New-Yorker-Staats-Zeitung, June 24, 1894, p.11

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Reminiscences by a Veteran. William' Steinway's Singer Reminiscences. - The New Yorker at the different Singer Fests. - Prized at the Providence RI Fest but no prize to take home.

Mr. William Steinway, director of the world-renowned piano company Steinway & Sons, who has taken a keen interest in the growth and progress of the German business world but also in the nurturing of music and song in the USA for many years and who always engaged himself where it was important to generate recognition and honor for the Germans in their adopted country, was asked by our reporter to recount a few moments from his rich repertoire of memories from the German-American singer life.
  
Mr. Wm. Steinway willingly obliged but smiled and stated that based on tried German thoroughness he cannot immediately jump into ‘media res’, he simply wanted to state first who he was. Reminded that it was probably not necessary he said: “Oh, I don’t want to start with the creation of the world but start with the year 1836 of the Christian calendar or the year 5840 after the creation of the world.”

Mr. Steinway's highly interesting information can best be re-told in this way:

"William Steinway was born on March 5, 1836 in Seesen in the Harz and was educated in the town's public school and later on at the Jacobson Educational Institute. The family: Father, mother, brothers Carl, Heinrich, and Albert and three sisters immigrated to American and landed in New York on June 9, 1850. Right from the start all the men worked in various local factories to learn the language and requirements of the local piano factories and formed the piano factory Steinway & Sons on March 5, 1853, William's 17th birthday. Although they had brought a substantial amount of money for those days from Germany to which they had added during the last three years they started modestly and carefully in the backyard section of No. 85 Varick Street.

It is not necessary to detail how the business rose to its present stature, including splendid sales rooms and an impressive factory building. Due to the harmonious cooperation between father and sons by 1864 the company was already the largest and best-known piano factory in the US and the civilized world, a position it still occupies at an elevated level today.  Mr. Theodore Steinway, the oldest of the brothers, who died in Braunschweig on March 26, 1889 had only come to the US in 1865 after his brothers Charles and Henry had died. These two brothers joined the Social-Reform-Singing-Club shortly after their arrival while William, the most musical of the brothers, joined the German Liederkranz and other organizations with his other siblings. When the Teutonia Men’s chorus was created in 1852 out of the Social-Reform-Singing-Club William joined it for a period of time. At that time Agriol Paur was its conductor and also at the Liederkranz. Over time Mr. Steinway had become honorary member of a dozen other singing clubs, among them Arion, Schillerbund and Heinebund.

The first Singer Fest was held in 1850 in Philadelphia. The New Yorkers used the ‘outside line’ i.e a steam boat, since it was cheaper, which moved along the coastline to the mouth of the Delaware River and on to Philadelphia. Today the trip takes 2 hours by train. That boat trip took one full day and 2 hours but cost only $1 per person.  Philadelphia was the cradle of Singer Fests. This Fest was followed by a Singer Fest in Baltimore in 1851. The third largest Fest was in 1852 in New York under the direction of Agriol Paur. The concerts took place at ‘Tripler Hall’, later the Wintergarten, where Wm. St. participated as a Teutonia member. The concerts were followed by a large picnic at the then Elm Park on 88th St, near the Hudson River, where impressive houses sit today. At that Fest the Philadelphia Young Men’s Chorus presented the song “Wer nie sein Brot mit Thränen aß” [Who never ate his bread in tears] by Franz Schubert. There was another Fest in 1853 in Philadelphia, in 1854 in Baltimore and in 1855 again in New York.

That year it was decided to hold a singer fest only every two years with the next one taking place in the summer of 1857 in Philadelphia. 55 clubs with 1,600 singers participated, helped along by the availability of railroads. Here the United Singers of New York, all 900 men, sang ‘Auf dem Rhein’ [On the Rhine] by Kücken. William Steinway, 21 years old, sang the tenor solo to great success and applause. Laughing Mr. Steinway noted how he had not prepared for a full dress appearance and borrowed the tails from one singer, the black trousers from another, a white vest from a third and a white tie from a waiter. That was the only way one could appear in those days. The chorus and solos won the first prize. On Saturday Wm. Steinway had arrived with the singers as a member of the Liederkranz and to preserve his voice had only drunk water.  The Commers following the victory left everyone with a hangover and ‘William the victorious” had to pay the owner of the vest $1 since it got damaged from the beer.
  
At the 1859 Baltimore Fest the United City Clubs and not individual clubs was victorious. The New Yorkers at almost 1,000 sang Kücken’s ‘Gebet vor der Schlacht’ [Prayer before the battle]. Mr. Steinway again sang the high rather difficult tenor solo. The chorus and the soloist earned the first prize.
  
