Steinway, from Glory to Controversy: The Family, the Business, the Piano by Susan Goldenberg (review)

HUMANITIES 125 and in the authors tie the lonl£-~;ta]1dJn£ with contacts between and prt)stitutes J..'U. Lll"." ....... ofthe Grail and the Flower iVlallaE~ns. of The associations of cholera with sex and ......o~.. rI<".... are less obvious than those that as of or understand which Susan Go.ldenbt~rg. :::,teltlWIW 126 LETTERS IN CANADA 1996 .firm Steinway and Sons and the piano that bears its name. Based primarily on archival material relating to the Steinway family and firm, and on the author's interviews with family members, management and factory workers , retired employees, competitive manufacturers, Steinway artists, and other owners, this book is a valuable addition to the historical literature on the piano. Steinway and Sons was establishedin the UnitedStatesin 1853 by Henry Englehard Steinway, a German immigrant. Throughhis tireless efforts and those of his successors, the Steinway piano quickly gained renown for its excellence, and has long been revered by the public as a symbol of social status and g]amour. The Steinway firm re.mained in the family until 1972. Since then it has beensold three times, each time to people with no background or expertise in piano-making. Because of the gradual introduction of mechanization to replace hand craftsmanship (the latter being the hallmark of Steinway quality in the past), these changes in ownership have-led to considerable controversy over the quality of the instruments manufactured by the firm over the past two decades. Nonetheless, the Steinway is still the favourite of most concert pianists around the world. Thepracticeof obtaining unpaid-for endorsementby famous performers of Steinway pianos in return for free use of the pianos at concerts was introduced in 1872 by William Steinway, then head of the firm. It was the beginning of a very shrewd advertising campaign that continues to the present day. Goldenberg'S text is liberally sprinlded with fascinating anecdotes about past and presentSteinwayartists such as Ignacy Paderewski ,SergeiRachmaninoff, Anton andArtur Rubinstein,VladimirHorowitz, Myra Hess, RudolfSerkin, Rosalyn Tureck, Glenn Gould, Van Cliburn, and Byron Janis. The book is worth reading for these vignettes alone. Goldenberg is not a musicianherself and uniortunately itshows. Several glaring musical errors mar an otherwise impressive effort. To cite a few examples, Iwas amazed to learn that the piano has 'fifty-two white keys for playing whole notes,' that the middle pedal (the sostenuto pedal) 'only affects the crispness of treble notes,' and that Horowitz loved his 1935 Steinway because of its 'sonorous tune.' Further, the original source of Myra Hess's famous piano transcription of IS. Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring is incorrectly identified as a chorale prelude for organ; it is really a movement from Cantata No. 147. Hadthemanuscript onlybeensubjected to the scrutiny of a knowledgeable musician, such errors could have been corrected before they appeared in print. Despite these very regrettable detractions, however, the historical part of Goldenberg's book is meticulously researched, and her fluid style of writing makes it a pleasure to read. Intended for the general reader, this book will undoubtedly find a welcome place in the bookshelves of many professional musicians and music scholars as well. (EUGENE GATES) ...