construction of the piano. About a third of Steinway's patented inventions are under the name of C. F. Theodore Steinway. The Steinway factory in Hamburg was part laboratory, part factory. Much of the precision cutting and drilling machinery installed in the New York factory was tried in the Hamburg factory first. C. F. Theodore Steinway died in Braunschweig in 1889, having successfully competed against

18444-552: The decade, the company hired detectives to spy on its workers, paid police to take management's side in the dispute and to protect company property, and evicted strike leaders from company housing. In 1883, the Hungarian composer and pianist Franz Liszt wrote in a letter to Steinway: "...The new Steinway grand is a glorious masterpiece in power, sonority, singing quality, and perfect harmonic effects, affording delight even to my old piano-weary fingers. Ever continuing success remains

18618-536: The extensive training of musicians, and its availability in venues, schools, and rehearsal spaces have made it a familiar instrument in the Western world. The piano was based on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments . Pipe organs had been used since antiquity, and as such the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches . The first string instruments with struck strings were

18792-418: The first firm to build pianos with a range of more than five octaves: five octaves and a fifth during the 1790s, six octaves by 1810 (Beethoven used the extra notes in his later works), and seven octaves by 1820. The Viennese makers similarly followed these trends; however the two schools used different piano actions: Broadwoods used a more robust action, whereas Viennese instruments were more sensitive. By

18966-511: The floor, behind the keyboard and very large sticker action . The short cottage upright or pianino with vertical stringing—made popular by Robert Wornum around 1815—was built into the 20th century. They are informally called birdcage pianos because of their prominent damper mechanism. The oblique upright, popularized in France by Roller & Blanchet during the late 1820s, was diagonally strung throughout its compass. The tiny spinet upright

19140-446: The following models of pianos: The Hamburg factory makes seven models of grand pianos and two upright models. (The numerical portion of each model designation represents the length of the grand pianos and the height of the upright pianos, in centimetres ). The New York factory makes six models of grand pianos and one model of upright piano. (Steinway has previously made upright pianos in different dimensions.) The Model L (5’ 10 1⁄2")

19314-540: The form of upright, baby grand, and grand piano styles (including a nine-foot concert grand). Reproducing systems have ranged from relatively simple, playback-only models to professional models that can record performance data at resolutions that exceed the limits of normal MIDI data. The unit mounted under the keyboard of the piano can play MIDI or audio software on its CD. Pianos can have over 12,000 individual parts, supporting six functional features: keyboard, hammers, dampers, bridge, soundboard, and strings. Many parts of

19488-551: The former district was incorporated into the city of Braunschweig, increasing its population by roughly 52,000 people. In the 1990s, efforts increased to reconstruct historic buildings that had been destroyed in the air raid. The façade of the Braunschweiger Schloss was rebuilt, and buildings such as the Alte Waage (originally built in 1534) now stand again. Braunschweig has a population of 250,000 and

19662-589: The founding of the Steinway factory in Hamburg, Germany. In 1993, Steinway introduced a new line of specially designed cases, the Steinway Crown Jewel Collection . The collection consists of grand and upright pianos in Steinway's regular models, but instead of the traditional black finish the pianos of the Steinway Crown Jewel Collection have veneers of rare woods from around the world. The collection includes Macassar ebony , East Indian rosewood , and kewazinga bubinga . In addition to

19836-448: The framework to resonate more freely with the soundboard, creating additional coloration and complexity of the overall sound. The thick wooden posts on the underside (grands) or back (uprights) of the piano stabilize the rim structure and are made of softwood for stability. The requirement of structural strength, fulfilled by stout hardwood and thick metal, makes a piano heavy. Even a small upright can weigh 136 kg (300 lb), and

20010-458: The grand piano and it was priced at €1.2 million. The piano was chosen for use at the Expo 2010 Shanghai China . Examples of limited edition pianos include The Steinway Limited Edition by Karl Lagerfeld created to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Steinway company in 2003, and the 125th-anniversary grand piano by Count Albrecht von Goertz designed to celebrate the 125th anniversary in 2005 of

20184-415: The higher notes were too soft to allow a full dynamic range. Although this earned him some animosity from Silbermann, the criticism was apparently heeded. Bach did approve of a later instrument he saw in 1747 and even served as an agent in selling Silbermann's pianos. "Instrument: piano et forte genandt"—a reference to the instrument's ability to play soft and loud—was an expression that Bach used to help sell

