Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
RES™
THE
V O L . LVIII. N o . 2. Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 373 Fourth Ave., New York, Jan. 10, 1914
SING
$ 2 E O?°PE I IYE 1 A£ E N T S
Forty Years Devoted to Ideals.
A LL honor to the man of ideals! The man who does things worth while! This week, surrounded
L\
by his loyal staff, Chas. H. Steinway celebrated the anniversary of his fortieth year of con-
1 V tinuous service in the house of Steinway.
Forty years! That space of time covers a marvelous development in piano history, and
Chas. H. Steinway has lived to see his own name, as well as those of the Sleinways who have pre-
ceded him, written high on the walls of fame.
The forty years of service which he has given to his house have been years of devotion to
ideals, because idealism is a part of the Steinway heritage. It is that influence which may be said
to be a fundamental in the Steinway history to an unusual degree.
Chas. H. Steinway has been a believer in idealism, and while he has developed a remarkable ability
for the handling of the business and financial problems, he never has swerved from that fixed
idealism which has made the Steinway piano greater than ever under his direction.
Born in a piano atmosphere—a childhood passed among great musicians who played upon the
instruments created by his father and grandfather—Chas. H. Steinway had the love for the artistic
planted indelibly within him.
Wonderful changes have taken place in the trade since he entered it forty years ago.
The commercial piano was not then known, the entire industry was in an embryo state, and it
was not until years after that pianos reached a position where they became a necessity rather than
a luxury in the average American household.
Mr. Steinway learned practical piano making, as all the Steinways have done, for it is
a tradition in the Steinway family that all the Steinways must be piano makers. After that service
his marked business ability began to dominate, and then for a while the great European interests of
the house of Steinway were entrusted to his charge.
It was while in Europe that he heard Paderewski play, and was so impressed with him that
he cabled to New York strongly advising the engagement of Paderewski for an American tour. He
was the man who discovered Paderewski.
On December 4, 1896, Chas. H. Steinway was elected president of Steinway & Sons. Up to this
time his ability had been clearly demonstrated in various ways, but naturally there may have been
some doubt as to how he would conduct the affairs of the great corporation when he became its
head; but Mr. Steinway proved that his previous life had just been of a preparatory kind to fit him
for the really great work which lay ahead of him.
He originated many changes which immediately made for the betterment of the business, and
the policies of Chas. H. Steinway have resulted in vastly increasing the prestige of the Steinway name
as well as doubling the factory output.
The head of the Steinway house is a many-sided man. He is a piano maker; a musician, for
he composed some admirable compositions; a financier, and a close student of international politics.
He can discuss matters of world-wide moment in such a manner that he at once convinces his lis-
teners with the fact that he has not only observed the conditions which he discusses, but he has
gone to the root of them; and it is this same desire to dig to the bottom of things which has made
his business policy so successful.
As directing head of the house of Steinway he has received from France the decoration so
highly prized by Frenchmen—the Cross of the Legion of Honor. The Order of the Red Eagle
*
{Continued on page 5.)