Presto

P R E S T O-T I M E S
Nov.-Dec., 1934
COMMENTARY ON THE NEW STEINWAY ACCELERATED ACTION
PRESTO-TIMES, on the authority of Steinway & Sons, presents the following resume dealing with this new improve-
ment in piano action acceleration with the added endorsement of several great artists who were afforded the opportunity of
testing" and using the action over a period of time, resulting in enthusiastic acclaim as evidenced by the quotations from their
expressions herewith presented.
Tn 1873 Franz Liszt said to C. F. Theodore Steinway, "I know-
nothing of the mechanism of piano construction, but I wish that you
would make for me a piano which will furnish me with the volume and
quality of sound that I feel necessary."
C. F. Theodore Steinway made for him the best piano he was
able to construct and another and another. Later, Franz Liszt w r rote,
"The new Steinway grand is a glorious masterpiece in power, sonority,
singing quality and perfect harmonic effects, affording delight even to
my old piano-weary fingers."
One day in 1932 Josef Hofmann, who had already spoken of the
Steinway piano's "extraordinary perfection of action," came to Stein-
way Hall and said, "It isn't quick enough ; can't YOU make it still more
sensitive, still more responsive?"
Frederick A. Victor, grandnephew of C. F. Theodore Steinway,
accepted the challenge just as his granduncle had accepted Liszt's
challenge nearly sixty years before.
Since the days of the harpsichord, the keys of the piano sat flat.
After a year's hard work in the laboratory. Vietor decided to try bal-
ancing them sensitively on little curved fulcrums so that the)- actually
RESPOND to the touch instead of having to be BUDGED into action.
He studied the weighing of the keys and found that by a different
arrangement of the weights, the action could be made still more sen-
sitive.
Vietor was sure that he had done it—that he could satisfy Hof-
mann as his granduncle had satisfied Liszt. But he wished to know,
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I. J. PADEREWSKI
Any progress stops when perfection is achieved for
where a summit is reached there is no more room for
further climbing. This has been for many years my
opinion about the Steinway piano. And yet, during
my last two American tours one of the members of
the preeminent Steinway family and firm succeeded in
inventing a new accelerated action for their already
peerless instruments. While maintaining and even
increasing the glorious power and beauty of tone the
new action enriches the resources of soft playing in
such a degree as to unfailingly respond to the most
del'cate, refined and subtle intentions of the player and
to give him unlimited satisfaction. I gladly congratu-
late Steinway and Sons upon their new, surprising
and wonderful achievement.
JOSEF HOFMANN
The seemingly impossible has been achieved. The
Steinway piano has been improved upon. The new
Steinway accelerated action has done it. This inven-
tion not only facilitates and enhances tone production
but also permits of greater precision and speed. I,
therefore, take pleasure in recommending this new
creation to all who are interested in the art of piano-
playing.
SERGEI RACHMANINOFF
This is to tell you that I consider the new Steinway
accelerated action a great improvement, and that 1
have found your pianos more perfect during the past
two seasons than ever before.
WALTER DAMROSCH
Steinway & Sons have always been in the forefront
as regards any further developments of the piano.
For me it has always seemed well nigh perfect, but
your recent invention, the Steinway accelerated action,
makes the manipulation of the keyboard still more
sensitive to the most delicate emotional currents ema-
nating from the fingers of the player.
JOHN ERSKINE
Your new invention, the Steinway accelerated ac-
tion, seems to me one of the greatest improvements
in piano action in recent years. You know I have
always admired the Steinway piano, but this inven-
tion greatly increases the pleasure of playing. The
action is easier, quicker and more dependable. I am
glad to know that the concert artists who have tried
this device share my high opinion of it.
CARL FRIEDBERG
It affords me special pleasure to give my approval
of the invention of Mr. Frederick A. Vietor, called the
Steinway accelerated action. This invention has im-
proved the action of the beautiful Steinway piano con-
siderably and has helped to create greater ease of
execution. I wish you great success!
OSSIP GABRILOWITSCH
I heartily welcome the opportunity of expressing
my great admiration for the Steinway piano. The
splendid qualities of your instrument, the brilliancy
and beauty of its tone, are features which have been
praised so often and so eloquently that it is difficult
to add anything new. What to me, however, seems
of particularly great importance in a modern concert
grand piano is the great variety and wealth of tone
color which makes it possible to produce on the Stein-
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by scientific test, how much faster the new action was than the old.
He called in Dr. E. E. Free, recognized authority on acoustical research.
Dr. Free's report was more than gratifying. "The new action," said
he. "is 14% faster for fortissimo playing and 6% faster for pianissimo
playing." He also found that the hammer dropped away from the
string with greater precision ; that the momentum in which the key
returned to position as the finger is lifted is greater by about 15% ;
and that less muscular energy is involved in playing on the New Stein-
way. Dr. Free's report appears at the end of the testimonial given
herewith.
The next question was. what would the artists think of the New
Steinway? Read in the letters which follow how they reacted.
What will the new Steinway mean to the music-loving public?
What will it mean to the children of the coming generation who will
learn to play on the New Steinway? Those few of the public who have
seen the New Steinway are enthusiastic in its praise. Music teachers
declare that because less muscular effort is required, the hands of the
children will be grateful for the improved action.