20358-552: The instrument when he was acting as Silbermann's agent in 1749. Piano making flourished during the late 18th century in the Viennese school , which included Johann Andreas Stein (who worked in Augsburg , Germany) and the Viennese makers Nannette Streicher (daughter of Stein) and Anton Walter . Viennese-style pianos were built with wood frames, two strings per note, and leather-covered hammers. Some of these Viennese pianos had

20532-511: The interior, the NSDAP organized a large SA rally in Braunschweig. On 17–18 October 1931, 100,000 SA stormtroopers marched through the city; street fights between Nazis, socialists, and communists left several dead or injured. On 25 February 1932, the state of Brunswick granted Adolf Hitler German citizenship to allow him to run in the 1932 German presidential election . In Braunschweig, Nazis carried out several attacks on political enemies, with

20706-581: The invasion of Russia. In this period, thousands of Eastern workers were brought to the city as forced labor , and in the 1943–1945 period at least 360 children taken away from such workers died in the Entbindungsheim für Ostarbeiterinnen ("Maternity Ward for Eastern Workers"). In 1944, two subcamps of the Neuengamme concentration camp were established in Braunschweig. The subcamp Schillstraße or Büssing-NAG/Schillstraße , located where

20880-420: The investors founded the musical conglomerate Steinway Musical Properties. In 1995, Steinway Musical Properties was acquired by Selmer Industries to form the musical conglomerate Steinway Musical Instruments . In June 2013, private equity firm Kohlberg & Company offered to buy Steinway parent company Steinway Musical Instruments for $ 438 million. Two months later hedge fund Paulson & Co. Inc. made

21054-422: The keyboard set along the long side. This design is attributed to Christian Ernst Friderici (a pupil of Gottfried Silbermann) in Germany and Johannes Zumpe in England, and it was improved by changes first introduced by Guillaume-Lebrecht Petzold in France and Alpheus Babcock in the United States. Square pianos were built in great numbers through the 1840s in Europe and the 1890s in the United States, and saw

21228-605: The keys, hammers, and pedals during a performance, and the system saves the performance data as a Standard MIDI File (SMF). On playback, the solenoids move the keys and pedals and thus reproduce the original performance. Modern Disklaviers typically include an array of electronic features, such as a built-in tone generator for playing back MIDI accompaniment tracks, speakers, MIDI connectivity that supports communication with computing devices and external MIDI instruments, additional ports for audio and SMPTE input/output (I/O), and Internet connectivity. Disklaviers have been manufactured in

21402-409: The largest Vietnamese, Cameroonian and Tunisian populations in Germany are located in the surroundings and within Braunschweig. These are the biggest nationalities in the urban area ( these include the citizens with a migration background and a second passport ): Braunschweig's climate is classified as oceanic ( Köppen : Cfb ; Trewartha : Dobk ). The average annual temperature in Braunschweig

21576-615: The largest minority groups, including citizens with a migration background from a specific nation or region: The estimated migration population in 2025 is 95,961 (35% of 274,233). The urban agglomeration area of Braunschweig is approximately 400,000 in 2024, making it one of the largest regiopolis after Mannheim and Bonn in Germany and the largest one in Lower Saxony . This area includes Wolfenbüttel , Meine , Salzgitter-Thiede , Salzgitter-Lebenstedt , Weddel , Sickte , Timmerlah , Lengede and other towns and regions within

21750-510: The levers to make the hammers strike the strings. The first model, known as the Pianette , was unique in that the tuning pins extended through the instrument, so it could be tuned at the front. The prepared piano , present in some contemporary art music from the 20th and 21st century is a piano which has objects placed inside it to alter its sound, or has had its mechanism changed in some other way. The scores for music for prepared piano specify

21924-489: The limited edition piano line. Steinway began creating art case pianos in 1857 and the making of art case pianos reached its peak in the late 19th century. Today, Steinway only builds art case pianos on rare occasions. The art case pianos are unique. Some of Steinway's most notable art case pianos are the Alma-Tadema grand piano from 1887, the 100,000th Steinway piano from 1903, the 300,000th Steinway piano from 1938, and

22098-478: The manufacture of player pianos . Several systems such as the Welte-Mignon , Duo-Art , and Ampico were incorporated. During the 1920s, Steinway had been selling up to 6,000 pianos a year. In 1929, Steinway constructed one double- keyboard grand piano. It has 164 keys and 4 pedals . (In 2005, Steinway refurbished this instrument). During World War II, the Steinway factory in New York received orders from

