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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
357
broken and shattered, must be replaced by material that
nature apparently never intended to float until man
said it must.
The swart hand of the blacksmith, sufficient from the
beginning of history to forge all needed weapons of
war, was powerless to construct the ponderous cranks
and pistons whose creation required the concentrated
strength of hundreds of brawny arms. Without them
the battle was lost. Man's fertile brain contrived that
arm of power, and the triumphant race of majestic ships
across the ocean records his victory. So has every
element of nature contributed to the safety or minister-
ed to the comfort of mankind, and surely no more in-
teresting and beautiful contribution has been made to
the wonderful catalogue of great achievements in the
past century than the Electric piano. Slur it not with
the contemptuous name "mechanical;" the music of the
future will be rendered mechanically, and probably more
perfectly and grandly than by the orchestra of the pres-
ent. When some future Beethoven has arranged some
mighty symphony to be played by a grand combination
of instruments, each resounding chord moved by the
impulse of electricity, old men will smile as they re
member the comparatively ill trained or discordant or-
chestras of the past.
" J- M.
ano, like others of its kind to be found everywhere, but
the spirit who plays it is ten thousand times greater than
that evolved from the smoke of the bottle dragged by
the frightened fisherman from the bottom of the sea.
There he stands with tireless fingers ready to embody
for your entertainment the moods and passions of every
land, as the people have embalmed them in melody. He
is higher than the loftiest mountain peak; deeper than
the sea; his arms stretch from the tropics to the poles,
yet has he been dragged from his stronghold and pris-
oned within the frame of that piano by the weak arms
but strong brain of a boy born and reared among you,
Robert W. Pain, of N. Y. The spirit is named Electric-
ity.
But, said the detractor, it is only mechanical music
after all. (Just then the piano branched off with "Listen
to the Mocking Bird.") Well, my friend, what of it?
Will you sit down to that piano and execute that piece
equally well with the genie that is now performing ?
You know you cannot! Then what are sensible and un-
prejudiced people to look for? Must we prefer poor
music if played by hand to good music if rendered me-
chanically ? If you so decide, then, logically, my friend,
you must prefer the inflated sheepskin, or row-boat when
you travel by water, to that floating palace, the "City of
Paris." But is not the hand itself mechanical ? Is it not,
indeed, like the keyboard and action, another piece of
mechanism between the brain and the sounding devices?
the brain being the source of every impulse and emo-
tion?
The capability of the human hand has remained
stationary for ages, but the insatiable appetite of human
desires has grown with the means of supply. To meet
ever expanding necessities man's brain has erected
other hands beyond those provided by nature. He has
the mighty power born of the alliance of fire and water,
and he has determined that it shall become his servant.
The prancing steed no longer satisfies him, he has har-
nessed in bands of steel a gigantic courser, and wings
his way over mountain and prairie with the speed of the
cyclone. He must cross wide oceans, but here he meets
. with contending elements that call for new resources,
His'white, winged wooden fabrics, often hurledback
TAYLOR'S Music House of Springfield, Mass., will be
thrown open for the convenience of visitors to the
great Musical Festival to be held on the 6th, 7th and
8th inst. Visitors will highly appreciate the advantages
of such fine headquarters, and the generosity of the pro-
prietors. The artists who will appear during the festi-
val are the most eminent of the country. Adele Aus der
Ohe will play upon a Steinway & Sons grand piano,
furnished by Taylor's-Music House.
Every man and firm connected wiih the music trade of
America should possess a copy of this Centennial number
of T H E MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
Twenty-five
cents per
copy, at the office, j E. Fourteenth Street, New \ork,
where original photographs of the piano parade, badges
worn, the leading participants, etc., may also be procured.
Priie^^o eents.
STEINWAY & SONS CONTINGENT.