It's a Steinway Kind of Day

The newest member of the music department arrived with great fanfare on Thursday, October 2, 2008. The audience members of the packed Lutz Hall watched the unveiling of  the brand new Steinway and Sons grand piano. Dr. Eric Fung officially introduced and christened it with a performance of Andrei Schulz-Evler’s Concert Arabesque on motifs by Johann Strauss By the Beautiful Blue Danube .

  Following is the official text for the ceremony:

The Steinway D Concert Grand Piano

  A gift to the students and faculty of Lebanon Valley College

from The Otto Haas Charitable Trust #2

October 2, 2008

A bit of background

For many years, a nine-foot Steinway model D concert grand piano with a walnut veneer graced the Lutz Hall stage. In 1992, the piano was purchased at auction and given to the College by the late Dr. D. Clark Carmean H’85 and his wife, Edna Jenkins Carmean ’59, H’85. That instru

ment served the College well, but over the past several years its sound became compromised. While most casual listeners found the sound palatable, it was not in a condition that enabled the College to attract artists to play in Lutz Hall.

For major concerts featuring a piano, the seven-foot Steinway B in Zimmerman Recital Hall is used. The Zimmerman Steinway produces a fine sound and is appropriate for the size of the Recital Hall, which seats approximately 175 audience members. However, that sound is not sufficient to project in the 532-seat Lutz Hall, especially if an orchestra is present.

In 2007, Steinway technicians were called in to study the instrument in Lutz. They determined that it could be rebuilt but with no guarantee that the problems would be resolved. However, the walnut veneer was valuable. Reifsnyder’s Pianos and Organs of Lancaster, the area’s authorized Steinway dealer, offered to purchase the instrument from the College for $20,000. Those funds were set aside to purchase a new Steinway once the College saved or raised the remaining funds needed.

In May of 2008, College Trustee Daniel K. Meyer, M.D.’81, a graduate of the music department, and his partner, Frederick R. Haas, learned of the College’s desire to purchase a new Steinway for Lutz Hall. With their encouragement, the Otto Haas Charitable Trust #2 made a gift to the College of $100,000 so that a new Steinway could be purchased and put into use immediately.

A new Steinway D carries a retail price of $111,400, which reflects its hand-made quality. In the words of Dr. Dennis Sweigart ’63, professor of music, “Steinway has proven to be the most reliable manufacturer of pianos in the world. Among musicians, it is recognized as the most beautiful and desirable instrument for practice, performance, and recording. In purely financial terms, Steinway is the only piano that actually appreciates in value over time.”

Choosing the new Steinway

On September 19, 2008, a group of LVC faculty and staff members, along with Dan Meyer and Fred Haas, traveled to the Steinway factory in New York City. Bill Crabtree, the president of Reifsnyder’s, and his vice president for institutional sales, Jim Strite, hosted the LVC team. The group included Professors Eric Fung, Mark Mecham, Shelly Moorman-Stahlman, and Dennis Sweigart, along with LVC Vice Presidents Anne Berry and Deb Fullam. During the factory visit, the LVC faculty, Meyer, and Haas privately tested five different Steinway D pianos. After much discussion and spirited comparison of the instruments, they chose the piano that will be unveiled today.  The College’s new piano was completed the day before the LVC team arrived at the factory, on the same day that the company’s former President and Chairman, Henry Z. Steinway, died at the age of 93. A great grandson of the firm’s founder, Mr. Steinway was actively involved with the Company up to the time of his death. Thus, the Steinway D that was chosen for LVC, Serial #583604, was the last D model piano built during Mr. Steinway’s lifetime.

The piano was crated for transportation, personally received at the factory by Reifsnyder’s, and delivered to campus.

Remarks by President MacDonald:

Today is a special celebration to mark the arrival of the College’s new Steinway concert grand piano. 

We welcome new faculty and staff when they join the community, and we do the same with our students at the annual fall academic convocation. But I do not believe I’ve ever welcomed something that doesn’t move or speak until touched by others.  But when this piano is touched, it speaks and sings in a manner unmatched.

The Steinway that used to occupy this space was purchased for the College by our late friends Clark and Edna Carmean.  At the time, it was quite expensive even when purchased used at an auction, but the College could never have afforded a new Steinway.  It is often said that “Steinways are built to outlast their owners,” but they do not live forever. The Carmean Steinway served us well, but outlived its useful life and needed to be replaced.    It was the dream of our music faculty that we finally purchase a new Steinway concert grand piano, an instrument with sound to reach all corners of this hall, and enthrall audiences for the next several generations of LVC students.

But, a new Steinway of this caliber carries a very dear price, and we believed that we would have to wait until we could find the funds to pay for it.  However, one of our trustees is Dr. Daniel K. Meyer, Class of 1981 and a graduate of the music department.  When he heard of the need, he and his partner, Fred Haas, responded and arranged a gift that would allow us to purchase the Steinway immediately.