22272-408: The modifications, for example, instructing the pianist to insert pieces of rubber, paper, metal screws, or washers in between the strings. These objects mute the strings or alter their timbre. Some Viennese fortepianos incorporated percussion effects, brought into action by levers. These would be used in pieces such as Mozart's Rondo alla Turca . The pedal piano is a rare type of piano that has

22446-450: The most important places and streets, preserved in 5 areas of the old town. The city's cathedral, which had been converted to a Nationale Weihestätte (national shrine) by the Nazi government, still stood. About 10% of the inner city survived Allied bombing and remain to represent its distinctive architecture. The cathedral was restored to its function as a Protestant church. Outside

22620-500: The most visible change of any type of piano: the iron-framed, over-strung squares manufactured by Steinway & Sons were more than two-and-a-half times the size of Zumpe's wood-framed instruments from a century before. Their overwhelming popularity was the result of inexpensive construction and price, although their tone and performance were limited by narrow soundboards, simple actions and string spacing that made proper hammer alignment difficult. The tall, vertically strung upright grand

22794-495: The name Steinweg on their pianos. Steinway won the case on appeal in 1975, forcing their competitor to use only the name Grotrian in the United States. The case set a precedent and established the concept of Initial Interest Confusion , in which consumers might be initially attracted to a similarly named but lesser-known brand because of the stronger brand's good reputation. In 1988, Steinway made its 500,000th piano. Designed by artist Wendell Castle , it carries inscriptions of

22968-656: The names of the 832 pianists and 90 ensembles on the Steinway Artist roster of 1987, including Van Cliburn , Vladimir Horowitz and Billy Joel . Six years later the company launched C. F. Theodore Steinway Academy for Concert Technicians , known simply as Steinway Academy , at Steinway's factory in Hamburg, Germany. There, experienced piano tuners and piano technicians from all over the world receive further training in piano tuning and maintenance . By 2000, Steinway had made its 550,000th piano. In 2003, Steinway celebrated its 150th anniversary at Carnegie Hall with

23142-590: The next 15 years of his leadership, he kept a home in Braunschweig and traveled often between Germany and the United States. Through 1870–80, William Steinway (born Wilhelm Steinweg, a son of Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg) established a company town after purchasing a home and its surrounding property from the widow of Benjamin Pike Jr., that would later bear his name as the Steinway Mansion . This company town would go on to become Steinway Village in what

23316-410: The next generation of piano builders started their work based on reading this article. One of these builders was Gottfried Silbermann , better known as an organ builder. Silbermann's pianos were virtual copies of Cristofori's, with one important addition: Silbermann invented the forerunner of the modern sustain pedal , which lifts all the dampers from the strings simultaneously. This innovation allows

23490-446: The nine Muses . The 100,000th Steinway piano was replaced in 1938 by the 300,000th Steinway piano. The gold gilded mahogany legs of the 300,000th piano are carved as eagles and are molded by sculptor Albert Stewart . The piano remains in use in the White House. The Sound of Harmony is decorated with inlays of 40 different woods, including the lid, which replicates artwork by Chinese painter Shi Qi. It took about four years to build

23664-634: The old town city centre large historic quarters remain like Östliches Ringgebiet with its Gründerzeit architecture. Politically, after the war, the Free State of Brunswick was dissolved by the Allied occupying authorities , Braunschweig ceased to be a capital, and most of its lands were incorporated in the newly formed state of Lower Saxony . During the Cold War , Braunschweig, then part of West Germany , suffered economically due to its proximity to

23838-409: The one documented case it is unclear if Steinway were enmeshed, along with others, in bribery or were the target of attempted extortion. To reach European customers who wanted Steinway pianos, and to avoid high European import taxes, William Steinway and C. F. Theodore Steinway established a new piano factory in the free German city of Hamburg in 1880. The first address of Steinway's factory in Hamburg

24012-543: The one in Hamburg supplies the rest of the world. At all main Steinway showrooms across the world, customers can order pianos from either factory. The Hamburg and New York factories exchange parts and craftsmanship, and the parts for both factories come from the same places: Canadian maple is used for the rim, and the soundboards are made from Sitka spruce from Alaska . Both factories use similar crown parameters for their diaphragmatic soundboards. To maintain quality, Steinway has acquired some of its suppliers. Steinway bought

