Johann Baptist Streicher

Johann Baptist Streicher was an Austrian piano maker that comes from a dynasty piano builders. The tradition began with Johann Streicher's grandfather, Johann Andreas Stein, who was a central figure in the history of the piano. No less remarkable of figures in this dynasty, though, were his parents. Nannette Streicher, his mother, assumed charge of her father's business in 1792 and set up a piano making company in Vienna. Initially, she was working together with her husband Andreas Streicher and her 16-year-old younger brother Matthias Andreas Stein (1776-1842) under the business name Geschwister Stein. After 10 years, the siblings decided to part ways, and Nannette Streicher continued building pianos under her own name. She was also one of the closest friends of Beethoven and even agreed in August 1817 to help her friend by managing his chaotic household, while the composer was going through one of the many crises that marked his life.