354 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Novembbk, 
American Musical Instruments. 
The inventive genius of the American people is ever 
active, never resting; it embraces in its grasp the merest 
trifles and tlie mightiest conceptions, from a toy to point 
a lead pencil, to a lever to raise a pyramid. That what¬ 
ever has been done can be improved on, and wiiatever is 
needed for the good of the human family can be produced, 
are American dogmas. They are so purely indigenous 
to the soil, that all who seek asylum here find new 
springs of action, new incentives to ambition, and a 
broadening.of the mind which had*been dwarfed by the 
cramping influences of small nationalities. 
Inventive genius has not merely been directed to the 
physical needs of the people ; the necessities of our life 
have had their champions, and the intellectual luxuries, 
which are at once its solace and its ornament, have been 
fostered and developed to a degree that sliames the ex¬ 
perience of the old world. In the short space of thirty 
years we have become manufacturers of our own 
musical Instruments; in this we as!^nothing of Europe 
now; we have learned all she knows, and something 
more besides, and we have changed the course of trade 
which was always from East to West, to from West to 
East. 
There is scarcely a musical instrument wliich we do 
not make, and with scarcely an exception, our manufac¬ 
ture equals, and in some cases surpasses the workman¬ 
ship of the European models. Our flutes already rival 
those of tlie English, wliile they surpass in richness of 
tone and elegance of workmanship the finest made in 
Germany. Our harps, in all points, tone, elegance, finish 
» 
and mechanical appliances are altogether unsurpassed. 
Our Brass instruments in their variety and excellence 
are fully equal to those of France, while our Guitars in 
all points of workmanship, and in durability in this cli¬ 
mate, are preferred to the finest specimens from Spain or 
Italy. In the manufacture of Violins we have made 
rapid strides toward excellence, and although very far 
behind the great old makers whose names have a world 
wide fame, we can claim a fair equality with most of the 
modern European violins. In Reed Instruments, such 
as Melodeons and Parlor Organs, America has no equal 
in the world. These instruments were literally created 
here, their superiority is everywhere acknowledged, and 
we are satisfied that when some enlightened community 
shall decide to spend $6O.OO0 or $70,000 upon the building 
of a great organ, and shall give the contract at home and 
not abroad, we sliall have an organ equal in every re¬ 
spect to any of foreign make, and superior in some 
points, especially in wood which will stand the climate. 
The instrument, however, in which the most impor¬ 
tant improvements have been made, is the piano-forte— 
the instrument which is most popular throughout the 
world. 
Tlie piano-forte was, of course, invented somewhere, 
although it was more properly a gradual improvement 
from one thing to another than an invention in its pres¬ 
ent form. There are two claimants for the honor of 
creating the original instrument, and both have strong 
supporters. By one party it is attributed to Christofali, 
a Paduan; by the other to Schroederof Dresden, Sax¬ 
ony. We need not stop to discuss the rival claims. The 
date of the invention is said to be 1711, but the piano 
really rose but little above the dignity of a Harpsichord 
until half a century later, wlien the genius of Erard, 
followed by Pleyel, Broadwood and Collard developed 
its resources and powers, which, until then, were un¬ 
dreamed of. But these great makers did not exhaust its 
powers. There was something left for America to do— 
some art gift from us to the old world, to be purchased 
by deep thought and laborious experiment, or won by the 
inspiration of a fortuitous moment. 
This one point, which has.revolutionized the manufac¬ 
ture of piano-fortes nearly all over the world, and has 
added So greatly to the power and the capacity of the 
instrument, is the system of overstringing the bass, the 
principle of which was established, developed and per- 
l^cted, by Steinway & Sons of New York. An instru¬ 
ment of this class, overstrung, and vr ith two bridges in 
the bass, was exhibited by the Steinvvays in 1855 at the 
Crystal Palace, New York. There was a great compe¬ 
tition, many of the best makers exhibiting, but the full, 
richly sonorous tone, and extraordinary power of the 
Steinway piano gained, by the unanimous judgment of 
the jury, the first premium gold medal. Public opinion 
coincided perfectly with this verdict, and the reputation 
of the Steinways was a settled fact from that day, and 
their business increased with a rapidity altogether un¬ 
precedented, rising in twelve years from the very hum¬ 
ble beginning of one piano a week, to a grand total of 
12,000 pianos, grand, square and upright, averaging now 
over 2,300 per annum. In 1855, at the Metropolitan Fair 
in Washington City, they received two first prize medals ; 
in November of the same year, the first prize gold medals 
at the American Institute, New York ; in 1856 the first 
prize gold medal of the Maryland Institute at Baltimore, 
and the American Institute at the Crystal Palace in New 
York, and in 1857, the first premium gold medal of the 
Maryland Institute again. Altogether in two years they 
have received no less than twenty-six first premiums in 
the shape of gold and silver medals, at the various fairs 
and exhibitions in Cincinnati, St. Louis, Chicago and 
elsewhere. 
Such repeated successes, chronicled by the press and 
justified by their constantly increasing business, at¬ 
tracted the attention of the whole trade, and in a short 
time nearly every piano in the United States was made 
upon the overstrung principle. 
