nachf . gmbh & co type private industry musical instruments founded 1835 founder heinrich engelhard steinweg c.f. theodor steinweg georg friedrich karl grotrian headquarters braunschweig germany area served worldwide products pianos website http www.grotrian.de grotrian steinweg known as grotrian in the us is a german manufacturer of luxury pianos . the company is based in braunschweig germany commonly known as brunswick in english . grotrian steinweg makes premium grand pianos and upright pianos . grotrian steinweg grand piano inner mechanism grotrian steinweg s history dates back to 1835 when the first steinweg piano factory was built by heinrich engelhard steinweg later known as henry steinway after his emigration to the us where he founded steinway & sons . in 1856 friedrich grotrian became a partner ; in 1865 his son wilhelm grotrian and two associates bought the factory and the right to market their pianos as successors to the steinweg brand . ensuing generations of grotrian family members led the company to become one of the finest piano manufacturers in germany . grotrian steinweg pianos were preferred by some famous pianists and they received accolades at the world s columbian exposition in chicago . grotrian steinweg operated an orchestra and a concert hall and established sales rooms in a half dozen major cities in germany and by 1920 in london as well . at its peak in the late 1920s grotrian steinweg employed 1 000 people and made 3 000 pianos per year . economic depression in the 1930s and war in the 1940s caused grotrian steinweg to decline severely and then lose its factory completely . the family rebuilt the factory and re established its reputation for quality work . in the 1950s an annual piano playing competition was founded by the company to identify promising young piano students . grotrian steinweg sought to expand into the us in the mid 1960s . steinway & sons sued to prevent them from using the steinweg name resulting in a 1975 decision by the united states court of appeals for the second circuit . the case set a precedent in describing initial interest confusion that the brand grotrian steinweg could cause piano buyers to temporarily confuse its brand with the brand steinway & sons . the court ordered grotrian steinweg to stop selling pianos in the us under the steinweg name . afterward the company formed a business entity named grotrian piano company through which it sells pianos in north america . contents 1 19th century 2 20th century 2.1 piano performance competition 2.2 trademark conflict 3 current operations 4 admirers 5 references 6 external links 19th century edit on 13 january 1803 georg friedrich karl grotrian called friedrich was born in sch ningen germany . 1 2 he settled in moscow to sell pianos beginning around 1830 . he joined a partnership in a small piano making firm based in saint petersburg and included these pianos among the various instruments he sold in his successful moscow music shop . 3 in germany heinrich engelhard steinweg 1797 1871 started making pianos in 1835 from his house in seesen at the edge of the harz mountains ; 4 a source of fine beech and spruce wood for the instruments . among the pianos that steinweg produced in his first year was a square piano designed by and built for friedrick grotrian . 5 6 this instrument is now in the braunschweig museum . 7 h.e. steinweg entered three of his pianos in a state fair in 1839 two of them square pianos but his grand piano brought wide notice . 8 in 1850 h.e. steinweg took most of his large family to new york city leaving the piano factory to his eldest son c.f. theodor steinweg 1825 1889 who stayed behind to run it under his own name . meanwhile in new york city the steinweg family americanized their surname to steinway and in 1853 they founded the piano manufacturer steinway & sons . 9 an early piano branded th . steinweg nachf . meaning successor to theodor steinweg soon after taking ownership of his father s old factory c.f. theodor steinweg moved it to wolfenb ttel near braunschweig . here he met friedrich grotrian who was traveling for business . 2 in 1854 friedrich grotrian received the m ller m hlenbein pharmacy as an inheritance from an uncle so he moved back to germany to manage it . he joined c.f. theodor steinweg s piano company as a partner in 1856 . 3 10 the grotrian steinweg residence and piano making workshop in braunschweig in 1857 c.f. theodor steinweg and grotrian moved the piano factory to braunschweig setting up shop in a former mayor s mansion at 48 bohlweg street in the inner medieval part of the city . 11 the company employed about 25 people at this time . friedrich grotrian died on 11 december 1860 leaving his share of the company to his son wilhelm 1843 1917 . 2 in 1865 c.f. theodor steinweg was needed by his family in new york to help manage steinway & sons after his brothers henry and charles died . wilhelm grotrian joined with two of the piano workmen adolph helfferich and h.d.w. schulz to buy out c.f. theodor steinweg s share of the building . the new partnership paid for the right to use the trademark c.f. th . steinweg nachf . meaning successor to c.f. theodor steinweg . nachf . is an abbreviation for nachfolger which is german for successor . the company name became grotrian helfferich schulz th . steinweg nachf . 10 wilhelm grotrian raised two sons in the 1870s wilhelm willi grotrian jr 1868 1931 and kurt grotrian 1870 1929 . 