24186-545: The opposite coloring of modern-day pianos; the natural keys were black and the accidental keys white. It was for such instruments that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his concertos and sonatas , and replicas of them are built in the 21st century for use in authentic-instrument performance of his music. The pianos of Mozart's day had a softer tone than 21st century pianos or English pianos, with less sustaining power. The term fortepiano now distinguishes these early instruments (and modern re-creations) from later pianos. In

24360-548: The performer depresses the key. Centuries of work on the mechanism of the harpsichord in particular had shown instrument builders the most effective ways to construct the case, soundboard, bridge, and mechanical action for a keyboard intended to sound strings. The English word piano is a shortened form of the Italian pianoforte , derived from gravecembalo col piano e forte ("harpsichord with soft and loud"). Variations in volume ( loudness ) are produced in response to

24534-467: The period from about 1790 to 1860, the Mozart-era piano underwent significant changes that led to the modern structure of the instrument. This revolution was in response to a preference by composers and pianists for a more powerful, sustained piano sound, which was made possible by the ongoing Industrial Revolution with resources such as high-quality piano wire for strings and precision casting for

24708-437: The pianist to sustain the notes that they have depressed even after their fingers are no longer pressing down the keys. As such, by holding a chord with the sustain pedal, pianists can relocate their hands to a different register of the keyboard in preparation for a subsequent section. Silbermann showed Johann Sebastian Bach one of his early instruments in the 1730s, but Bach did not like the instrument at that time, saying that

24882-439: The pianist's touch (pressure on the keys): the greater the pressure, the greater the force of the hammer hitting the strings and the louder the sound produced and the stronger the attack . Invented in 1700, the fortepiano was the first keyboard instrument to allow gradations of volume and tone according to how forcefully or softly the player presses or strikes the keys, unlike the pipe organ and harpsichord. The invention of

25056-547: The piano is credited to Bartolomeo Cristofori of Padua , Italy, who was employed by Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany , as the Keeper of the Instruments. Cristofori was an expert harpsichord maker and was well acquainted with the body of knowledge on stringed keyboard instruments. This knowledge of keyboard mechanisms and actions helped him to develop the first pianos. It is not known when Cristofori first built

25230-523: The player piano replays the performance using pneumatic devices. Modern equivalents of the player piano include the Bösendorfer CEUS, Yamaha Disklavier and QRS Pianomation, using solenoids and MIDI rather than pneumatics and rolls. A silent piano is an acoustic piano having an option to silence the strings by means of an interposing hammer bar. They are designed for private silent practice, to avoid disturbing others. Edward Ryley invented

25404-469: The population) were Protestant and 34,604 (13.7%) people were Roman Catholic ; 126,379 people (50.0%) either adhered to other denominations or followed no religion. Roughly 17,000 Muslims (6.2% of the population) live in Braunschweig. Mosques like DMK Moschee , Fatih Moschee Braunschweig and cultural clubs are present throughout the city but mosque buildings with minerates have not been built in Braunschweig but can be seen in its urban area for example

25578-418: The production of massive iron frames that could withstand the tremendous tension of the strings. Over time, the tonal range of the piano was also increased from the five octaves of Mozart's day to the seven octave (or more) range found on today's pianos. Early technological progress in the late 18th century owed much to the firm of Broadwood . John Broadwood joined with another Scot, Robert Stodart, and

25752-450: The rim was constructed from several pieces of solid wood, joined and veneered, and European makers used this method well into the 20th century. A modern exception, Bösendorfer (an Austrian manufacturer of high-quality pianos) constructs their inner rims from solid spruce, the same wood that the soundboard is made from, which is notched to allow it to bend; rather than isolating the rim from vibration, their "resonance case principle" allows

25926-412: The sound or feel of the piano. The pianist is recorded by over 20 grey-scale optical sensors mounted behind the piano’s keyboard. With over 1000 levels of sensitivity and the ability to record 800 measurements/second, they sense the speed at which the hammers strike the strings. In 2024, the Spirio library contained more than 4,000 recordings. In 2015, Steinway made its 600,000th piano. The piano features

26100-403: The soundboard instead of dissipating uselessly in the case parts, which are inefficient radiators of sound." Hardwood rims are commonly made by laminating thin (hence flexible) strips of hardwood, bending them to the desired shape immediately after the application of glue. The bent plywood system was developed by C.F. Theodore Steinway in 1880 to reduce manufacturing time and costs. Previously,

