LETTER 27
A HARMONIOUS CREATION OF ART
Adele aus der Ohe to Steinway & Sons
1894
From a very young age, Adele aus der Ohe was a remarkable pianist. Born in Hanover in 1861, she was just ten years old when she performed her debut concert; by the age of twelve she had been taken under the wing of Franz Liszt, the Hungarian virtuoso with whom she would continue to study for seven invaluable years. Later on in life she performed at Carnegie Hall with her friend and mentor, the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and later played piano at his funeral. During the course of her incredible career she played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra more than fifty times. She performed to crowds all over the world. She also composed. All told, Adele aus der Ohe was a musician of the highest order.
In 1894, she wrote a letter of appreciation to Steinway & Sons, the manufacturers of her favoured grand piano.
New York,
1894
Messrs. Steinway & Sons
Gentlemen:
It gives me great pleasure to express my admiration for your pianos. Their tone is noble, sonorous and pure; even in the utmost fortissimo, it is rich and sweet; moreover, it carries so far that it makes the most delicate pianissimo practicable in very large halls. The tone is not only large and round, but exquisitely sensitive and fresh. These qualities make the Steinway piano better adapted to cantabile playing at one extreme and to the most passionate bravoura at the other, than any other piano that I know. The scale is very even in the best sense of the word:- the bass rich and pure, the treble singing and full, the upper octaves round and replete with vitality and character.
The action of the Steinway piano, combining, as it does, depth, power, lightness and elasticity, affords the artist the means of producing the most delicate shades of tone-color, the most piquant effects and the most tremendous bravoura.
The Steinway piano is, in brief, a harmonious creation of art so individual and sympathetic that the artist often feels as if it possessed a living personality of its own.
With my kind regards,
Yours very sincerely,
Adele aus der Ohe