Dan and Fred could not be with us today, but I and others have thanked them for making our new Steinway a reality.

Technical specifications about the Steinway D Concert Grand Piano (Courtesy of Steinway & Sons)

Since 1853, Steinway pianos have set an uncompromising standard for sound, touch, beauty, and investment value. Handcrafting each Steinway requires up to one full year – creating an instrument of rare quality and global renown. Not surprisingly, Steinway remains the choice of nine out of ten concert artists, and countless pianists, composers, and performers around the world.

Length:        8 feet, 11.75 inches

Width:        61.25 inches

Weight:        990 pounds

Finish:        Ebonized satin finish, completely hand-rubbed.

Rim
Made entirely from hard rock maple; 18 laminations; continuous bent, both inner and outer form one single rim; unequaled strength and stability. Thickness: 3 1/4".

Braces
5 solid spruce braces with a volume of 4,052 cu. in.; spruce provides tensile strength with less weight. Maple dowels fasten the braces to the rim producing a single homogenous foundation upon which is built the entire tonal component. A cast iron treble bell, affixed to rim's underside at treble bend, holds the plate firmly in position by means of a steel bolt. The Steinway & Sons iron wedge anchors the brace ends securely to the crossblock assuring permanent rim posture.

Pinblock
Hexagrip patented design; 7 laminations of quartered hardrock maple stock. The grain is symmetrically distributed at successive angles of 45° or 90° employing grain direction uniformly around the circumference of the tuning pin to provide the ultimate in pin grippage. As a result of this exclusive design, the tuning pin has smoother movement under torque, a more uniform retaining action for solid setting, and a piano which will hold its tuning longer.

Soundboard
Created like the soundboard of violins to give a free and even response throughout the entire scale, it is so constructed as to be 9 mm thick in the center and tapered to 6 mm as it approaches the rim and outer case before being double crowned. This design permits complete freedom of movement, while acting as a homogenous unit to displace a greater amount of air, thereby creating a richer and more lasting tonal response. Close-grained, quarter-sawn Sitka spruce, a wood having unusual stability and vibrance under stress and vibration, is used exclusively for the soundboard.

Ribs
Made from durable, resinous sugar pine to assure strong and constant support of string down-bearing on the soundboard. The rib ends are hand-fitted into their mounting surfaces virtually locking in the important soundboard crown.

Bridges
Treble: Hard rock maple vertical laminations capped with solid hard rock maple; planed to prescribed height, graphite coated, drilled, and notched by hand for precise individual string bearing. Design defies splitting. Bass: Continuous with treble. Maple doweled, glued, and screwed to soundboard.

Scale
Overstrung; combination agraffe; Front and rear duplex. Tension: 45,373 lbs.

Plate
Sturdy gray iron; filled, hand-milled, and sealed; bronzed and lacquered.

Tuning Pins
Premium blued steel with rust-resistant, nickeled heads.

Strings:

Treble: Twelve whole & one-half sizes from high-tensile Swedish steel. Bass: Swedish steel core wire wound with pure copper. Longest, agraffe to bridge: 79 1/4".

Hammers
18.5-pound premium wool top felt over premium wool under felt; treated to resist insects and moisture. Compression-wired to retain permanent shape. Hard birch moldings. Shanks formed from select resilient maple.

Dampers
Horizontal-cut premium wool for effective dampening. Maple heads for endurance.

Action
White, quarter-sawn maple parts are bushed with specially treated wool action cloth for freedom from friction. Parts are anchored in hard maple dowels housed in inflexible seamless brass tubing to assure precise and stable regulation. Exclusive single, combination phosphor bronze repetition and fly spring provides constant crisp touch response. Specially designed to respond 14% faster fortissimo and 6% faster pianissimo by using an exclusive combination of half-round balance rail bearings and strategically placed key leads.

Keys
Bavarian spruce, individually weighed-off. Chip-proof, stain-resistant coverings for naturals; slip-proof, delicately abraded ebonized sharps. Tough, durable Linden wood buttons reinforce keys over balance rail permitting maximum tonal power with every strike. Longest: 24 1/2".

Keybed
Made from planks of stable, quarter-sawn spruce. Horizontal planks are freely mortised together, while their ends are permanently mortised into vertical planks, presenting a vented system for humidity escapement while allowing for necessary expansion and contraction. Front center is crowned contrasting the reverse-crowned action frame for snug fit. This design intensifies key movement and prevents "slapping" during heavy playing. Large maple dowel ends provide a solid mount for adjustable brass touch-regulating screws. Thickness: 1-3/4".

Pedals
Heavy, solid brass. Soft, sustaining, and full sostenuto.