On Beethoven s 250th birth anniversary, a look at the life of Nannette Streicher, the woman who built his pianos At eight, 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 Morgan Library & Museum owns part of an original sketch of Beethoven’s
Hammerklavier Piano Sonata. 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.”