Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
366
THE B. SHONINGER COMPANY.
SCANLAN AND HIS CREDITORS.
THEIR WONDERFUL PROGRESS IN PIANO MANUFACTURE.
R. THOMAS F. SCANLAN has effected an
arrangement with his creditors which, if satis-
factory to them, must be eminently so to him-
self. The meeting at which this settlement was decided
upon was held at the Parker House, Bos Ion, Mass., on the
morning of the 8th inst., and was attended by the under-
mentioned and other creditors and accredited repre-
sentatives of creditors: Mr. W. L. Blanchard, President
of the Metropolitan National Bank of Boston; Mr. Carl
Fink, representing Alfred Dolge; Messrs. Comstock,
Cheney & Co.; Mr. James S. Cumston, Mr. Sylvester
Tower, Messrs. O. J.Faxon & Co., Messrs. Hastings &
Winslow of New York, the Cashier First National Bank,
Hyannis, Mass.; Cashier Veazie, National Bank of Ban-
gor, Me.; Mr. Allen, President Central National Bank
of Boston; Messrs. Owen Bearse & Son of Boston, Mr.
A. Gardner, Messrs. Cushman, Keating & Co.. the Chas-
W. Sparr Co., Messrs. Buerkel & Co., Mr. James A
Wood, Messrs. Weston & Bigelow, the H. D. Bronson
Co. of Beacon Falls, Conn.; Messrs. Hammacher,
Schlemmer & Co.; Messrs. J. B. Dixon & Co., of Bos-
ton; the Cornwall & Patterson Mfg. Co. of Bridgeport,
Conn.; Mr. C. Stevens of New York, the B. A. Sturte-
vant Co. of Boston; Messrs. Strauch Bros., Messrs.
Johnson Bros., Palmer, Parker & Co., the Parker &
Young Mfg. Co. of Lisbon, N. H.; the Davenport &
Treacy Co. of New York.
Mr. Blanchard, who acted as chairman of the meeting,
stated that the investigating committee, having made an
examination of the debtor's assets, had come to the
conclusion that the statement presented by the latter on
the 1st inst. might be accepted as practically correct.
The committee recommended the acceptance of Mr.
Scanlan's offer of one hundred cents on the dollar, in six
equal instalments, at six, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four,
thirty and thirty-six months, without interest, the first
payment to date six months from June 1st. Some kind
of exception seems to have been at first taken to leav-
ing all the property in Mr. Scanlan's hands without any
guarantee, and several creditors suggested the appoint-
ment of a trustee, but these objections were successfully
combated and the proposition in its naked simplicity
was agreed to.
It is to be hoped that the majority of the creditors
will not, at the end of the year 1892, have reason to
regret the generous confidence reposed by them in Mr.
Scanlan in the month of May, 1889.
HE ranks of the piano trade of America are adorn-
ed by thousands of distinguished firms whose
eminence is but the natural and fitting sequel to
honorable and determined struggles in obscurity. Prob-
ably no better or brighter example of the reward that
almost inevitably follows upon honest enterprise, allied
with great ability, can be instanced than that supplied
by the B. Shoninger Company, of New Haven, Conn., a
house who have remained unaffected, in any unfavora-
ble sense, by the changes to which the piano and organ
trades of this country have been subjected during past
years.
The B. Shoninger Company have manufactured or-
gans during upwards of thirty-nine years, and in this
line alone have achieved a reputation not exceeded by
that of any other firm of organ-makers in the world.
Their characteristic integrity, as well as their keen fore-
sight, were strongly evidenced when, perceiving the
downward tendencies of the business in the East, they
boldly set an example which will redound to their fame
for many a decade. Refusing to be competitors in a
race in which quality, and quality alone, was not the
deciding factor, they desisted from the manufacture of
all the cheaper kinds of organs, and confined their
efforts to those fine grades which have brought them
profit and renown.