Before the new invention (for which patent No. 1,826,848 has
been issued) the Steinway piano was recognized by common consent
throughout the world to be the finest piano in concert hall, drawing
room or living room. The New Steinway is the same grand instrument
only faster, more sensitive, more responsive than the Steinwavs which
have gone before—the Steinways acclaimed by Wagner, Liszt, Rubin-
stein—by the immortals of music for three-quarters of a century.
The New Steinwav enters history.
•
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way effects of almost orchestral quality. The recent
addition tc the Steinway equipment of the device
known as the Steinway accelerated action will serve
to make the Steinway mechanism even more subtle
and sensitive than it has been before.
RUDOLH GANZ
To the unexcelled and seemingly perfect action of
the Steinway piano has been added a new patent
which is called the Steinway accelerated action. This
new method of balancing the keys has no doubt added
greater ease in the execution of fluent passages and
greater sensitiveness to the touch cf the performer.
It is with pleasure that I send you my sincere con-
gratulations for this latest addition to your unusual
artistic achievements.
MYRA HESS
Although I have always considered the Steinway
action a perfect mechanism, I find that the new Stein-
way accelerated action gives it an additional respon-
siveness and evenness which would have been con-
sidered impossible prior to your latest invention.
VLADIMIR HOROWITZ
The new Steinway accelerated action is a marked
improvement on the action of the Steinway piano. It
makes a perfect action still more perfect.
ERNEST HUTCHESON
I have used the new Steinway accelerated action
in concert and radio work ever since Mr. Frederick
Vietor first demonstrated it to me two years ago,
and I have had it under ccntinuous observation at the
Juilliard Graduate School, all our new pianos being
furnished with it.
From the artist's standpoint, the new action con-
stitutes the greatest advance made in piano construc-
tion during the last thirty years. All pianists of my
acquaintance are enthusiastic in its praise and grate-
ful for its remarkable responsiveness to refinements
cf touch which would be lost with a less sensitive key
mechanism.
Cordial congratulations to you on this notable im-
provement of your magnificent instruments.
MISCHA LEVITZKI
I consider your new Steinway accelerated action
the greatest improvement achieved by the piano in-
dustry in many, many years. I venture to predict
that it will have a far-reaching beneficial effect upon
the whole of piano-playing, both professional and
amateur. For, with the greater smoothness and re-
sponsiveness of your new action, the player will not
only be able to carry out difficult passages with
greater ease, but will also be able to produce a more
beautiful tone, thereby getting even more inspiration
from the matchless Steinway tone than ever before.
I rejoice with you in your new achievement.
REPORT OF THE E. E. FREE LABORATORIES
November 6, 1933.
Steinway & Sons,
1C9 West 57th Street,
New York City.
Gentlemen:
The following measurable differences have been
found between the old action and the Steinway ac-
celerated action, examples of which were submitted
to us:
Greater Speed
The Steinway accelerated action is quicker than the
old action by an average of 2 one-hundredths of a
second (14 per cent) for fortissimo p'.aying, and by 1
cne-hundredth of a second (6 per cent) for pianis-
simo playing. These differences were determined by
high-speed motion pictures and refer to the time of
one complete cycle, from the instant of the first touch
of the finger to the key to the time when both key
and hammer have returned to position for another
touch.
THE CAUSE
This difference is due chiefly to quicker return of
the key and hammer of the Steinway accelerated ac-
tion. In pianissimo playing, the lag of the rising key
behind the lifting finger averages two and one-half
times greater in the old action than in the Steinway
accelerated action.
GREATER PRECISION
The drop of the hammer away from the string, in
pianissimo playing, averages two one-hundredths of
a second faster in the Steinway accelerated action than
in the old action, which means that pianissimo notes
may be made more staccato.
LESS EFFORT
The momentum which must be applied to a key to
produce a pianissimo tone averages 15 per cent more
in the Steinway accelerated action than in the old
action. The momentum with which the key returns
to position as the finger is lifted also is greater by
about the same percentage. This does not mean,
however, that the energy required to be exerted by
the player is greater. Instead, consideration of the
muscular actions involved indicates that this energy
is less. Well-controlled pianissimo playing requires
that two sets of arm and finger muscles work in an-
tagonism to each other; one set to depress the finger,
the opposing set to lift the finger and to keep it from
being depressed too much or with the wrong timing.
The quicker and more energetic return of the keys
of the Steinway accelerated action as the fingers are
lifted should decrease the stra-n on the lifting muscles
AND THE TOTAL E F F O R T REQUIRED
FROM THE PIANIST. These differences in mo-
mentum also indicate that p'aying of precise
pianissimos will be easier on the Steinway acceler-
ated action than on the old action, for the reason
that the force margin available for the necessary
equilibrium between the two antagonistic sets of arm
and finger muscles will be wider.
LESS EFFORT AND GREATER PRECISION—
FORTISSIMO PLAYING
Measurements of internal friction indicate that this
friction averages about 11 per cent less, and is ap-
proximately 20 per cent more uniform, in the Stein-
way accelerated action than in the old action, espe-
cially for the return of the key and hammer to posi-
tion after a string is struck. Taken with the greater
speed of this return noted above, this means that
fortissimo playing should be substantially speedier
and more precise on the Steinway accelerated action
than on the old action.
Respectfully submitted,
THE E. E. FREE LABORATORIES
by E. E. Free.
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