Queens College Music Library Online Exhibits
Queens Music History Exhibit
Steinway & Sons Piano
Steinway “Boston” upright model
Photo Credit: Alton / CC BY 3.0
The iconic Steinway piano has a long and rich history in New York City. Founded in 1853 by German immigrant Henry Engelhard Steinway in a Manhattan loft on Varick Street, Steinway & Sons has owned and operated the same land in Astoria, Queens since the 1880’s. Steinway produces about 6 pianos a day, or 1,300 a year—it is a very labor-intensive process and each piano is an individual work of art that takes Steinway‘s unionized and largely immigrant workforce a full 11 months to complete. Steinway pianos are formed of wood chosen from rock maple, sugar pine, and Sitka spruce; the now-classic figure of the grand piano having been patented by C.F. Steinway in 1880. During production the instrument takes shape as it moves from the “Belly Department,” where the bridge is assembled, to “Keys & Action,” where keys are added and fine-tuned, through to the “Pounding Room,” where it is stress-tested and perfected. Finally, the instrument is sanded, painted, and hardened before it is ready to go out into the world. A Steinway piano can be found in every ACSM classroom and rehearsal space.
ITEMS ON DISPLAY IN THE MUSIC LIBRARY:
American Musical Instruments in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.); Libin, Laurence, author.
ML476 .M47 1985
Steinway & Sons
Lieberman, Richard K., author.
ML424 .S76 L54 1995
Steinway & Sons (Henry Z. Steinway signed copy)
Ratcliffe, Ronald V., author. Steinway, Henry Z., 1915-2008, writer of foreword.
ML424 .S76 R4 1989 c.2
ADDITIONAL LIBRARY RESOURCES:
Piano: The Making of a Steinway Concert Grand (author signed copy)
Barron, James, 1954 – author.
ML661.8 .N7 B37 2006
The Steinways and Their Pianos in the Nineteenth Century
Hoover, Cynthia A., author.
ML424 .S76 H66 1981
The Steinway Saga: An American Dynasty
Fostle, D.W. (Don W.), author.
ML424 .S76 F7 1995
Talking About Pianos
Kummer, Corby.
ML650 .T28 1982
Additional Library Resources on the Piano including the Steinway Piano:
The Piano: Its Story from Zither to Grand
Grover, David S., 1936-1976
ML650 .G75
Pianos and their makers : a comprehensive history of the development of the piano from the monochord to the concert grand player piano
Dolge, Alfred, 1848-1922.
ML652 .D6 1972
Pianos in the Smithsonian Institution
Hollis, Helen R.
ML650 .H64
The Book of the Piano
Gill, Dominic
ML650 .B64
Grand Piano
Harrison, Sidney
ML650 .H33
Historical Pianoa, Harpsichords & Clavichords
Michel, N.E. (Norman Elwood), 1894-1973, author.
ML650 .M48 1970
The Lives of the Piano
Gaines, James R.
ML650 .L58 1981
The Piano
Siepmann, Jeremy.
ML650 .S58 1996b
The Piano: A History
Ehrlich, Cyril.
ML652 .E4 1990
Pianos Inside and Out: A comprehensive Guide to Piano Tuning, Repairing, and Rebuilding
Igrec, Mario.
ML652 .I47 2013
NON-LIBRARY RESOURCES:
- https://www.steinway.com/news/features/laguardia-wagner-archive – The physical archive is located at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City.
- https://sova.si.edu/record/nmah.ac.0178 – Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives has digitized some of the Steinway & Sons records and family papers.
- https://americanhistory.si.edu/steinwaydiary/resources/ – Online digital diary of William Steinway also from the National Museum of History.
- https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/nyhs/pr166_steinway_sons_collection/ – Steinway & Sons Photographs and Print Collection from New York Historical Society
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/7/resources/5482 – Steinway & Sons oral history project at Yale University Archives.
- https://www.plowproductions.com/note-by-note – Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037, a film.