After due deliberation the firm came to the conclusion,
in 1876, that an opening existed for them in the piano
field. The result has proved the soundness of this con-
viction. But as they well knew the difference between
being quick and being in a hurry, they did not make a
very pretentious beginning. Their first object was to
make a piano whose merits should attract attention
without the aid of drummers. Rome was not built in a
day; and the B. Shoninger Company were perfectly
content to wait until their reputation in the new sphere
should be grounded upon deliberately formed public
opinion.
In 1876 they made about two pianos per week
Though they advertised to some extent, they did not go
down on their knees and supplicate the patronage of
dealers. Their policy was energetic, manly and con-
servative. Its soundness is sufficiently demonstrated
by the fact that in 1887 they made eleven hundred
pianos, and in 1888 sixteen hundred. A great increase
upon last year's output is already anticipated for the
present year, and with good reason, for between Janu-
ary 1st and May 1st, 1889, the B. Shoninger Co. made
and sold two hundred and seventy-one more pianos than
were turned out by them in the corresponding period
of 1888. They are hard at work all the time, trying
their best to fill orders and succeeding as well as their
immense business will permit.
The personnel of the firm is a remarkable one. Ber-
nard Shoninger, the honored head of the concern, is an
amiable and kindly gentleman of the " live and let live "
type, and is held in the most affectionate esteem by all
with whom he comes in contact. Particularly is he ven-
erated by his employees. His main business methods
are soon summed up. Never having attempted to over-
trade, his losses have been few and trifling. Further, he
always paid cash down to his supply men, never sold at
a sacrifice, and never had occasion to deal disadvantage-
ously with his customers' paper. Simple and straight-
forward in all things, his ship has gallantly and success-
fully encountered the commercial elements, and is never
likely to be steered out of peaceful latitudes. His two
sons, Simon and Joseph, are worthy counterparts of
their sire, able, unassuming and progressive. The for-
mer devotes his time and energies to the management
of the factory, while the latter, aided by the redoubtable
Anguera, has conducted the Chicago branch of the con-
cern t© a high level of prosperity.
Returns from the recently established Eastern branch
at No: 86 Fifth avenue, New York city, are of a very
encouraging kind, but this is only what was expected.
No man can ever quote against any member of the B.
Shoninger firm the words of Scripture, " This man be-
gan to build, but was not able to finish." On the con-
trary, the Shoninger structure, erected on the firm
foundation of high principle, wondrous energy, intelli-
gence and skill, promises to defy for an indefinite period
the storms of trade and the buffetings of time.
T
J. H. CHRISTIE, Stamford, Conn., made a pleasant
call at the office of this paper last week.
M
ing gave Godard's Second Mazurka. In reply to recalls
he rendered other classic numbers, bringing out the
brilliant tones of the " Opera " piano in a very remark-
able manner. Mrs. Sarah Baron Anderson, the well
known contralto of the West Presbyterian Church,
greatly distinguished herself by her rendering of the
songs " Du bist Mein All" (Bradsky) and " My Lady's
Bower" (Hope Temple). This lady's efforts were re-
warded by well-deserved encores, to which she respond-
ed with charming readiness and grace. Peek & Son
must be congratulated upon having been favored with
the services of so eminent a songstress. Mr. Charles
Anderson elicited great laughter and hearty cheers by
his happy rendering of humorous recitations and songs.
In " Master and Pupil," a duet given by himself and
Mrs. Anderson, his fine ability both as comedian and
vocalist was signally illustrated and greatly relished.
Miss Mary E. Cherry, the elocutionist, recited " Lost
and Found" and "The Wake of Tim O'Hara," with
much skill and pathos, and materially assisted in making
the entertainment a thorough success and in populariz-
ing the firm of Peek & Son.
Other musicales will be given by this firm from time
to time, and if the talent engaged is always of as high
an order as that witnessed on Wednesdayevening last>
the makers of the " Opera" piano will have no small
reason to congratulate themselves upon having taken
this departuie.
A MUSICAL RHAPSODY.
Tenor eleven men were seated around the stove com-
paring notes when a beat, leaning heavily upon a stout
staff, entered and ambled up to the bar.
