Alexander Steinert

Biography

Alexander Steinert was a Boston piano dealer, son of a music-loving father whose household surrounded him with musical performance from childhood. A skilled amateur pianist himself, he became an effective piano salesman and, after success at a Providence store, persuaded his father to open a Boston establishment featuring the Steinway piano at the corner of Tremont and Boylston streets. The venture prospered; he later sold the lease at a $200,000 profit and in 1895 erected Steinert Hall on Boylston Street, which became a hub for Boston's musical and artistic life, hosting performers such as Lhevinne, Josef Hofmann, Harold Bauer, and Fritz Kreisler. Steinert built a chain of stores across New England, secured the Aeolian Company's general agency for player-piano products in his territories, and acquired control of the Jewett Piano Company, which grew under his management into a significant New England piano manufacturer. He was active in Boston's cultural life as a member of the Art Commission of the city, the Fidelio Singing Society, and the Boston Art Club, and an honorary member of the Harvard Music Club. The text credits him with a shrewd ability to select capable subordinates, notably A. H. Hume. Alexander Steinert was the second of Morris Steinert's seven sons. He was about four years old when his father opened the New Haven music store in 1865, and only thirteen years after that he was found managing the Steinert music store in Providence, Rhode Island, an establishment substantial enough to pay an annual rental of $3,000 for its quarters.

Highlights

• Second of Morris Steinert's seven sons
• Became manager of the Steinert music store in Providence, Rhode Island, while still young
• Built Steinert Hall on Boylston Street, Boston, in 1895
• Acquired control of the Jewett Piano Company and grew it into a major New England piano maker
• Secured the general agency for Aeolian Company player-piano products across his chain of New England stores

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. II (1913), pp. 172, 173.

Public domain.