26274-402: The soundboard is made of spruce boards glued together along the side grain. Spruce's high ratio of strength to weight minimizes acoustic impedance while offering strength sufficient to withstand the downward force of the strings. The best piano makers use quarter-sawn , defect-free spruce of close annular grain, carefully seasoning it over a long period before fabricating the soundboards. This

26448-417: The string, such as rust on plain strings and dirt in the windings of bass strings. The higher the partial, the further sharp it runs. Pianos with shorter and thicker string (i.e., small pianos with short string scales) have more inharmonicity. The greater the inharmonicity, the more the ear perceives it as harshness of tone. The inharmonicity of piano strings requires that octaves be stretched , or tuned to

26622-418: The strings are placed in two separate planes, each with its own bridge height, allowed greater length to the bass strings and optimized the transition from unwound tenor strings to the iron or copper-wound bass strings. Over-stringing was invented by Pape during the 1820s and first patented for use in grand pianos in the United States by Henry Steinway Jr. in 1859. Some piano makers added variations to enhance

26796-448: The strings when the sustain pedal is depressed, key release, the drop of the dampers, and simulations of techniques such as re-pedalling. Digital, MIDI-equipped pianos can output a stream of MIDI data, or record and play MIDI format files on digital storage media, similar in concept to a pianola. The MIDI file records the physics of a note rather than its resulting sound and recreates the sounds from its physical properties (e.g., which note

26970-464: The strings. Inharmonicity is the degree to which the frequencies of overtones (known as partials or harmonics ) sound sharp relative to whole multiples of the fundamental frequency. This results from the piano's considerable string stiffness; as a struck string decays, its harmonics vibrate from a point very slightly from its termination toward the center (or more flexible part) of the string. The inharmonicity may also result from imperfections within

27144-420: The strings. The sustain pedal allows pianists to connect and overlay sound, and achieve expressive and colorful sonority. In the 19th century, influenced by Romantic music trends, the fortepiano underwent changes such as the use of a cast iron frame (which allowed much greater string tensions) and aliquot stringing which gave grand pianos a more powerful sound, a longer sustain, and a richer tone. Later in

27318-437: The sustain pedal is depressed) and full pedal sets can now be replicated. The processing power of digital pianos has enabled highly realistic pianos using multi-gigabyte piano sample sets with as many as ninety recordings, each lasting many seconds, for each key under different conditions (e.g., there are samples of each note being struck softly, loudly, with a sharp attack, etc.). Additional samples emulate sympathetic resonance of

27492-415: The tone of each note, such as Pascal Taskin (1788), Collard & Collard (1821), and Julius Blüthner , who developed Aliquot stringing in 1893. These systems were used to strengthen the tone of the highest register of notes on the piano, which up until this time were viewed as being too weak-sounding. Each used more distinctly ringing, undamped vibrations of sympathetically vibrating strings to add to

27666-550: The tone, except the Blüthner Aliquot stringing , which uses an additional fourth string in the upper two treble sections. While the hitchpins of these separately suspended Aliquot strings are raised slightly above the level of the usual tri-choir strings, they are not struck by the hammers but rather are damped by attachments of the usual dampers. Eager to copy these effects, Theodore Steinway invented duplex scaling , which used short lengths of non-speaking wire bridged by

27840-408: The way the piano was strung. There are one string for each note in the bass, two for each note in the tenor, and three for each note in the tenor. The use of a Capo d’Astro bar instead of agraffes in the uppermost treble allowed the hammers to strike the strings in their optimal position, greatly increasing that area's power. The implementation of over-stringing (also called cross-stringing ), in which

28014-424: Was arranged like a grand set on end, with the soundboard and bridges above the keys and tuning pins below them. " Giraffe pianos ", " pyramid pianos " and " lyre pianos " were arranged in a somewhat similar fashion, using evocatively shaped cases. The very tall cabinet piano was introduced about 1805 and was built through the 1840s. It had strings arranged vertically on a continuous frame with bridges extended nearly to

28188-425: Was at Schanzenstraße in the western part of Hamburg, St. Pauli . C. F. Theodore Steinway became the head of the German factory, and William Steinway went back to the factory in New York. The two factories regularly exchanged experience about their patents and techniques despite the large distance between them, and they continue to do so today. C. F. Theodore Steinway was a talented inventor who made many improvements in