2 in new york city c.f. theodor steinweg h.e. steinweg s son changed his name to c.f. theodore steinway and served as the leader and chief technician of steinway & sons for fifteen years . he did not like living in the us so he kept his home in braunschweig and traveled back and forth as needed . in 1880 he stopped traveling overseas and started a new steinway & sons piano factory in hamburg competing with his father s old firm now called grotrian steinweg in making pianos for european customers . after establishing the business steinway retired to braunschweig for his last years . he died in 1889 leaving his collection of pianos to the city s museum . the hamburg factory proved successful in competing against grotrian steinweg both companies were known for producing premium pianos . 12 in the 1880s willi grotrian studied piano making with wm. knabe & co. in baltimore maryland and with pleyel wolff et cie in paris france . 11 kurt grotrian also studied with piano makers in other countries . their father wilhelm grotrian sr took willi with him to chicago in 1893 ; there at the world s columbian exposition grotrian steinweg won an award for fine quality . 11 pianists eugen d albert ignacy jan paderewski and clara schumann expressed a preference for grotrian steinweg pianos . 11 grotrian steinweg was counted among the top german piano manufacturers along with bechstein bl thner feurich ibach lipp and the hamburg division of steinway . 13 in 1895 wilhelm grotrian sr made his two sons partners in the business . 2 he told them lads build good pianos and the rest will take care of itself . 14 willi grotrian methodically set about to improve the systems and standards by which the grotrian steinweg company produced pianos . 15 the grotrian steinweg brand was well known for being of the highest quality the company was named purveyor to some 30 kaisers kings and royal houses . 16 the owners franz wilhelm grotrian willi grotrian and kurt grotrian were awarded an imperial and royal warrant of appointment to the court of austria hungary . 17 20th century edit the grotrian steinweg concert hall in braunschweig in braunschweig grotrian steinweg grew to a workforce of 550 by 1913 producing about 1 600 pianos annually . 2 the grotrian steinweg orchestra was active in leipzig under the baton of young conductor hermann scherchen . grotrian dedicated salesrooms were operating in leipzig hanover k nigsberg d sseldorf and berlin . during world war i kurt grotrian left the factory to serve in the german army . he was soon wounded and taken prisoner of war . the elder wilhelm grotrian died in 1917 . 2 willi grotrian his son led the company but it was greatly reduced in manpower and in orders for pianos . after the war the company resumed as before expanding sales in 1920 by establishing a london shop under the brand name grotrian steinweg . the workforce increased to 1 000 . 2 in 1924 grotrian steinweg built an unusual piano for microtonal music composer ivan wyschnegradsky . the piano had three manuals and strings tuned a quarter tone apart . 18 by 1927 grotrian steinweg was making about 3 000 pianos annually . this number dropped significantly in the 1930s during the great depression ; fewer than 500 pianos were made in 1931 and the workforce was reduced to less than 200 . 3 19 kurt grotrian had become seriously ill in the late 1920s and in 1928 he made his two sons erwin 1899 1990 and helmut 1900 1977 shareholders . in 1929 kurt grotrian died of complications from his old war wound . 1 willi grotrian died in 1931 . a grotrian steinweg piano amid bombing destruction in 1945 in world war ii the grotrian steinweg factory like many others in germany was ordered to switch to fabricating parts for aircraft . the factory was destroyed in 1944 by the bombing of braunschweig as was the founder s mansion in the center of town . 1 afterward erwin and helmut rebuilt the factory . 14 by 1948 production had resumed ; composer and pianist wilhelm kempff went on record as an admirer of the sonority and exquisite execution of the post war work . 1 piano performance competition edit a grotrian steinweg upright piano with its signature radial rear brace adding strength in 1954 grotrian steinweg initiated a piano playing competition known as grotrian steinweg klavierspielwettbewerb featuring young pianists from music schools . the competition took place in the braunschweig location of the hertie department store with audience applause used as the gauge to determine the winner . in 1968 grotrian steinweg entered into talks with the german national music council and the hannover university of music to increase the scale of the competition . it increased in odd years to encompass a national and international scope . pianists such as ragna schirmer and lars vogt gained notice as winners of the competition . 20 trademark conflict edit the first trademark friction between the two piano manufacturers occurred in 1895 when steinway & sons sued to stop grotrian steinweg from using the name steinweg on its pianos . steinway lost the case but in january 1919 willi and kurt grotrian decided to change the family surname to grotrian steinweg in order to protect the trademark of the family business in the hope of preventing further lawsuits . 4 15 21 in 1925 the company established a sales presence in the us as a delaware corporation called grotrian steinweg company . 22 over the next three years grotrian steinweg sold only 15 pianos in the us in addition to a few sold by an independent dealer in new york city . 22 upon discovering the sales in 1928 steinway & sons complained to the distributor and to grotrian steinweg but in 1929 grotrian steinweg sent 47 pianos to the us . a family representative of steinway went to germany to discuss the problem directly with the grotrian steinweg family . arriving at a private agreement the two family leaders smoked a peace cigar 22 and grotrian steinweg subsequently stopped using the names steinweg and grotrian steinweg