Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
194
him his business partner, a position Mr Haynes has held
with distinguished ability for over forty-three years.
The career of Oliver Ditson should afford much en-
couragement to the plodding, the earnest, and the will-
ing. His life-history indicates the mighty possibilites
that are open to the humblest and lowliest worker. May
his example as a self-cultured, self-sacrificing, diligent,
faithful, true man and citizen be a guiding star to the
youth of our country for many generations to come!
DECEASED'S CHARITABLE AND 01 HER REQUESTS.
The following are among the legacies bequeathed by
the will of the late Oliver Ditson: For poor and needy
musicians he left a fund of $25,000, of which he ap-
pointed Charles H. Ditson, J. K. Paine and B. J. Lang,
trustees. To all -servants who have been five years in
his employ he gave $100 and to all others $50. To all
employees of the houses of Oliver Ditson & Co., John
C. Haynes & Co., C. H, Ditson & Co. and J. E. Ditson
& Co., who have been in the service twenty years, he
gave $100; to those employed five years, $50, and to all
others $5. To James L. Ditson he gave $7,000; to
Henry A. Ditson, $5,000; to Frederick W. Lincoln,
$5,000; toMrs. R. E. Demmon, $2,000; to W. O. Ditson,
$1,000; to Dr. Ahlborn, $1,000; to J. C. D. Parker,
$1,000; to George Parker, $1,000; to P. J. Healy, Chi-
cago, $1,000; to George W. Lyon, of Chicago, $1,000;
to the employees of the Continental Bank, Franklin
Savings Bank, Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Com-
pany, $50 each. The following public bequests were
made: To the Home for Aged Men, Home for Aged
Women, New England Hospital for Women and Child-
ren, Boston Young Men's Christian Union, Boston
Homoeopathic Hospital, Massachusetts Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Children, $5,000 each; Boston
Provident Association, Boston Young Men's Christian
Association, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals, Temporary Home for Destitute
Children, Children's Mission to the Destitute, Howard
Benevolent Society, Society for the Relief of Destitute
Clergymen, the Carney Hospital, Home for Destitute
Roman Catholic Children, $2,000; Little Sisters of the
Poor, Franklin Typographical Society and the Handel
and Haydn Society, $1,000 each.
OLIVER DITSON.
F
ULL of years, and full of honors, Oliver Ditson has
passed from among us. The mourning is sin-
cere and widespread, both in the music trade
and by a countless host of personal friends to whom the
virtues of the deceased gentleman had endeared him.
Mr. Ditson came of a noble race. His parents were
of Scotch descent, their ancestors having left their loved
Caledonia for conscience sake rather than conform to
the demands of religious tyrants. He was born in Bos-
ton in 1811. His school education must necessarily
have been slender, for we find that at the age of twelve,
by his own desire, he entered a printing establishment,
where he gained a complete knowledge of the typo-
graphic art. Shortly afterwards he took charge of the
printing of Col. Samuel Parker, who was engaged"
amongst other things, in republishing the Waverly
novels. For nine years the young Oliver exercised his
native business talents with diligence, honesty, and
acceptability, and at twenty-one he was rewarded by be-
ing taken into partnership. The firm of Parker & Dit-
son now entered with avidity into the music-publishing
business, and in 1840 Mr. Ditson bought out his part-
ner's interest and became sole proprietor.
By this time his personal charms had attracted the at-
tention of Miss Catherine Delano, daughter of a promi-
nent ship-owner of Kingston, Mass., with whom he was
shortly united in wedlock. Two children of the five
that were born of this union survive, viz.: Mrs. Burr
Porter, and Mr. Charles H. Ditson, the latter now hav-
ing charge of the New York branch of the house of Dit-
son & Co.
Henceforward he devoted his splendid business en-
ergies to the popularization of music. His publications
became known far and wide. Into the successful ac-
complishment of this gigantic task he imparted all the
tact, shrewdness, and musical and literary taste for
which his name has almost become a synonym. In the
words of a contemporary, " no better criterion of the
average musical taste of the country could be taken
than his extensive catalogue, which is wholly cosmo-
politan."
