Building bridges – Christian Friedrich Theodor Steinweg (1825–1889) | Alone in the Field

Christian Friedrich Theodor Steinweg (1825–1889) was born on November 6th, 1825 in Seesen.  In 1839, he finished school and absolved his piano making apprenticeship at his father’s workshop. As was the custom, he took to the road afterwards, to work at factories in Leipzig and Frankfurt (presumably Frankfurt on the Oder), among other places. Nothing is known about his whereabouts between 1850 and 1852. According to an ad in the ‘Braunschweiger Anzeigen’ paper, he maintained a warehouse with instruments in Holzminden and also offered a repair and tuning service. 

In 1852, Theodor married Johanna Friederike Caroline Magdalena Lüdemann (*1834), born in Herzberg (Harz region). Various letters to New York told of Johanna’s repeated miscarriages, until a daughter was born. The child died only a few years later; a time of suffering and grief followed for Theodor and his wife.

In the year of his wedding, on July 9th in 1852, Theodor was granted a license to trade in musical instruments and build pianos after submitting an application in Seesen. Three years later, he moved house and workshop to Wolfenbüttel. Apparently, he hoped for better production and sales conditions there. As organist Müller stated, the city was short of ‘a good tuner’ anyhow, as

“the public feels compelled to look for help […] also regarding any case of instruments in need of repair in Braunschweig”

(Expert opinion by Selmar Müller on Theodor Steinweg's qualification as an instrument maker, March 8, 1855, Wolfenbüttel, Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv Wolfenbüttel, 34 N No. 3044)

Theodor marked his newly produced instruments with the label “C. F. Theodor Steinweg”.