Steni, Johoann (Georg) Andreas

Stein, Johann (Georg) Andreas, German keyboard instrument maker; b. Heidelsheim, Palatinate, May 6, 1728; d. Augsburg, Feb. 29, 1792. He worked under Johann David Stein in Strasbourg (1748–49), then was associated with F.J. Späth in Regensburg (1749–50). In 1750 he settled in Augsburg, where he built the organ of the Barfüsserkirche; was appointed organist there in 1757. He spent a few months in Paris in 1758 before returning to Augsburg. He experimented with various types of keyboard instruments, and invented a “polytoni-clavichordium” (1769), a “melodika” (1772), a ”vis-à-vis Flügel” (1777), and a “Saitenharmonika” (1789). The business was carried on by his daughter, Nannette (b. Augsburg, Jan. 2, 1769; d. Vienna, Jan. 16, 1833), and his son, Matthäus Andreas (b. Augsburg, Dec. 12, 1776; d. Vienna, May 6, 1842). In 1794 Nannette married the pianist J.A. Streicher, and the firm was moved to Vienna, where her brother remained a partner until 1802 when he founded his own firm of André Stein. His son, Carl Andreas (b. Vienna, Sept. 4, 1797; d. there, Aug. 28, 1863), carried on his father’s business while also pursuing a career as a pianist and composer.

Bbilography

F. Luib, Bigraphische Skizze des J.a. S. (1886); T Bolte, Die Musierfamilien S. und Streicher (bienna, 1917); E Hertz, J.A. S. (1728–1792); Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Klavierbaues (Berlin, 1937).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire