Albert Methfessel

Biography

Albert Methfessel is described as a great composer who attended the 1839 Brunswick industrial fair, where he played on the grand and square pianos exhibited by Henry Engelhardt Steinweg. As chairman of the fair's jury, Methfessel recommended that Steinweg be awarded the highest prize, a gold medal, for his instruments. From Spillane (1890): Albert Methfessel was a composer who, in August 1839, presided as chairman of the jury at the state fair of Brunswick, Germany. In that capacity he personally awarded the prize medal to Henry E. Steinway, later founder of Steinway & Sons, for a grand piano and two square pianos exhibited at the fair.

Highlights

• As chairman of the jury at the 1839 Brunswick fair, recommended that Steinweg be awarded the gold medal for his pianos
• Played on Steinweg's exhibited grand and square pianos at the fair
• As jury chairman at the 1839 Brunswick state fair, personally awarded Henry E. Steinway the prize medal for his exhibited pianos.

Sources

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 300.

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), p. 215.

Public domain.