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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
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livery consists, according to a respectable authority,
" in adapting as perfectly as possible the motions of
respiration to the emission of sound, so as to bring out
THEY CARRY OFF THE GOLD MEDAL OF THE MELBOURNE
the power of the latter, as much as the quality of the
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION.
organ and the conformation of the chest will admit,
without carrying it to that degree of effort which makes
FIRST IN ORDER OF MERIT.
the sound degenerate into a cry." No singer needs to
EHR BROS. & CO. are proud of their piano, and be told that these results cannot be accomplished in the
America is proud of Behr Bros. & Co. The efforts singing of music constructed with little or no attention
of this illustrious house to improve the pianoforte to the capabilities of the vocal organs. Wagner's care-
have been prolonged and assiduous, and it is a pleasure lessness in this matter has forced singers so to sin
to record that their meritorious work has been re- against the laws of good voice-production that only
warded in the face of the world. The gold medal of persons of unusual robustness like Materna, Lehmann,
the Melbourne Exposition has fallen to them, and their or Scaria, have been able to endure the strain long.
upright piano with patent cylinder top has been ranked These people, moreover, are singing actors rather than
by an able and unprejudiced jury as " first in order of vocalists, and the extreme Wagnerites hold that in the
merit." The famous instrument was adjudged supreme future the singing actor must be the artist of the oper-
in the five essential points of tone, touch, design, finish, atic stage. But if we had a school of composition in
and quality. The Melbourne agent of Messrs. Behr which the music, faithfully illustrating the truly dram-
writes as follows regarding their exhibits : " I have atic book, should be couched in terms of fluent melody
had a number of musicians try the pianos, and they have and constructed with a view to good vocal results, the
all, without exception, been highly pleased with them. kind of artist needed for the operatic stage would not
I must compliment you on the way these two pianos be a singing actor, but an acting singer.
The world is not prepared to give up the art of fin-
have stood this climate ; they are in as perfect condi-
tion as when they left the factory, and they have been ished singing. Since the days of Claudio Monteverde,
exposed more than any other pianos in the exhibition, the opera has been the conservatory in which blossom-
and a good many of the other pianos and organs are ed the rarest flowers of song. Once let the stage lose
much the worse for being in the building, or I may say its culture, and perfect vocalization must disappear.
for being in Australia. My place in the exhibition was The concert singer and the amateur are not influential
right against the side of the building, and the side and enough to counterbalance the authority of the opera.
roof are of corrugated iron, and the sun had free sweep The art of bel canto will be lost, and we shall read of
on the side and roof of the building all afternoon, and the marvellous powers of the singers of by-gone days
it was very like an oven a good part of the time, but it with skepticism. Farinelli curing Philip V. of Spain, of
an attack of melancholy, which threatened his reason;
had not the least effect on the piano."
The glad tidings were received with great demonstra- Raff bringing the salvation of tears to the grief-stunned
tions of joy by the numerous agents of Messrs. Behr, Princess Belmont; Senesino forgetting his part and
who hastened to convey their congratulations, by wire falling upon the neck of Farinelli after an aria; Cres-
and mail, to the eminent inventors. The honor con- centini melting Napoleon and his whole court to tears
ferred is a fitting sequel to the triumph gained by —all these things will become the incredible legends of
Messrs. Behr at the New Orleans International Expo- a musical age of fable; and we shall be compelled to
sition of 1885, at which they also won the highest award. endure at all times, as we are now frequently, bad voice-
We congratulate Messrs. Behr Bros. & Co., their agents, production, harsh and unmusical declamation, and stri-
and the musical and general public of the United dent cries, for the sake of a particularly good facial
States upon this happy outcome of American genius. expression and a fine dignity of movement.
W. J. HENDERSON, in North American Review.
Messrs. Behr have achieved glory for themselves, and
have given a splendid impetus to American piano manu-
GOOD WORDS FOR DECKER & SON.
facture. Let the good work go on.
BEHR BROS. & CO. TRIUMPHANT.
DOLGE'S PLAN TOWARDS A SOLUTION OF
THE LABOR DIFFICULTY TO BE EX-
PLAINED AND ILLUSTRATED
A T THE PARIS EXPO-
SITION.
B
T
OFFICE OF A. T. SMITH,
M. D., 607
DECADENCE OF SONG.
Green Avenue,
T is generally conceded that many passages of Wag-
ner's operas are almost unsingable. The sequence
of tones is not only strained and unnatural for the
ear, but equally so for the voice. The result of this is
an extraordinary wear on the powers; and when to this
harsh progression of tones is added the difficulty of pro-
ducing the voice under the limitations of the German
tongue, the obstacles in the path of the singer become
formidable. The Italian language is peculiarly adapted
to the art of singing. In the development of this " soft
bastard Latin," every hard sound was dropped and the
language purified in its vocalism to a degree of un-
equaled smoothness. It is the preeminently liquid
tongue, and its vowel sounds are the elementary tones
of human speech. On the other hand, German has a
number of mixed tones, such as those represented by
the diphthongs au and ei, and the modified vowels ii and
o, which are extremely difficult to sing, except on notes
easily produced. The best German singers mar their
work by the bad production of notes accompanied by
these vowel sounds, while singers of fairly good ability
frequently shock the ears of cultured hearers.
