Business interests

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A significant part of William's energies in London and Germany was spent tending to business matters. In particular, William was concerned about the current operations of Steinway & Sons in London and the factory in Hamburg, was interested in certain new business investment possibilities, and wanted to check out musicians who might perform in the United States under Steinway auspices or contract to use Steinway pianos.

William was able to keep up with every detail of his far flung business operations no matter where he was in his travels because of the much improved means and speed of communications. Letters were a prime source of detailed information and arrived almost daily from cities in Europe and even New York. William frequently noted that he would "write letters all day" or that he wrote letters far into the night.(Diary, 1888-07-11, 07-19; 1888-08-23, 08-26) Cablegrams carried a more immediate tone and were no less detailed (although shorter). William read newspapers regularly, and the use of telegraphic dispatches meant that the news being reported was quite timely.

Steinway & Sons business operations in London and Germany
In London, William had three primary concerns. First, he wanted to check on the remodeling of Steinway Hall, a performance space near the warerooms where Steinway pianos were sold in London.(1, pp. 326-327) As usual, William let no detail of the work being done escaped his attention.(Diary, 1888-05-27, 08-19) Second, William wanted to resolve a lawsuit concerning the Steinway trademark. The day after William arrived in London (May 18) he met with his lawyers about the Trademark case. He then spent days in consultations and arranging for affidavits.(Diary, 1888-05-28, 06-02, 06-27) Later William wrote with much feeling of his dismay regarding the lawsuit, which was still underway after his return to New York, "I am generally disgusted with this foolish lawsuit which costs us Thousands of dollars and pesters the life out of me."(Diary, 1888-06-04) Third, William had serious concerns regarding the state of Steinway & Sons retail operations in London and its relationship to the Steinway factory in Hamburg.(1, pp.328-329) During his 19-day stay in London, William met often with the manager of the Steinway London office and with his nephew Charles Ziegler, son of his sister Dorette, who had family oversight of Steinway & Sons operations in London. William felt it necessary to visit his London bank to guarantee funds for the use of Charles Z. in order to insure that business needs were met.(Diary, 1888-05-22, 05-31)

In Germany, William and his brother Theodore (who lived in Braunschweig) worked for months to try to resolve serious long-standing concerns about operations of the Steinway factory in Hamburg, which the brothers had founded in 1880 as a separate private venture.(1, p.327) At one point William considered consolidating the Hamburg and New York operations by selling the privately held Hamburg business to Steinway & Sons by increasing capital stock. This idea was strongly opposed by the younger generation, all of whom were actively involved in the family business.(Diary, 1888-06-24, 1888-07-10, 1888-08-02)(1, p334) Throughout the summer of 1888, vigorous debates took place among William, Theodore, nephews Charles and Henry Ziegler (sons of his sister Dorette) who were in Europe, and nephews Charles H., Henry WT, and Fred T Steinway (sons of his late brother Charles G.) who were in New York, regarding the Hamburg factory operations. Even after summoning the managers of both London and Hamburg operations for deep consultations, there was no resolution.(Diary, 1888-09-06, 09-07) Basically, the Hamburg factory purchased rough pianos from New York, which they finished (including voicing and regulating to meet European preferences) and then sold back to Steinway & Sons for retail sale in London and Europe.(1, p.327) Among various issues, there was the problem of determining an appropriate value for the product at the different stages of production, and the problem of how to calculate profits due to the family business, since William and Theodore owned the Hamburg factory, not corporate Steinway & Sons.(1, p.328, 331) The complicated issues surrounding the Hamburg factory were not resolved until after Theodore's death in 1889 and then only with a lot of difficulties and complications.(1, pp. 335-338)

While in Germany William always took the opportunity to meet with Steinway & Sons local agents, e.g. Fred Agthe agent in Berlin, and even a visiting agent from America, Morris Steinert, agent in Boston-Providence-New Haven.(Diary, 1888-06-15, 08-19)

New business investment possibilities.
The application of electric power to the propulsion of trams, trolleys, and street railways in Europe captured William's interest since he was contemplating electrifying his own trolley lines in New York. He went out of his way to stop at the Brussels Exhibition when traveling from London to Germany; there he rode on the "Julien Electric Motor."(Diary, 1888-06-07). Later in the summer he traveled to a town near Frankfurt where he rode on "the electric Road for 7 kilometers" and declared that "the road works beautifully, overhead systems in tubes."(Diary, 1888-08-04)

William was especially interested in the small internal combustion engines being developed by Gottlieb Daimler of Cannstatt (near Stuttgart) that ran on liquid petroleum fuel. William wrote (on July 29) to Daimler's associate and co-inventor William Maybach about these new motors and received (August 3) copies of five patents granted to Daimler for motor engines, marine engines, and engine driven vehicles. William later traveled to Cannstatt to see models of the motors and took "a ride on [a] small street motor, then [on a] boat on [the]Neckar" River.(Diary, 1888-08-17) A few days later William met with Gottlieb Daimler for the first time and reported that they had a "long talk."(Diary, 1888-08-22) William later became a major investor in Daimler operations and founded the American Daimler Motor Company in 1889 which produced a variety of engines -- and eventually motor boats. Steinway owned a Daimler motor boat named Gemini. This business relationship lasted until William' death in 1896.

Musicians who might be persuaded to make an American tour.
While in Europe William was on the look-out for musicians who might tour in America under Steinway sponsorship and/or contract to use Steinway pianos. Among those in whom he had an interest was Otto Hegner, a 12 year old Swiss-born pianist. On the same day his ship landed in England William rushed to London and wrote "hear Otto Hegner at St James Hall, he plays splendidly eliciting much applause" and then he had "a long conference" with Otto and his father about "going to America next October."(Diary, 1888-05-17) The negotiations took some time and eventually William confided that the tour would not happen that season.(Diary, 1888-06-03,04; 1888-07-26,28) William was more successful with another prodigy pianist, Josef Hofmann. After a meeting with Josef Hofmann's agent (Henry E Abbey of New York) William writes with satisfaction in his diary "I make verbal contract for use of our pianos and send off the following cablegram "Steinway New York. Met Abbey who has Josef Hofmann for Octbr to June made contract for using our pianos."(Diary, 1888-07-26)

William was involved in arranging a concert at Oxford while he was in England. In anticipation of the John Farmer Concert on Sunday June 3 William spent a day in Oxford in late May and then arranged for Max Vogrich (pianist) and wife and Max Heinrich to participate.(Diary, 1888-05-27,05-30) The performance was apparently well received.(Diary, 1888-06-04)

William enjoyed both the performance of music and the company of musicians, sometimes having meals with them.(Diary, 1888-05-25) Occasionally a musician would just perform for him. Whenever he could, William attended concerts of important performers in London such as Arthur Friedheim (pianist) on May 18, Sophie Menter in the afternoon and Hans Richter in evening of May 28, and Dr. Hans von Bulow on June 4. When he was in Germany William took the opportunity to hear performances by major opera companies, e.g. "Walkure" June 21 in Dresden, Wagner's early opera "Die Feen" Aug 12 in Munich, and "Martha" Sept 7 and Verdi's "Otello" Sept 8 in Hamburg.
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Sources:

1. Fostle, D.W., The Steinway Saga. New York: Scribner, 1995.