Customer Reviews

People and Pianos: A Pictorial History of Steinway & Sons (Amadeus)

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First written in 1953, People And Pianos is a chronicle of the history of Steinway & Sons, an institution famous for creating great pianos. The original edition was a memento to commemorate the company's 100-year anniversary; now a new edition is made available to the public, filled cover-to-cover with vintage black-and-white photographs and illustrations as well as an update by Bruce Stevens that continues the saga of Steinway & Sons to the present day. Personal reminiscences on maestros such as Ignace Jan Paderewski, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Josef Hofmann, Glenn Gould, Rudolf Serkin, Dame Myra Hess, and Arthur Rubinstein by Henry Z. Steinway, the last family member to be involved in the business, are included. A remarkable narrative, especially recommended for piano enthusiasts interested in knowing the inner details of an institution that took upon itself the task of creating great and complex musical instruments.

This is a reprinting of the book written by Theodore Steinway on legal pads that in 1953 was given to Steinway and Sons employees as a commemoration of the company's one hundredth anniversary in the U.S. The original book was reprinted in 1961 with minor additions. This reprinting expands the earlier limited-printing editions with a 40-page section with material by Henry Steinway and the president of Steinway and Sons Bruce Stevens recounting the history of the company over the last 50 years. Both old and new parts are heavily illustrated with photographs of noteworthy individuals and Steinway pianos from different eras. Readers learn why and how the Steinway piano came to be and continues to be the preferred piano by almost every top music performer and composer around the world.

Relatively recently updated, this book is a brief and sugar coated, but very interesting history of the Steinway & Sons company, arguably manufacturer of the finest pianos in the world. The black and white photos (not terribly well reproduced) give a sort of scrapbook character to the piece.

For the piano officianado who appreciates the character of a Steinway, it is a nice little history of the Company.