Since this is the case in average music, it must ob-
viously be worse in the Wagner music-dramas, because
the great German did not give sufficient consideration
to the powers of the human voice. The absence, for
long spaces, in his scores, of anything resembling fluent
melody is destructive of proper voice-production. In
the famous singing-schools of, Italy, in the elder days
of vocal art, what the French call la misc de voix, or, as
we roughly term it, delivery, was a study of years. De-
DEAR SIRS; The style "H" Decker & Son piano pur-
chased from you is admired by every one who sees it,
not only for its rich appearance but more especially for
its grand purity, equality and duration of tone, which
are combined in this instrument in a decree rarely to
be met with.
This is the verdict of several expert musicians who
have tried it. We are all so well pleased that no
amount of money would tempt us to part with it.
This instrument sings its own praise and is sure to
make many friends.
Yours truly,
MRS. A. T. SMITH.
I
BROOKLYN, N. Y., March 8, 1889.
ENRY BEHNING, Jr., returned last week from
Bermuda, much improved in health.
Reinhard Kochmann, with Behning & Son, is
expected home this week from a somewhat extended
trip through the South, where he sold hosts of Behning
pianos.
Al. Behning will leave New York next week for a
tour through the Canadas.
The business of the firm of Behning & Son is in very
excellent condition.
H
OTTO SUTRO of Baltimore, Md., will sail for Europe
early in June. He will visit his family, who are at pres-
ent residing in the German capital.
M. STEINERT SONS have given an order for forty of
the C. D. Pease pianos, of which they are now agents.
E S T A B L I S H E D 1875-
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO THE TRADE.
553 to 557 West 30th Street.
NEW YORK, March, 21st, 1889.
A BEHNING BUDGET.
AHLSTROH PIANOS.
HE French people and, indeed, many other people,
are constantly afflicted by spasmodic attacks of
anarchy and social discontent. Changes from a
monarchical to a republican form of government and
vice versa do not in any perceptible degree remedy this
disorder of the national system. The French working-
man feels that he is used by his employer as a species
of tool. He chafes under the idea that all his mental
and physical power is used to the greatest possible ad-
vantage of the capitalist, and to the least possible ad-
vantage of himself. " Why," says he, " should I work
for such-and-such wages in order that men who neither
toil or spin may enjoy nineteen-twentieths of the fruits
of my labor ? " The results of such a contemplation of
the relations between capital and labor have been the
barricade, the street massacre, the engendering of hate,
and — the continuation, practically, of,the old state
of affairs.
The same species of discontent is not unknown even
in this " sweet land of liberty," as witness the Hay-
market episode in Chicago three years ago, and the
hanging of the four socialistic leaders.
So long as masters and men remain obstinate in these
matters, so long as each class regards the other as com-
posed of foes rather than of brother-men, so long—
to use a homely expression—as neither will budge an
inch, this dangerous and lamentable condition will re-
main.
In medio tutissimus ibis. But what is this curative
middle course ? Already a remarkably effective ap-
proximation to it has been made by Alfred Dolge.
The success of this clear-headed, energetic man in bind-
ing himself and his employees together in the silken
bonds of am ity has been watched with the keenest interest.
The directors of the forthcoming Exposition in Paris,
have invited Mr. Dolge to forward, for public inspection
in that great "world's fair," a complete account of his
famous Dolgeville system, and have set apart consider-
able space for the display of charts and tables illustra-
tive thereof. The exhibit will be placed, naturally, in
the department devoted to consideration of the relations
between capital and labor, and in the section of that de-
partment which is presided over by Monsieur Robert,
with whom, in fact, the invitation to Mr. Dolge origi-
nated.
Mr. Dolge has heartily responded, and it goes with-
out the saying t at his exhibit will be fully illustrative
of his admirable methods of benefiting and keeping in
harmony with his work-people. It will appear in
French, English, and German.
We hereby beg to notify the trade, that Mr. Gustavus
Baylies, Jr., is in no way connected with our firm, and
is not authorized to transact any business for us.
BAUS & Co.
C. E. WENDELL, of Albany, N. Y., contemplates
opening a music store in Denver, Col., at an early date.
HARMONIGRAPH. Joseph A. Decuir, New Orleans,
La. This is an apparatus by which music, as played on
a piano or other instrument, may be suitably indicated
on a sheet of paper, the construction being such that
paper is fed steadily forward and lines drawn thereon,
the lines being broken by depressing the keys, the
breaks in the lines indicating the notes, and the length
of the breaks indicating the time due the notes.—Scien-
tific American.
R e l i a b l e A g e n t s ' W a n t e d for these incomparable instruments, which
possess many valuable improvements not found in pianos of any other make.
Specially adapted as leaders, and sold exclusively as First Grade Instruments.
C. A. AHLSTROM,
MANUFACTURER,
Not. 119, 114 & 116 East 3d Street,
JAMESTOWN, N. Y,
V