HISTORY OF KNABE PIANOS

The distinguished and time-honored instruments which bear this celebrated name were manufactured by Wm. Knabe & Co., Inc., one of America's oldest industries. Knabe pianos have an artistic record dating back to the year 1833, when the instrument was founded by the late Wm. Knabe, in Baltimore.

Mr. Knabe had been working in different factories before he established his own instrument, having arrived in the United States in 1832. His earlier knowledge had been acquired in the famous factories of Germany. He was a man of great mechanical ability and possessed of ideals which mark the man of genius. These ideals were sustained and imbedded in the Knabe piano through all of more than eighty two years since the first instrument bearing the name appeared in Baltimore. In the succession of practical workers in the factories, Wm. Knabe & Co. maintained generations of experts, descendants of the original workmen and members of the Knabe family. These skilled men gained their training in the Knabe factory and it is an interesting fact that the men employed stayed for an an average of eighteen and a half years.

The house of Wm. Knabe & Sons produced grand and upright pianos and player pianos. Both in manufacturing ability and commercial integrity the house stood unquestioned. The factories in Baltimore were among the biggest and best equipped in the world and the plant, including lumber yards, covered more than six acres and embraced 392,000 feet of floor space. Knabe pianos combined a rare degree power and sweetness of tone, delicacy and a poetic singing character and a beauty of case design and finish not surpassed. Many of the world's great artists have used the Knabe pianos in their public concerts, and Knabe grand pianos have taken part in the concert tours of a large proportion of the famed virtuosos. They have also been used in the concert halls throughout the United States and the public schools of New York City for many years.

Among the few really celebrated and artistic pianofortes in the United States, the time-honored Knabe ranks pre-eminent, being distinguished for a distinctive tone quality that has often been described as the nearest approach to the human singing voice. During its celebrated career it has always been identified with the highest standards of manufacture, as well as by its close association with the artistic world. It has had a notable share in the development of musical intelligence and culture in the United States. Knabe pianos have always been distinctive for touch, durability and endurance, and their glorious tone combines power, sweetness, delicacy and a poetic singing quality.

For many years it was the official piano of the Metropolitan Opera Company, used publicly and privately and always at the Opera House by the great artists of that celebrated organization. A Knabe piano  was once owned by the composer of the Star Spangled Banner (Francis Scott Key), Albert Einstein and Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Herbert Hoover. 

The Knabe was the chosen instrument of important conservatories of music and other institutions of higher learning where musical instruction had a prominent place in the curriculum. In these institutions great durability as well as exquisite tone is demanded, for the pianos in the teaching and practice rooms are used without interruption for several hours each day. Especially notable in this list is the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, which purchased nearly 200 Knabe pianos; the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, in which were installed 115 Knabe grand pianos; the Arthur Jordan Conservatory of Music in Indianapolis; Phoenix College, Phoenix, Ariz.; San Jose State College, San Jose, Calif.; State Teachers College, Emporia, Kansas.; University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.; University of Wichita, Wichita, Kansas.; State School for the Blind, Baton Rouge, La.; Southern University, Baton Rouge, La.; Louisiana Polytechnic institute, Ruston, La.; Hamilton College, Clinton, N. Y.; Houghton College, Houghton, N. Y.; Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.; Public Schools, New York, N. Y.; New York State University, Syracuse University, Syracuse, N. Y.

Wherever the Knabe piano had been exhibited it was invariably awarded high prizes for superior construction and workmanship.

Milestones involving Knabe pianos include Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky concert on a Knabe grand piano officially opening Carnegie Hall.

President Rutherford B. Hayes installed a Knabe in the White Houses official residence.

In 1879 the Japanese government purchased Knabe pianos in the first purchase of pianos for Japanese classrooms.