In 1862, at the International Exhibition of London, the 
Steinway pianos secured the greatest victory yet obtained 
by them. There were 269 pianos on exhibition, from the 
manufactures of nearly all the celebrated makers on the 
continent and in England. The jury appointed was of 
the highest character, embracing such names as Stern- 
dale Bennett, musical director. Professor at Cambridge ; 
I. R. Black, M. D.; Fetis, of Belgium ; Ernst Pauer, of 
Austria ; Sir F. Gore Ousley, Professor of music at Ox- 
fora ; I. Schiedtnayer, instrument maker ; Zollverein ; 
the Earl of Wilton ; Henry Wilde, musical director, and 
others of note and position. The most thorough examina¬ 
tion was made of all the instruments exhibited, am^ the 
Steinways were awarded a first-class prize medal, “ For 
powerful, clear brilliant tone, and excellent workman¬ 
ship, as shown in grand and square piano-fortes.” 
This was unquestionably a great triumph for the firm, 
and justified the expressed opinion on this side of the 
Atlantic of such artists as Mills, Mason, Heller, Pattison, 
Timm,Maretzek,Anschutz,Eisfield and many others, who, 
in their open certificates, enumerate among the chief 
points of excellence presented by these pianos, ” The 
greatest possible depth, richness and volume of tone, 
combined with a rare brilliancy, clearness, and perfect 
evenness throughout the entire scale, and above all, a 
surprising duration of sound, the pure and sympathetic 
quality of which never changes under the most delicate 
or the most powerful touch,” and wh(» declare that they 
prefer them above all others for their own use, whenever 
accessible. One of the consequences of the exhibition 
of their pianos in London, as above stated, is the adop¬ 
tion of their system of manufacture by many of the 
European makers, who announce as a recommendation 
of their own instruments, “ That they now make pianos 
upon the same plan as the celebrated Steinway & Sons of 
New York.” The eminent European artists, Alfred 
Jaell, Hans Von Bulow and Gustave Setter also testify 
to the splendid qualities of the Steinway pianos. The 
foreign press. The London Times, The London Illustrated 
News, The Paris Constitutionnel, The Presse Musicals 
and other papers in Great Britain, Prance, Germany and 
Italy, pay the highest tributes to their superior excellence, 
while the Vienna press, considered the highest musical 
authority, extolled in the warmest terms, not only the full 
round tone and mechanical excellence, particularly the 
overstringing of the bass in both grand and square pianos, 
exemplified by the Steinways, but in an aesthetic point of 
view the great capacity for development shown in their 
peculiar method. 
The firm of Steinway & Sons, consisting of father and 
four sons, came to America in the year 1850. Mr. Henry 
Steinway, the father, had, previous to his arrival in this 
country, succe.ssfully carried on a piano factory in Bruns¬ 
wick, Germany, for nearly a quarter of a century. With 
that adaptability which distinguishes true merit, before 
embarking in business for themselves in the New World, 
the Steinways thought it prudent to become conversant 
with the business customs of the American people, and 
therefore did not inaugurate their house until 1853, when 
they commenced operations in their own name. From 
that day to the present, their career has been one con¬ 
tinuous success. How they have risen from very small 
beginnings to a business colossal in its pioportions we 
have already stated. Their enterprise, energy, broad 
business views, and skill, have placed them upon the 
topmo.st rung of fortune’s ladder, and they stand to-day 
tlie most successful and extensive manufacturers of 
piano-fortes in the world. Independent of their extensive 
home business, the firm is now shipping instruments not 
only to every portion of the American continent, but to 
the capitals of Europe and the East, thu.s inaugurating a 
new and valuable branch of export trade. 
The factory which they have erected, at a cost of one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, stands upon an entire 
block of ground, bounded by Fourth and Lexington-aves. 
and Fifty-second and Fifty-third sts. It is five stories 
high, and is fitted up with all the modern appliance.s for 
manufacture ; labor-saving machinery, miles of hot-air 
pipes, private telegraph to their down town salesrooms— 
in short, all the furniture necessary to make a perfect 
factory. In it are employed four hundred and fifty of 
the best'workmen at the highest wages. About 1,000 
pianos are constantly in process of manufacture, includ¬ 
ing every variety of Grand, Square, and Upright. The 
slock of material on hand is seldom less than half a mil¬ 
lion dollars in value—a large amount of non-interest 
paying capital, but inevitable from the necessity of secur¬ 
ing thoroughly seasoned material. 
Beside their costly factory, they have recently erected 
a splendid white marble five-story building in Four- 
teenth-st., between Fourth ave. and the Academy of 
Music. This they use exclusively for salesrooms, with 
separate apartments for the Grands, the Squares and the 
Uprights. The front is rich and elegant in design, and 
is an ornament to the city. 
The Steinways own the ground through to Fifteenth¬ 
s', the lot being one hundred feet wide on Fifteenth-st. 
On this they propose to erect a National Concert Hall 
and a Conservatory of Music, which, carried out in the 
right spirit will prove a boon to the community at large, 
and will reflect honor upon their enterprise, zeal and 
judgment; and it will be a crowning evidence of their 
high-toned liberality and honorable to the country, and 
will carry down the name of Steinway with the progress 
of musical art and manufacture in America,—Neui-Yorft 
Tribune. 
