Charles M. Stieff

Biography

Charles M. Stieff was born in Wurtemburg on July 19, 1805, and educated at Stuttgart. He emigrated to America in 1831 and settled in Baltimore, where he initially worked as a professor of languages at Haspert's school and led a church choir. In 1842 he imported his first pianos from Germany, opening regular warerooms on Liberty Street the following year. After a 1852 trip to Europe studying the methods of leading manufacturers, he admitted his sons to partnership and began manufacturing the 'Stieff' piano, entrusting factory management to his brother-in-law, the expert piano maker Jacob Gross. The firm's products won distinguished awards, and after the founder's death the business passed successfully to his sons, Charles and Frederick P. Stieff. Dolge notes that the great Baltimore fire of 1904 stopped just short of the Stieff building on North Liberty Street, where the family had sold pianos for 63 years. From Spillane (1890): Charles M. Stieff was one of the best-known Baltimore piano-makers of his era, ranked alongside Gaehle & Company and Knabe & Company as among the city's leading firms, together with J. T. Stoddard. Stieff survived the Civil War and went on to establish a respectable and lasting position among Southern piano-makers, a standing his firm maintained for many years afterward.

Highlights

• Born in Wurtemburg July 19, 1805; emigrated to America in 1831 and settled in Baltimore, first working as a professor of languages and church choir leader.
• Imported his first pianos from Germany in 1842 and opened piano warerooms on Liberty Street in 1843.
• After a European tour studying manufacturing methods in 1852, began manufacturing the 'Stieff' piano, entrusting factory management to Jacob Gross.
• One of the best-known Baltimore piano-makers alongside Gaehle & Company and Knabe & Company
• Survived the Civil War and built a respectable, long-lasting position in the Southern piano trade

Sources

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

Daniel Spillane, History of the American Pianoforte (1890), pp. 135, 136.

Public domain.