Ottorino Respighi's handwritten letter to Steinway & Sons (1926)

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A great Italian composer Ottorino Respighi sends intense praise to the famous piano factory Steinway & Sons in New York.

• Letter of praise, written by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (1879 - 1936), to the piano factory Steinway & Sons, in New York.
• In Italian, with typed English translation.
• Three pages + The translation.
• 30.5 cm x 20.3 cm.
• 06/01/1926.
• Quality paper, exceptional calligraphy, excellent condition.
• Unique piece.

The Steinway piano is not an instrument: it is a complete world of tones; it is magically obedient to the smallest nuances of human feeling.

What is generally expected of a piano is that it translates all our emotions into as many sounds; but the Steinway does more than that: it removes all barriers that may exist between musical emotion and its expression through harmonies.

The inner feeling and its expression through sound are no longer just parallels, but become a musical soul throbbing in countless notes.

Ottorino Respighi
For the company Steinway & Sons

• Postcard showing a Steinway & Sons store in Los Angeles, California.
• In English.
• 8.5cm x 13.5cm.
• 06/17/1908.
• Excellent condition.
  
  
• Advertisement from the New York newspaper The Independent for Steinway & Sons pianos.
• In English.
• 20.4 cm x 29.4 cm.
• 03/27/1920.
• Excellent condition.

If the question is to know which are the best pianos in the world, the answer from a professional musician would probably be Steinway & Sons, a symbol of prestige and perfection. Steinway & Sons has always used the best materials transformed and assembled by the most competent carpenters.

The reputation of Steinway & Sons pianos was already established in the German community when its founder, Henry Engelhard Steinway (1797 - 1871), arrived in Manhattan with his children in 1853, fleeing Germany where he had already produced 482 quality pianos. The new business expanded quickly and further strengthened the brand's reputation.

The story of Steinway & Sons is a true American "success-story", every entrepreneur's dream: a luxurious product, produced on a small scale by expert and proud employees, pianist customers recognizing its quality throughout the world for more than 150 years, a family business that started from nothing and expanded from old Europe to the United States... Anyway, a very interesting story.

This letter, which Ottorino Respighi wrote to the owners of Steinway & Sons, reads like a poem, a declaration of love to a woman. Rare are the opportunities to read such praise about a brand, especially from a customer.