‘One of Beethoven’s oldest and most sincere friends’: The woman who made the composer’s pianos

Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter for all the latest entertainment news and reviews Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter Sign up to our free IndyArts newsletter SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. In the margin, British publisher Vincent Novello writes that the document was given to him by “Mrs Streiker” – “one of Beethoven’s oldest and most sincere friends.” Nannette Streicher’s marginalised place in history is encapsulated in these scribbled lines. But many Beethoven scholars, perhaps finding it inconceivable that an 18th-century woman could build a piano, have turned Andreas into the manufacturer and Nannette into his shadowy helpmate. It became known as the “Viennese action.” Recommended The forgotten Black violinist who inspired Beethoven At 8, Nannette played in front of Mozart, who criticised her posture and grimacing, but admitted that she had “genius.” Two years later, she had mastered many of her father’s building techniques, earning a reputation as a mechanical wunderkind. The elegant Stein piano, with its light touch and silvery tone, wasn’t ideally suited to Beethoven’s wild and forceful performance style.