Our Moller Organ

The A. Thompson-Allen organ company has created an informational page about our Church's Organ.  Please Click on the link below to learn more about it.

http://www.thompson-allen.com/madison.html

 

Our Grand Piano

UPDATE: 1/11/07: 

The $16,000 goal has been met as of mid-December, 2006!!!  Many, many thanks to all the generous donors who contributed to this fund.  This milestone marks an end to the active fundraising, and other small costs that might be associated with the restoration will be raised eventually through ongoing efforts.

 

A Jewel of an Instrument: The History Behind our Steinway Grand Piano

In 1875, the Steinway & Sons Piano Company on the corner of 53rd Street in Manhattan, New York completed work on a brand new “Style 2” grand piano.  This was only one of 1,965 total pianos built that year, and one of 159 Style 2’s built between 1872 and 1879.  The Style 2 closely resembled its predecessor, the Style 1 or “A” model, both in sound and appearance.  But enough changes, both in construction and action, warranted a new designation number.

After this rosewood piano, serial number 32341, was completed, it was shipped to Morris Steinert, a Steinway piano dealer in New Haven, Connecticut.  Steinert had begun distributing pianos there ten years earlier after partnering with a piano manufacturer named Frederick Mathushek.  At that time, Steinert did not have a lot of experience manufacturing or distributing, and their venture was short-lived.  He then tried three times to solicit the Steinway agency in New York, failing each time before bringing his wife with him on the fourth try.  His wife so impressed the Steinways that his wish was granted and he became a Steinway dealer in September of 1869.

Serial number 32341 arrived at Steinert’s dealership on December 15, 1875.  At some point, it was acquired by a woman named Miss Marie Oakes Hotchkiss, the daughter of Henry Oakes Hotchkiss, a New Haven Long Wharf shipping merchant.  (Perhaps Mr. Hotchkiss bought the piano for his daughter.)  Born in July of 1850, Miss Hotchkiss lived at East River beach in Madison on the estate called “Stony Croft” on Neck Road.  Upon her death in July of 1938, she left her estate to Yale University, but she willed her piano to a friend named Susan Hart.  Susan was the great-great-granddaughter of Reverend John Hart, the Madison Congregational Church’s first pastor.  When Susan passed away, she left the piano to the church’s chapel.

The Steinway Grand was kept in the chapel from that time until 1963, when the members of the First Congregational Church built a larger Church House to be used as office space and classrooms, including a new chapel and an auditorium.  During the June 6th meeting of the Prudential Committee, Building and Grounds chairman Robert Littell decided that the Steinway should be moved to the new auditorium.  He contacted the Hald Company who performed the service, and it has been there ever since.

Since then, the piano has not been used much at all.  The exterior has been stained and damaged from neglect, yet the interior has been well-maintained by faithful piano tuners.  With renewed interest in the piano and further investigation starting late in 2005, its nearly complete history has been discovered.

This piano’s story is remarkable, with a beautiful, vibrant sound to match.  While its monetary value might reach into six digits, its musical and historical value is priceless.  Its move into the sanctuary on July 6, 2006 marked the beginning of newly-found opportunities to bless the congregation through its music.

Related facts 

  • The “Steinway & Sons” logo on the fallboard of the piano only displays the “New York” branch; Steinway was not yet doing business in Hamburg and London.  Pianos after the 1890’s display all three cities.
     

  • Frederick Mathushek, Morris Steinert’s original partner, became a well-known and highly respected piano maker.  A Mathushek 1896 upright piano sits in one of the Church House downstairs classrooms.
     

  • Steinart moved his headquarters from New Haven to Boston in 1883, and his sons took over the business following his death in 1912.  After the Wall Street crash of 1929, they closed the factories and all but three stores to survive.  A past treasurer of Steinert & Sons acquired the assets of the company in 1934, and the company is currently owned by his grandsons.  Today, there are three Steinert stores in Massachusetts and one in West Hartford which just opened in 2004.
     

  • Steinert was good friends with Thomas G. Shepherd, son of First Congregational Church’s fourth pastor, Rev. Samuel Shepherd.  Thomas Shepherd was an organist at a New Haven church, as well as a composer, and this church’s 1930 Möller pipe organ is dedicated to him.  Steinert inscribed a copy of his book of reminiscences, published in 1900, to Shepherd “with my compliments and many recollections of musical events in our city.”
     

  • Marie Oakes Hotchkiss’s estate on Neck Road is now the site of Mercy Center, a beachfront conference and retreat center for human development.

Sources

Bullock, Paula.  “1875 Steinway Style 2 Production History.”  2002. <http://www.pgtigercat.com>
Evarts, Mary S. History of the First Congregational Church.  Madison, CT, 1955.
Johnson, Joan.  “Marie Oakes Hotchkiss” [personal e-mail].  June 26, 2006.
LaGuardia & Wagner Archives.  Steinway & Sons Collection.  New York.  Production Series, Number books, Box 040393,  1874.
Mercer, Anna T. “Meeting of the Prudential Committee.”  June 6, 1963.
Mercer, Anna T. “Meeting of the Prudential Committee.”  September 5, 1963.
Mercy Center at Madison.  “Mercy Center’s History.”  2006.  <http://www.mercyctrmadison.com>
Steinert, Morris.  Reminiscences of Morris Steinert.  New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1900.