During the same year extensive preparations were underway by the German Liederkranz and other clubs for the Friedrich Schiller 100th birthday celebration on November 9, 1859. All larger clubs gave concerts and held festivities. The German Liederkranz who had the only well-trained ladies chorus at the time gave a concert together with the Anschütz orchestra at the then City Assembly Rooms on the East side of Broadway, between Howard and Grand St., which thousands attending. This concert presented Beethoven’s 9th Symphony for the first time in America. The fourth part of the symphony contains Schiller’s ‘Lied an die Freude’ [Ode to Joy]. The really difficult solo-quartet was sung by the ladies Anschütz-Zimmermann and Miss Caradori (Italian name but really German); Mr. Phil. Mayer and Wm. Steinway also sang the grand tenor solo therein. The performance was of such quality and was so impressive that one could rightfully say, the attention of all including the indigenous people, was pointed towards the high-level of musical capabilities and knowledge by the German singers and musicians. The next evening the German Club of Hoboken celebrated Schiller and Wm. Steinway sang the solo from Schiller’s ‘Glocke’ [The Bell] together with the since deceased wonderful baritone Fritz Steins.
  
One cannot forget the large singer fest in Buffalo in 1860 at which the Arion under the direction of its conductor Carl Anschütz won the first place prize with the Franz Abt song ‘Vineta’. A singer fest was planned for 1861 and had already German and American support but the civil war ended that plan. Four years later the Singer Fest was held in New York with huge success.

In 1866 Providence Rhode Island, with a limited German population and only 26 singers, held a Singer Fest under the direction of Dr. Gottschalk. (Diary, 1866-06-14) In musical terms it deserves to be called a success. 90 Liederkranz members from New York participated, which is astounding since the LK also participated en mass in the Louisville Singer Fest.  In Providence Baritone Fritz Steins and Tenor Wm. Steinway sang the solos in Abt’s ‘Waldabendschein’ and the New Yorker Liederkranz won first place. But since the poor people of Providence could not afford the promised silver cup, the Liederkranz received a picture of the 26 Providencer who had risked their reputation.  The picture still hangs in the Liederkranz Hall today. But the Providence singers have managed to make the German Singer Fest of New England States a musical success over the years.
  
In 1867 the Singer Fest was again held in Philadelphia. By now the Liederkranz with Wm. Steinway as its President and Agriol Paur conductor won first place with the difficult song ‘Wie kam die Liebe’ [How love came]. City Mayor Bull received the singers in the Clairmount Park and Wm. Steinway learned what it meant to be President of such a victorious group. He gave no less than 32 speeches, of them 19 in German and 13 in English and noted at the last one that happily the prize singing was done since he would not have been able to sing a solo that evening.
  
In 1869 the Singer Fest took place in Baltimore, where the Liederkranz again sang ‘Wie kam die Liebe” and won first prize. As earlier Agriol Paur again conducted. The 1871 Song Fest held in New York again brought about a dispute among the larger clubs with the consequence that no Song Festival was held for 23 years.
  
In 1886 Western singer clubs held a number of music and song festivals in Milwaukee while in New York important musical concerts took place in the clubs own locations. With these concerts the clubs tried to achieve their aim: to reach the highest degree of achievement in song and in its presentation. It cannot be denied that the men’s choruses made tremendous progress in the art of tone shading, clarity of voice and enunciation.
  
After this long break Brooklyn organized a Song Festival in which however none of the larger New York clubs participated. However, the large German participation in the great Columbus Fair on October 11, 1892 cannot be ignored either. At that time the United Singers of New York, Brooklyn and surroundings gave a large concert at the 7th Regiment Armory and the patriotism displayed by the Germans became a highlight of the history of Germans in New York. The 66 singing clubs agreed to hold a large Singer Festival in 1894 in New York to be advertised as a great music festival with an excellent orchestra and engaged soloists. It was to be directed by three conductors: Heinrich Zoellner, Frank Van der Stucken and Carl Hein. It can truly be stated that no Singer Fest was ever held with such harmony among all participants. There was no opposition and the entire population displayed a happy patriotism. Mr. William Steinway was unanimously elected as honorary President and the indefatigable Richard Katzenmayer as President. If the weather cooperates it will be no doubt a huge financial success. 
  
Although in the meantime Washington Park in the center of the City has been destroyed by fire the Committee found a comparable replacement by securing Ulmer Park in Bay Ridge. Madison Square Garden will surpass all its other events and music lovers should attend at least one concert there since such an event will hardly take place more than once in a century.

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