Steinway and Sons (Paperback)

~ Dr. Richard K. Lieberman (Author) "I know a fine way to treat a Steinway," goes Irving Berlin's song "I Love a Piano..." (more)
Key Phrases: piano workers, piano shipments, tone regulators, New York, Steinway Hall, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

From 1853 until 1972, when their company was sold to CBS, successive generations of Steinways produced the instrument that became synonymous with the word piano. Drawing on the collection of Steinway papers at the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, Lieberman, professor of history at New York City's LaGuardia Community College, tells the story of this dynasty of strong-willed businessmen who set out to make the world's best piano, learned to market it brilliantly and built an empire in spite of financial setbacks, labor disputes and family feuds. After the death in 1896 of William Steinway, who led the company through its most prosperous period, the legacy became increasingly difficult to maintain. The account of the long struggle waged by William's son Theodore, who headed the company from 1927 to 1955, to keep Steinway going in spite of the Depression, labor disputes, WWII and competition from upright pianos is especially sad. Finally, unable to withstand competition from foreign piano makers, Theodore's son Henry sold the company. Lieberman's lucid book, based on different material than was D.W. Fostle's The Steinway Saga, published earlier this year, is equally absorbing. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg founded Steinway & Sons in 1853 to build grand pianos with superior sound and action. The company's story is that of four generations of a large family, labor and management relations, marketing, and general economic conditions. Until 1972, the firm's presidents and key men were Steinway family members, most of whom had a better knack for making high-quality pianos than for running a profitable business. Accordingly, management sought good craftsmen but paid the lowest wages they could, which led to many strikes. Additionally, the Steinways saw their market as grand pianos and resisted making instruments the working classes could afford; so during recessions, profits and capital dried up. Fifth company president Henry Z. Steinway tired of running the company in the face of vigorous competition from Yamaha and sold out to CBS but remains as company historian and endorser of the pianos. Essentially, Lieberman gives us the history of one family--with its share of scandals, dissidents, and incompetents--who stood for quality but ran a business for profits at the expense of workers. Alan Hirsch --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (September 23, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300068506
• ISBN-13: 978-0300068504
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #244,637 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best book on Steinway's history and its pianos, September 7, 2000

By	Ed Ting (Amherst, NH USA) - See all my reviews

Lieberman is the director of the archives that house the Steinway collection, and writes as a knowledgeable insider. The history of the family and its pianos is told, from its beginnings in Germany, up through the sale to CBS and the Birminghams (the sale to the Selmer Company in 1995 happened after the publication of the book.) As a bonus, there's a great history of Yamaha pianos and its fierce competition with Steinway. It's well-written and there are numerous photos.

This is great reading, and a wonderful resouce for anyone interested in music or pianos.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steinwway & Sons is a superb family and social history., March 28, 1999

By A Customer

Steinway & Sons is a rich, absorbing history of a business dynasty that stayed vital over six generations. Lieberman astutely analyzes the twin forces of creativity and hard-nosed business sense that made and sustained Steinway's preeminence as the concert piano of choice. This richly anecdotal book does not shy away from the dark side of the family's history-- its contempt for the piano workers, its unthinking patriarchy, even its active cultivation of the Nazis in Germany during World War II. (In America Steinway emphasized its patriotism by draping its conert hall with American flags and publicizing the Steinway sons who were serving in the American armed forces.) In this balanced account, Lieberman takes pains to catalogue the family's numerous contributions to the conert piano's evolution, as well as its unceasing promotion of the finest artists. The Steinways' mixture of creative technical innovation, fine musical taste and ruthless business practices makes them a family of particular fascination. Lieberman brings the various figures, strong and weak and flawed, to vibrant life.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating facts but flawed analyses, March 19, 1998

By	Jim Conner ([e-mail]) (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steinway and Sons (Hardcover)

Richard K. Lieberman's "Steinway & Sons" will fascinate dedicated specialists, because its 374 pages are chock full of photos, facts and figures he extracted from the Steinway archives. The book's extensive notes will also appeal to serious scholars (or truly devoted Steinway fans). But this book will not suit general readers, who should instead consider "88 Keys - The Making of a Steinway Piano" by Miles Chapin & Rodica Prato.

Although Lieberman deserves praise for assembling a massive collection of facts, his book falls short because he apparently didn't know what to make of them. This lack of understanding is further aggravated by Lieberman's poor editorial judgment. He gives trivial facts undeserved attention, he exaggerates, and he leans toward simplistic, black-&-white judgments that cannot capture the nuance of real life. In one particularly annoying case, Lieberman abuses the reader's time with a pointlessly salacious account of a sexual scandal that surrounded one of the Steinway wives more than 100 years ago. This would be fine if it contributed to the story, but it doesn't. Instead, it is mere interruption. Worse yet, no thoughtful reader will ever trust Lieberman again after reading that this woman "slept with almost every man she met". Such obvious exaggeration is an extremely unbecoming trait in a reputed scholar, and it undermines the impression of seriousness created by the book's 50 pages of endnotes.

Lieberman's poor grasp of the science of pianos is another serious problem, since it causes him to maul technical issues that should be handled with care and precision. Regarding the development of the one-piece iron plate, for example, Lieberman says, "It could hold the strings under greater tension, thus increasing the length of time a piano could stay in tune." But since a taut string is more likely to stretch (and thus go out of tune) than a slack one, merely tightening the strings cannot guarantee a well tuned piano. The reader is left wondering what Lieberman means. Several possibly sensible interpretations can be imagined, but the reader should not be forced to translate an author's gobbledygook into something meaningful. Sadly, many of Lieberman's other technical claims are similarly imprecise, incomplete, or carelessly framed, leaving one with the unpleasant feeling that he simply doesn't know what he's talking about.

Lieberman's very superficial understanding of business also limits this book's value. He tells the Steinway story with the voice of a maven at a cocktail party, not with the voice of a business authority. This isn't surprising, since Lieberman is a history professor. Nevertheless, his inability to understand and explain the Steinway experience as a business phenomenon is a serious flaw. One almost feels that he considers it a matter of blind luck that Steinway has survived for nearly 150 years and that it continues to produce many of the world's finest pianos. Readers who are interested in business will find few insights here, although raw data is plentiful.

In summary, Lieberman's book is rich in facts, figures, and fascinating photos, but it is weak on analysis and exposition. Perhaps Lieberman will bring us a revised edition prepared with the help of a co-author who is knowledgeable about business. If so, he should submit all of his technical claims to authorities who can review and clarify them. Barring such changes, this book will mainly appeal to Steinway scholars. General readers should look elsewhere for a warmer, clearer, more accurate, and more entertaining discussion of the Steinway story.