Born in Paris. Made in London. Teller of London Tales. Last updated on May 14th, My visit to Steinway pianos factory in Hamburg was a trip down black and white nostalgia lane. The first piece I ever penned for my creative writing degree was a portrait of my piano teacher, Sharko Hilbert. I chose her as my subject matter because I was still rooted in those Wednesday afternoons I spent as a young girl in a sleepy suburb of Paris, practicing my Chopin, Schubert and Debussy with the cigar-smoking, mysterious Egyptienne.
Sharko was muse to her husband, the painter Jaro Hilbert, and younger facsimiles of her would stare in pose at me from the walls of what was one of the most exotic rooms in which I had ever been and I was no stranger to colourful places as a child. I am pretty sure it was a Steinway we used to play on. It was in much better nick than my instrument at home which was a gift from the painter Carmelo Arden Quin. The upright had lights with tapered pink silk lampshades on it, it was in constant need of tuning, and some of the ivories were missing.
I loved my dilapidated piano, but from the day Sharko died, I never did tinkle again. And this factory also feels timeless. He settled in the town of Seesen and by had built the first Steinweg forte piano in the kitchen of his home, now referred to as the Kitchen Piano.
He manufactured a whopping pianos in Germany before emigrating to New York in , and as was so common in those days, eventually changed his name to Henry Steinway. By March , Steinway and Sons was born. Piano No was the first Steinway and Sons piano sold on American soil, the first to be made with 88 keys and a precursor to the Model D grand.
In , and with his son William in charge of global expansion, Steinway opened a branch in its original homeland with a factory in Hamburg. Today, it employs staff and makes pianos a year. As of the date of my tour, , Steinways have been produced by the company.