He wore an air of embarrassment, and there was a
perceptible quaver in his tone as he in-choired if the bar-
tender would give a glass of rum to a man who had
just returned from a voyage on the high C's.
"What's that you say?" inquired Boniface, winking
at the crowd. " Don't speak solo."
" I said drum, and you know it," replied the stranger
" Do you take me for & flat?"
"Who are you, anyway?" inquired the bartender,
surveying hymn curiously. " Where do you come
from ?"
''Hold on !" was the response. "Give me a chants and
I'll tell you. Your question is a natural one. My name
is Ben Legato. I am forte years of age and I hail from
Fife. As you may have guessed from the pitch on my
close, I am a sailor."
" Give me a rest" said the barkeeper sarcastically
YON BULOW'S ELECTRIC HAIR.
" You think yourself very sharp, don't you ! You
needn't step any longer; just turn around and march
OW that Dr. Hans Von Bulow, the piano mage, out."
has closed his musical tour in America with a
" You are not going to shake me so easily," replied
balance of some $12,000 to his credit, a curious the tramp, "and it will be just as swell for you to un-
story is quietly current about him. Dr. Von Bulow, as derstand it in time. I shall try to ignore your slurs,
people familiar with his appearance know, wears his although they do violins to my feelings."
hair long and thin on the top of his bold and somewhat
" I'll give you a baton the head fugue go on in that
bald head. Over his dreamy eyes and mobile brows way," was the fierce answer.
this sparse but silky thatch waves at time with an odd
" Don't that symphony?" laughed the stranger. "What
effect. A curious story was told by a barber who shaved major think of that i"
Dr. Von Bulow. The barber avowed that the great
" What a bass-viol pun ! " gasped the bartender.
pianist's top hair was so musically electric that when
" That schottische shameful! " said the tramp, attack-
combed with gutta-percha it stood up and emitted a ing the free lunch. " Now counterpoint for me."
singular, soft, humming sound in which an initiate
"Anthem crackers over," ordered the bartender. "Are
might trace divine melodies. Everybody who heard they minor yours ? 'How galop out."
the tale was seized at once of an earnest desire to pos-
" I won't duet," said the intruder, leisurely arranging
sess one of Dr. Von Bulow's musical hairs. As the his tie, " until vou give me the required tonic. I could
consequences of gratifying this multifarious desire drink a quartet least."
would be entirely depilatory, as well as disastrous to
"Skip," said Boniface, producing a small-sized canon,
himself, Dr. Von Bulow, rumor has it, has so far posi- " or there may be an accidental explosion."
tively refused to part with a single strand.—N. Y. World.
*' I'm going tnne now," said the visitor, and he made a
quickstep for the door and disappeared.—F. A. STEARNS
PEEK & SONS MUSICALE.
in N. Y. World.
N
THE "OPERA" PIANO HOUSE GIVE THEIR FRIENDS A VERY
PLEASANT TIME.
BRILLIANT and highly appreciative audience
crowded the wareroom of Peck & Son, of
"Opera" piano fame, at 216 West 47th Street,
corner of Broadway, N. Y., on the evening of Wednes-
day, May 15th, on the occasion of the first compliment-
ary musicale given under the auspices of that firm.
The long room was packed from end to end, and hun-
dreds were unable to obtain admission. The various
numbers of the programme were well rendered, their
performance exciting enthusiastic applause.
Prof. Paul Pfaffe opened the proceedings with a
Scherzo in B minor, by Chopin, and later in the even-
A
NOTICE.
E destruction on March 31st of our entire build-
I
ing and plant necessitating a change of location,
•*• we beg to announce that we have obtained tempor-
ary quarters at St. Johnsville, N. Y., until our new fac-
tory there will be completed.
This building will be of brick, two stories high, two
hundred feet long and as nearly fire-proof as possible.
We hope in the future to meet the approbation of the
trade by continued endeavors to produce first-class
work.
All communications until further notice should be
addressed to Roth & Engelhardt, 2904 Third Avenue,
New York City.