Stein Grand Piano: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This grand piano was made by André Stein in Vienna, Austria around 1824-1826. Matthäus Andreas Stein, the twelfth child of the famous early piano maker Johann Andreas Stein, changed his middle name to the French form André in the early 1800s when he opened his own shop in Vienna. This piano has a compass of FF-f4, Viennese action, without checks, leather hammers, brass strings, double- or triple-strings for each note, 4 pedals: keyboard shift, bassoon, moderator, and dampers, wood frame, straight-strung, and a mahogany case in the Empire style.

Matthäus Andreas Stein (b. Augsburg, Germany,1776; d. Vienna, Austria 1842) the twelfth child of the famous early piano maker Johann Andreas Stein, changed his first name to the French form André in the early 1800's when he opened his own shop in Vienna. Stein and his older sister Nannette Stein Streicher learned their craft from their father, and ran his shop together in Augsburg from 1792-94 during his last illness. Although both his father and elder sister achieved greater lasting fame for their work, the younger Stein achieved the title Hof-Klaviermacher in his adopted country, and his son Karl Andreas carried on the family business with distinction after his death.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1824 - 1826
• maker: Stein, Andre
• Object Name: piano
• Physical Description: leather (hammers material)
• Physical Description: brass (strings material)
• Physical Description: wood (frame material)
• Physical Description: mahogany veneer (case material)
• Measurements: overall: 16 1/4 in x 49 in x 88 in; 41.275 cm x 124.46 cm x 223.52 cm
• Place Made: Austria: Vienna state, Vienna
• ID Number: MI.316467
• catalog number: 316467
• accession number: 66705
• Credit Line: Gift of Hugo Worch
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.