28362-537: Was designing a stringed keyboard instrument in which the notes are struck by a hammer. The hammer must strike the string but not remain in contact with it, because continued contact would damp the sound and stop the string from vibrating and making sound. This means that after striking the string, the hammer must quickly fall from (or rebound from) the strings. Moreover, the hammer must return to its rest position without bouncing violently (thus preventing notes from being re-played by accidental rebound), and it must return to

28536-549: Was granted royal and imperial warrants from the rulers of Italy, Norway, Persia, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey. From 1864 to 1866, William Steinway , who is credited with establishing Steinway's success in marketing, oversaw the construction of Steinway Hall on East 14th Street in Manhattan, New York City. Steinway Hall had cost $ 200,000 to build. It included the second largest concert hall in New York City as well as showrooms for Steinway pianos. To enter

28710-498: Was located on the former premises of the SS-Junker School 's riding school, held approximately 800 prisoners, all female, who were tasked with clearing away rubble. This subcamp was commissioned by the city of Braunschweig. Although it was only open for two months - from December 1944 until February 1945, there were at least 17 deaths and a transfer of about 50 prisoners to a nearby subcamp's infirmary. The number of survivors

28884-411: Was manufactured from the mid-1930s until recent times. The low position of the hammers required the use of a "drop action" to preserve a reasonable keyboard height. Modern upright and grand pianos attained their present, 2000-era forms by the end of the 19th century. While improvements have been made in manufacturing processes, and many individual details of the instrument continue to receive attention, and

29058-427: Was opened. In 2013, Steinway sold the Steinway Hall on West 57th Street for $ 46 million and moved out of the building at the end of 2014. In 2016, a new Steinway Hall opened on Sixth Avenue . A second Steinway Hall was opened in London in 1875. It was located first on Wigmore Street , in 1924 it moved to St. George Street, and later it moved to its current address on Marylebone Lane. In 1857, Steinway began to make

29232-594: Was produced and sold as a replacement for the Model O from 1922 to 2006. Designers and artists such as Karl Lagerfeld , Dakota Jackson , Walter Dorwin Teague , Arthur Blackmore, Joseph Burr Tiffany , Louis Comfort Tiffany , Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema , George Schastey , and the Herter Brothers have created original designs for Steinway pianos. These specially designed pianos fall under the art case piano line or

29406-620: Was ruled by the Saxon noble family of the Brunonids ; then, through marriage, the town fell to the House of Welf . In 1142, Henry the Lion of the House of Welf became duke of Saxony and made Braunschweig the capital of his state (which, from 1156 on, also included the Duchy of Bavaria ). He turned Dankwarderode Castle, the residence of the counts of Brunswick , into his own Pfalz and developed

29580-450: Was sold at Christie's auction house in London for $ 1.2 million, setting a price record for a piano sold at auction. It is now on display at the art museum Clark Art Institute . The 100,000th Steinway piano was given as a gift to the White House in 1903 and is made of cherry tree with gold leaf . It is decorated with coats of arms of the thirteen original states of America and painted by Thomas Dewing with dancing figures representing

29754-489: Was sold to Steinway in 2014 and re-branded as Spirio . In contrast to player pianos by other brands available at the time, a recording option was not originally available in the Steinway Spirio. In 2018, a recording option was made available in Steinway Spirio pianos, known as the Spirio r . The Spirio technology is referred to as "non-parasitic", meaning that the recording and playback equipment do not interfere with

29928-494: Was sold to a New York family for $ 500, and is now on display at the Städtisches Museum Seesen , the town in which Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg began his career as a piano maker. A year later, demand was such that the company moved to larger premises at 82–88 Walker Street. It was not until 1864 that the family anglicized their name from Steinweg to Steinway . By the 1860s, Steinway had built and moved into

30102-494: Was struck and with what velocity). Computer based software, such as Modartt's 2006 Pianoteq , can be used to manipulate the MIDI stream in real time or subsequently to edit it. This type of software may use no samples but synthesize a sound based on aspects of the physics that went into the creation of a played note. By the 2000s, some pianos included an acoustic grand piano or upright piano combined with MIDI electronic features. Such

30276-403: Was the first to use in pianos in 1826, was a more consistent material, permitting wider dynamic ranges as hammer weights and string tension increased. The sostenuto pedal ( see below ), invented in 1844 by Jean-Louis Boisselot and copied by the Steinway firm in 1874, allowed for a wider range of effects. One innovation that helped create the powerful sound of the modern piano was the use of

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