The instruction books published by Oliver Ditson &
Co, are innumerable. Many of them are becoming more
popular every year. Take, for example, " Richardson's
Method," which averages 30,000 per year, and of which
250,000 copies have been sold. Of the " Golden Wreath"
no less than 300,000 copies have been distributed to the
ends of the earth. As the population of the country in-
creased, the business of Ditson & Co. continued to grow.
The far-seeing head of the house prepared for all pos-
sible contingencies. In 1867 the New York branch was
founded, and in 1875 the Philadelphia branch come into
existence. Over thirty catalogues of publishers who
died, failed, or went out of business in the great cities
were purchased by him. Mason received for his cata-
logue over $100,000 ; J. L. Peters, of New York, over
$125,000; Lee & Walker, of Philadelphia, over $80,000.
In 1877 his firm took the Boston agency of the Steinway
piano, and held it for several years.
But, vast as were his commercial enterprises, it was
not merely as a man of business that Oliver Ditson
gained fame, honor, and respect. His time, his efforts,
and his purse were ever at the service of the cause of
music. It was his delight to provide support for prom-
ising young artists. He was long a leading spirit in the
Handel and Haydn Society, and a generous contributor
to the funds of that organization. Further, he founded
the Board of Music Trade, of which he was for many
years the president. Publicly and privately he was ever
on the alert to expedite the progress of art, and to bring
her blessed influences to bear upon the masses of our
people.
Outside of the musical world Mr. Ditson was a valued
and honored citizen, and held many important public
positions with exceeding credit to himself and signal
advantage to the community. For a quarter of a cen-
tury he was President of the Continental National Bank
of Boston. He was also a member of the Board of
government of the Home for Aged Men, on Spring-
field street, of which he was one of the founders; a direc-
tor of the Boston Safe Deposit Company; a trustee of
the Franklin Savings Bank; a trustee of the Mechanics'
Association; a member of the Boston Memorial Asso-
ciation; a Director of the Bunker Hill Monument Asso-
ciation, etc., etc.
Having fought his way from poverty and obscurity,
unaided, to wealth and renown, he had always a genuine
sympathy with the honest straggler. He loved to ad-
vance merit. Thus, in 1845, he employed a schoolboy
named John C. Haynes, and twelve years later made
A LARGE ORGAN.
CORRESPONDENT of La Science en Famillc
states that in the Protestant church at Libau
(Russia) there is an organ which occupies the
whole width of the church, about 60 feet, and which has
131 registers, 8,000 pipes, and 14 bellows of large size.
It has 4 harpsichords and one pedal. The largest pipe
is formed of planks 3 inches thick and 31 feet in length,
and has a section of 7 square inches, and weighs 1.540
pounds. Besides the 131 registers, there are 21 acces-
sory stops that permit of combining various parts of the
instrument without having direct recourse to the regis-
ters. By a special pneumatic combination, the organ-
ist can couple the four harpiscords and obtain surpris-
ing results. For the sake of comparison, the following
large instruments of this kind may be cited: Organ of
the Cathedral of Riga, 125 registers; Garden City
Cathedral, 120; Albert Hall, London, 100; Cathedral of
Ulm, 100; St. George's Hall, Liverpool, 100; Notre
Dame, Paris, 90; Boston Cathedral, 86; Cathedral of
Schwerin, 85; St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig, 85; Cologne
Cathedral, .2.
A
PATENTS AND INVENTIONS.
Banjo, No. 394,150, E. J. Cubley.
Banjo, No. 394,348, J. J. Doyle.
Banjo, No. 394,530, W. R. Wood.
Pitman for reed organ actions, No. 394,248, M. Clark.
Reed organ, No. 394,247^ M. Clark.
Reed organ, No. 394,218, J. A. Smith:
Piano action, No. 394,251, J. W. Cooper.
Pneumatic wind musical instruments, No. 394,006,
W. D. Parker.
Pneumatic action musical instruments. No. 394,005
W. D. Parker.
Organ stop action, No. 393,871, F. Wcmbunner.
Mouse and dust proof attachment for organs, No.
393,773, A. & H. B. Marcy.
DECKER BROS, new scale baby grand is an infant
whose sweet, mellifluous voice and multifarious charms
have caused its parents to be much congratulated.