- At the Paris Universal Exposition, C.F. Theodor Steinweg lectures daily on the specifics of the improvements brought by Steinway & Sons to the art of piano design, gives demonstrations (using special apparatus) of physical forces, affecting the piano strings and sounding board, and distributes thousands of brochures in French, English and German with diagrams of Steinway & Sons piano construction.
- Steinway & Sons main competitor Frank Chickering receives the Cross of Chevalier of the Legion of Honor from the Emperor of France Napolieon III, and Chickering & Sons obtains the Gold Medal of Honor at the Paris Exhibition.
- Hector Berlioz writes to Steinway & Sons about Steinway & Sons pianos he had examined at Paris Universal Exposition: “Their sonority is splendid and essentially noble; moreover, you have discovered the secret to lessen, to an imperceptivle point, that unpleasant harmonic of the minor seventh […] which heretofore made itself heard […] to such a degree as to render some of the most simple and finest chords disagreeable […] [This is] progress of which all artists and amateurs gifted with delicate perception must be infinitely indebted to you.” Steinway & Sons donates a piano to Berlioz, and will print the text of his letter for decades in their advertising and sales brochures.
- Dr. Eduard Hanslick, the judge at the Paris Universal Exposition, believes that Steinway & Sons have perfected the ideal way to build a piano. He insists that other pianomakers should adopt Steinway & Sons’ inventions. (Hanslick’s book on musical instruments will contain drawings provided by Steinway and Sons.)
- Francois Joseph Fetis, former professor of Paris Conservatory, director of Brussells Conservatory, the chapelmaster to the King of Belgium, an influential music critic, teacher, composer and exhibition judge, compliments Steinway & Sons pianos: “The pianos of Messrs. Steinway & Sons are equally endowed with the splendid sonority of their competitor [Chickering & Sons]; they also possess that seizing largeness and volume of tone, hitherto unknown, which fills the greatest space. Brilliant in the treble, singing in the middle and formidable in the bass, their sonority acts with irresistible power on the organs of hearing.”
- Abdul Hamid, Sultan of Turkey, buys eight Steinway & Sons pianos for his eight favorite wives. William Steinway’s nephew Charles Steinway will later comment: “We were almost able to see some mitigating circumstances in polygamy!”