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5F
VOL.
XVI. No. 17.
published Every Saturday.
THE POWER OF THE • PRESS—PUTTING THE
SCREWS ON MR. WILSON—WHAT A CARELESS
PARAGRAPH HAS DONE—IS THE CHICA-
GO "TIMES " THE CHICAGO PRESS?
—BLUFFING DR. PEABODY —
FOREIGN PIANOS AT THE
FAIR — THE "PACK-
ARD " ORGAN IN
LONDON.
DANIEL MAYER RECEIVES A ROYAL APPOINT-
MENT— OTTO HEGNER—FOREIGN VIRTUOSI
WHO WILL PLAY THE " STEINWAY " —
SOME FACTS FOR PIANO MAKERS—
A WAX PATTI—DEFECTS OF
THE PHONOGRAPH—HAN-
SING'S EXPERIMENTS.
,\|pHE "Only American Music Trades Editor "
-cJ reads T H E MUSIC TRADE REVIEW very
closely. It is really too bad that he alone was
not selected to manage the music department of
the World's Fair, but it is now too late in the
day to complain. Mr. Wilson has ran amuck
of the principal of the Courier in various direc-
tions, principally because he did not consult
him to any extent in evolving his plans, and the
O. A. M. T. A. consequently went to Chicago last
week to complain of him to Dr. Peabody with
a view to getting him whipped and dismissed.
He reads this paper very carefully, as I remark-
ed, for the paragraph which he is now using
against Mr. Wilson with such virulence was
first quoted and commented on in THE MUSIC
TRADE REVIEW.
It was, however, printed and
commented on in these columns, not through a
desire to grind a personal axe or to air a petty
jealousy. Mr. Wilson should not have used the
paragraph referred to. It was a display of bad
taste, and that is about all. With his alleged
deficiencies and shortcomings as secretary of the
Music Bureau " The Reviewer " has nothing to
do.
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In the last issue of the Courier, under a start-
ling and thrilling display of Lockwood type,
headed by the word "Scandal ! " the "Power
of the Press " is let loose on poor Mr. Wilson.
I believe in questioning the conduct of a public
official, and in freely criticising his actions on
all matters relating to his office, but I have too
much respect for the functions of the press, and
for the principles of manly conduct, to have any
sympathy with the methods employed against
Mr. Wilson by the Courier. Apart from the
*
|feuz VorK, December 3,1892.
jealous spirit obvious in the motives, these
methods bear the stamp of sensationalism and
lack dignity of force capable of appealing to any
intelligence, only the "small beer" element
that one unfortunately finds in the sphere of
music. The Courier has meantime found an
ally in the Chicago Times, but the Chicago Times
somehow did not see Mr. Wilson's terrible
offences, until the leading spirit of the Courier
struck Chicago last week and pulled his private
wire upon the musical editor, but alas! the
musical editor is not the Times. And the Times
is not the entire Chicago press, as the Courier
would have the small beer element of its readers
believe. If Dr. Peabody is moved by such pal-
pable bluff he is not fit for the position he holds.
That the musical department of the World's
Fair could, in some respects, be in better hands
I honestly believe, but I think that matters
would go from bad to worse if they were man-
aged by any agency open to the wire pulling of
unprincipled newspaper men. The " Power of
the Press " in such hands is a menace to every
honest citizen and to every decent journalist.
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The official list of German musical instrument
exhibitors at the World's Fair is a disappoint-
ment. With the exception of the " Ronisch "
and one other instrument, there is no representa-
tion of German pianos to be made worth speak-
ing of. Mechanical, automatic and small musi-
cal goods will constitute the chief instruments
to be exhibited. There will be a showing of
Poehlmann wire made through Alfred Dolge.
That will be the only piano material exhibited
from a German source. British piano manufac-
turers have also turned their backs on the Fair,
so that in the matter of pianos the display will
be almost purely national. France, however,
will do better, thanks to Mr. Thibouville-Lamy.
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Wallis & Son, of 133 and 135 Euston Road,
London, the British agents for the " Packard "
organs, are advertising these excellent instru-
ments in a very aggressive and enterprising
way at present. I notice on the London trade
papers for the month an illustrated ad. which at
once catches the eye. There is a something in
pictorial advertising which solitary type, no mat-
ter how artistically displayed, cannot duplicate.
The '' Packard '' is admirably recommended
to one's notice in the advertisement of Wallis
& Co., and Wallis & Co. will find that it pays.
A hint for the Fort Wayne Organ Co.
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Erard & Co., of London, held a royal appoint-
ment from Queen Victoria at some time, but it
seems that as a general rule appointments be-
come void on the death, retirement or bank-
ruptcy of the holder. The Erards have passed
away, therefore Daniel Mayer, the owner of the
business, had to receive a personal warrant. I
see that a certificate of appointment to '' Daniel
Mayer, trading as Messrs. S. & P. Erard," was
issued November 2, and is now doing duty as
(3.00 PER YBAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
an advertisement for the " Erard, " and a good
one it is. Mayer is the right man to boom the
" Erard," if there is any booming in it.
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Otto Hegner is not in Bombay after all. He
did not slip away from his friends in Liverpool,
and "stow " himself on a ship bound for India.
He was not rescued by a kind lady and shelter-
ed, etc., etc. It is too bad to have to awaken to
the truth and spoil such a pretty little story,
but Otto is safe with his friends, and public
attention has been effectually called to his exist-
ence, and to the fact that he is to play next
month at the Glasgow orchestral concerts and
elsewhere in Great Britain. We, entre nous,
know a thing or two that the outside public do
not know about booming a celebrity for legiti-
mate purposes. Young Hegner is a genius,
meantime, and deserves all the advertising he
gets, and I am glad he is to play an American
piano.
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Steinway & Sons have consummated another
important and far seeing move in contracting
with Sophie Menter, M. Tschaikowsky and M.
Sapellnikoff to play the "Steinway "during their
American tour next year. Sophie Menter is the
senior of the trio and the best known in this
country. She was born in 1848, at Munich,
was one of Liszt's many pupils, and has been
over here before. A friend who heard her per-
form last year in Vienna says that" her playing
has lost none of its pristine character; on the
contrary he thinks that she is more of a virtuoso
than ever. The success of M. Tschaikowsky
and M. Sapellnikoff may be also looked on as
certain. Importers of musical stars do not run
so many risks as theatrical speculators, for the
peculiar quality of musical genius that compels
recognition in cultivated European committees
compels it equally under similar circumstances
in this country. Lyric and purely dramatic art
and artists, however, do not always appeal to
the same common instinct in cultivated minds.
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A Western pianist of some note is the author
of the subjoined remarks upon pianos : " Pianos
are not nearly so much affected by heat or cold
as they are by dryness, and reversely by damp-
ness. It is not generally known that the
sounding-board, the life of a piano, is forced
into a case when it is made so tightly that it
bulges up in the centre, on the same principle
as a violin." The foregoing will, indeed, be
news to piano makers. It is at least '' not
generally known" among manufacturers of the
instrument that the sounding-board '' is forced
into a case" so that '' it bulges up in the centre."
The pianist in question would find a little post-
ing up on the elementary principles of piano
construction very essential before committing
himself to further opinions in the same manner.
He would find the tuning school at the New
England Conservatory useful.
{Continued on page 351.