Greater Astoria Historial Society 35-20 Broadway, 4th Floor | L.I.C., NY 11106 718.278.0700 | www.astorialic.org Gallery Hours: Mondays & Wednesdays 2-5 PM Saturdays 12-5 PM Exhibits ~ Lectures ~ Documentaries ~ Books Walking Tours ~ Historical Research Unique & Creative Content For more information visit us on the web at www.astorialic.org This image adapted from an invitation to the Long Island City Athletics 33rd Annual Masque Ball, 1909. 32 AUGUST 2016 i LIC COURIER i www.qns.com Legends Photo: Music Trades Henry, John and Theodore Steinway “We Are Building a Piano Forever” Walking into the Steinway Piano factory the first thing you notice is the fragrance of wood, be it Sitka spruce from the Pacific Northwest, poplar from the Piedmont of the south east, and rock maple from the Maritimes of Canada, or the scents of exotic veneers as Indian apple and mahogany, of macasser ebony and cherry, and East Indian rosewood. Scattered across the floor are the shavings and dust, stacked along walls and in conditioning rooms and work benches are ten thousand parts and scores of instruments, each crafted by hand, carefully fit by eye, and approved by the smile of a master craftsman. It is 1972. The brothers Steinway, Henry, John and Theodore, sit down to take a look at their family’s legacy. It was the closing of an era for they were soon to forever relinquish their family’s control over a tradition that endured the travel of time and the change of generations. The Steinways were soon to sell their company. The brothers as was the family custom, “worked at the bench,” as they called their years as apprentices learning every inch of the plant. It was perhaps a lesson for us too, that, despite the legacy of being born a ‘Steinway,’ a name in music that resonates with immortals as Mozart, Bach, or Beethoven, their style was understated. They answer their phones at desks that sat among others in the office. Henry shrugged “why would I not answer my phone?” and when a glass enclosed room with a desk is pointed out to brother, John, he responded “Oh I wouldn’t enjoy that – we leave it to our sales manager.” They reflect on their work and their family. When their father, Theodore E. Steinway presented a Steinway piano to the White House he used the occasion to symbolize the sentiment of an American immigrant: “this is a tribute of thanks to the American nation from a family who arrived on these friendly shores from abroad, were permitted to seek and make their homes, live their lives, and pursue their work with happiness and contentment.” Commenting on the Steinway Mansion, as of 2016 sitting empty, hidden behind warehouses, the brothers mentioned that their father had a room in the tower “where he could look out over the water” of the East River and Bowery Bay. The apprentice system, brought from Germany in the mid-nineteenth century, was still used at the plant. Workers on the factory floor shared the commitment of the Steinway family. Some even pointed out beautiful tools once belonging to their grandfathers that were still in use. The Steinways fully believed that the heart of the operation was the craftsman on the shop floor where “a skilled man’s time should be used for skilled work! Richness of tone, excellent judgment, balance of volume make our product a sensitive highly prized instrument,” one brother mused. John Steinway summed up the family’s philosophy with a few words from Goethe’s Faust: “What you have inherited from your forebears, work at it and enjoy it.”
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