Theodore Cassebeer

Biography

Theodore Cassebeer, grandson of Doretta Steinway, was born in New York on September 9, 1879. Educated in New York and Stuttgart, Germany, until age fifteen, he then studied mechanical drawing before entering a four-year apprenticeship as a piano maker at the Steinway factories. He studied piano-building theory for a year under Henry Ziegler, then spent two years traveling the United States under the firm's lumber inspector in search of lumber for Steinway pianos. In 1907 he was made assistant manager of the factories under Frederick T. Steinway. Described as sincere and studious, Cassebeer specialized in forestry and forestry products, amassing a collection of woods in every stage from raw to polished. An active member of the New York Athletic Club, he regularly visited model piano factories in America and Europe to study equipment and methods, and enjoyed camping in remote forest districts while sourcing lumber. Theodore Cassebeer, grandson of Doretta Steinway-Ziegler, assisted Frederick T. Steinway, who was in charge of the Steinway & Sons factories in the generation following the firm's founders.

Highlights

• Grandson of Doretta Steinway-Ziegler; assisted in managing the Steinway factories
• Grandson of Doretta Steinway; served a four-year apprenticeship as piano maker at the Steinway factories
• Appointed assistant manager of the Steinway factories in 1907 under Frederick T. Steinway
• Built a personal collection of woods (seeds, leaves, bark, and finished samples) used in piano making

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 312; Vol. II (1913), pp. 187, 188.

Public domain.