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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
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and Rubinstein's " Tower of Babel," Tuesday,
April 4th, 1893. The soloists will comprise well-
known artists.
Christ Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, has
settled the choir question in a manner satisfac-
tory to its congregation, After a variety of ex-
periments in choirs, the musical directors at
length decided on a surpliced choir of both boys
and girls. In old church parlance such a selec-
tion of singers is known as a " cock and hen
choir. " The uniform adopted consists of a black
cassock, white surplice and the " mortar board "
hat so familiar to English eyes at Oxford. The
girls range in age from twelve upward. This
mixed choir drew throngs to the church service.
Ovide Musin, the famous violinist, will be
heard in New York for the first time in four years
on December 18, with the Damrosch orchestra at
Music Hall. M. Musin will have returned
with his company from an extended Australian
tour.
Bapds agd
Mr. Frederick Dean, the well-known lecturer
and authority on music, announces a series of
six explanatory lectures on the programmes of
the New York Symphony Society concerts, to
be given in Chamber Music Hall, 57th street
and 7th avenue (Carnegie Hall), on the morn-
ings of Thursday, November 10th, December
1st, 1892; January 4th, February 2d, March
10th and April 13th, 1893. Mr. Dean will also
give a series of five explanatory lectures on the
programmes of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
concerts at Chickering Hall, 5th avenue and
18th street, on Tuesday mornings, November
1st, December 6th, 1892 ; January 10th, Febru-
ary 7th, and March 14th, 1893. The lectures
will explain in detail the programmes to be ren-
dered and will be thoroughly illustrated by the
best attainable artists. Those who have had
the pleasure of hearing Mr. Dean lecture, know
what a treat is in store for them this season, as
he is not only an entertaining lecturer, but an
instructive one, and after listening to one of his
discourses we come away with a better knowl-
edge of and insight into the meaning of the
works of the great masters. Mr. Dean is under
the management of John Lavine.
Mr. Walter Damrosch has just received four
genuine trumpets from Paris, which have been
made expressly for the Symphony Orchestra.
They will be used from now on in place of the
cornets heretofore used by New York musi-
cians.
The first of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's
concerts here this winter, will be given next
Thursday evening, in Chickering Hall, under
the direction of Herr Nikisch. Miss Emma
Juch will be the soloist, and the chief orchestral
number will be Schumann's D minor symphony.
Great preparations are being made for the cel-
ebration of the golden Episcopal jubilee of Pope
Leo XIII., which will be held at Music Hall, on
the evening of February 19th, 1893. A chorus
will sing parts of the repertoire of the Sixtine
Chapel, which are exclusively rendered by the
Papal Choir, and which will be heard for the
first time in this country. The Symphony Or-
cestra, Walter Damrosch conductor, will assist.
The Brooklyn Choral Society, of which C.
Mortimer Wiske is conductor, announces the
following program for the season : Three festi-
val performances will be given at the Brooklyn
Academy of Music, beginning with the "Mes-
siah," Tuesday, December 20th, 1892 ; Dvorak's
<' Stabat Mater," Tuesday, February 28th, 1893,
Used Exclusively in Seidl,
Thomas and Gilmore Concerts
at Madison Square Garden,
New York.
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fir) fir/^ier/t Doeumeijt.
t M | R . DANIEL SPILLANE has unearthed
-*«**- a technical paper on stringed instru-
ments, written in 1786 bv Francis Hopkinson,
and published in the Columbian Magazine of
Philadelphia. The following extract from the
paper will be read with interest by the manu-
facturers of to-day :
The strings of a harpsichord are made to
vibrate by the impulse of small pieces of crow-
quill ; these, from the manner in which they
are supplied, are compelled to perform their
office to such disadavantage that many become
weak and fail with a little use, and what is
called the '' touch '' of the instrument becomes
thereby unequal and disagreeable, both to the
performer and hearer.
I attempted two or three years ago to remedy
this imperfection. My first idea was to increase
the length of the quill, so as to make it act more
like a spring, but the horizontal length of the
quill cannot by the construction of the action be
more than about one-quarter of an inch. I
effected the purpose, however, by mounting the
quill. By this means the spring of the quill
was advantageously increased without increas-
ing its horizontal length. But it was objected
by makers that the quill being thus forcibly
bent was apt to spring back with bad results.
Although this was rather a fault in the execu-
tion than in the design, yet the project was not
adopted because of the uncertainty.
My next device was to throw aside quills alto-
gether. Taking hard and well-seasoned sole
leather, I cut therefrom the intended tongues,
which I mounted on springs. This contrivance
seemed to answer very well; the tone produced
was full and noble, and the touch not disagreea-
ble. It promised permanency because the elas-
ticity required is not in the tongue, but in the
zigzag wire spring, which, if properly connected,
will not be likely to fail. The objections to this
design were that the touch was not as lively
and agreeable as the common quill, but princi-
pally because the machinery was too complex
and delicate for general use.
Not discouraged, I have again endeavored to
attain the object and end in view, and flatter
myself that I have now fully succeeded. I t^ke
velvet cork of the very best kind. I cut this
into plates about one-quarter of an inch thick,
and glue upon them thin and well-polished leath-
er. From these I cut the tongues and fix them
in mortices cut in the palates in the same man-
ner, and with the same ease, that the common
quill is fixed in the little hole punched for its re-
ception. The tongue thus fixed must be slanted
off underneath from the point—where it must
be very thin at the root—and then nibbed like
a pen to the proper length. The touch may
be easily and nicely adjusted by shaving away
more of the cork from underneath with a sharp
penknife or fine file.
In cutting the tongues from their plates care
must be taken that the grain of the cork shall
run lengthways. I have found these tongues to
answer every requisite. The polished leather
forms a most agreeable surface of contact with
the metal string and shields the cork, which
would otherwise be cut through by the string.
The tone produced is full and very pure, being
perfectly free from that clicking, jingling noise
which the common quill usually produces, and
which has been justly complained of in the best
harpsichord.
^r
130 Fifth Avenue, corner 18th Street, New- York.
BOSTON,
NEW YORK,
CHICAGO.