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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
ABOUT AWARDS.
HERE seems to be a decided feeling among
the manufacturers against awards at the
World's Fair. We have studied the question
very closely, and think that the opinions of the
majority incline that way. If a very strong
argument were needed to show the probable
result of issuing awards, a recent letter on the
question from Mr. Edward P. Mason, President
of the Mason & Hamlin Organ Co., to Director
General Davis, could be effectively employed to
illustrate the vanities and other difficulties to
be contended with. Mr. Mason is emphatically
in favor of awards. He says :
1
' We claim that one of the greatest special or
radical improvements of this sort in recent years
is our own improved and patented mode of
stringing, known as the ' Mason & Hamlin
Screw Stringer.' Indeed, it is recognized as
such by many competent judges, and we feel
that, in fairness to American ingenuity, and
manufactures, it is entitled to some special
award or honorable mention at the World's Fair
of 1893."
We entertain very sincere feelings of respect
for the traditions of the house of Mason
& Hamlin, and for the Mason & Hamlin
piano, but we think that Mr. Mason should
have displayed more discretion and better
judgment under the circumstances. He was
supposed to write on the question of awards
from a broad and impersonal standpoint.
But what does he attempt to do ? What does
the above imply ? Simply this : That Mr.
Mason and those who have thought it well to
recommend the excellent qualities of the Mason
& Hamlin pianos are held up as a Court in ad-
vance. They decide that " i t is entitled to
some special award." Meanwhile we do not
wish to be misunderstood. We do not doubt
Mr. Mason's verdict regarding his instrument,
but we have no hesitation in saying that the
expression of judgment we have quoted would
read better under some other signature. And
it is even more peculiarly out of place when
addressed to the Director General of the Fair.
f
MORE HONORS FOR THE STEINWAY.
?ESSRS. STEINWAY & SONS this week
received a cablegram from their London
house, advising them that the Princess of Wales
had ordered another Steinway piano for Sand-
ringham Palace. From Hamburg they received
another cablegram, stating that the brother of
the Sultan of Turkey had ordered from the
Hamburg factory a piano for his palace in Con-
stantinople. Verily high honors are being
showered upon the house of Steinway, both at
home and abroad.
Individualities of ty
Srade.
A STUDY OF CHARACTER FROM HANDWRITING.
STUDY XI.—LEOPOLD PECK.
JjVvfrR. PECK writes a polished hand, full of
~^L~ push and vitality and strength ; shrewd-
ness and foresight are evident. He has con-
siderable range of mental sight, and is one of
the men born with power of welding and organ-
izing large and separate interests, and of operat-
ing them from a distance. He is in this sense
a general-in-chief. But he is none the less able
to look after the smaller things. In this he is
remarkable among piano men. It proves the
possession of a versatile and far-reaching mind.
Mr. Peck is fertile in resources and hard to down.
He has no second rate aims in his schedule of
ambitions, and does not like to play second
fiddle to anybody. To Mr. Peck's sense of pride
is due the cultivation of the best traits in his
character. He is not a laggard in his methods
and works with a will. Reverses do not prevent
him from trying an issue again and again. Mr.
Peck is somewhat sensitive but is possessed ot
a sufficiently strong will to control his feelings
under most circumstances.
As a political leader he would be very suc-
cessful ; that is, in a field broader than mere
municipal politics. Mr. Peck, apart from the
characteristics treated, enjoys the society of
friends, and has a disposition calculated to at-
tract a few strong and sincere friendships, rather
than miscellaneous acquaintances.
If you desire to select a Chistmas present that
will be of use to the recipient as well as being
delightful, read our premium list published in
another portion of this issue. For an exceedingly
moderate sum you can obtain a beautiful set of
books and this paper one year.
ROBT. M. WEBB is about to put felt wedges
on the market, and the machinery for their
manufacture is now being placed in the factory
in Brooklyn.
MR. KROEGER, of the firm of Gildemeester &
Kroeger, who has been quite ill with an attack
of the grippe, has now fully recovered.
WE acknowledge the receipt of the " Crown"
calendar, and think it is a very neat and useful
advertisement for the " Crown " pianos and
organs. G. P. Bent is first on deck with the
calendar, and, as usual, he is forging ahead.
THE Cornett Piano is an instrument much
sought after by the dealer ; why ? Because it is
a well made piano, an easy seller, and it never
fails to give satisfaction. The Cornett, with the
new scale, is a fine instrument.
STRAUCH BROS., manufacturers of piano
actions, have had their factory going day and
night of late, in order to keep abreast of the
numerous calls for their well-known action.
THE Congregational Church in Winchester,
N. H., is to have a pipe organ, the first in that
town. The money needed to pay for it, $1,500,
has all been pledged.
FOR the past two months the facilities of the
You cannot obtain a set of the works of Cooper, factory of the New England Piano Co. have been
Irving, Scott, Dickens or Thackeray, elegantly taxed to meet the enormous demand for the in-
printed and bound and suitable for the home lib- struments manufactured by them.
rary for $6. We will send you such a set and
THE Staib Piano Action Co. are as busy as
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW for one year for that
bees,
and if trade keeps on as at the present
moderate sum. Read our premium list in another
rate they will have to enlarge their facilities.
portion of this paper.
THE establishment of Yohn Bros., Harris-
burg, Pa., piano and organ dealers, has been
burned, but they were able to get out most of
their valuable stock.
I^evieu/ii^s.
Continued from first page.
The phonograph is about to serve a remarkable
purpose. In view of a bona fide Patti farewell
concert occurring some time inside of the next
half a century, a wax Patti is about to be con-
structed, fitted with a phonograph, so that hav-
ing imprisoned the singer's repertoire in phono-
grams her voice may be heard in future cen-
turies. Answers, the London weekly, puts
forth the above in the most serious way, and it
is entirely possible.
"The Reviewer" is,
however, judging from the instrument as it is,
not very enthusiastic about the phonograph as
a means of reproducing musical effects, parti-
larly the human voice in song. While Edison
possesses a thorough comprehension of the
abstract science of acoustics above all men, as
his achievements indicate, he admits a weakness
in one direction, and that is in the perception
of timbre in sound. Although Edison could
give scientific instruction to the average piano
maker on the physical basis of his art, any tone
regulator or tuner is his master as far as the
recognition of variety in tone, quality and pitch
goes. Edison's phonograph succeeds in regis-
tering musical sounds as they are, but when
they are reproduced are they the same to the ear ?
I have heard the phonograph representing a brass
band, but it seemed to me more like a '' tin ''
band. I have also heard the instrument giving
reproductions of songs caught from the lips of
noted singers, but in all cases the original timbre
of the voice had been lost. Instead of the pecu-
liar softness and sympathetic quality of the
human voice, metallic and smothered sounds
reached my ear. The phonograph will never be
perfected until it is taken in hands by a scientist
gifted with keen musical perceptions.
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A statistician lately discovered that among
the 100 supers engaged by Henry Irving for his
production of " Henry VIII." in London, about
thirty different trades and callings were repre-
sented. There were two tailors, one lawyer,
one piano teacher, one bootmaker, one dealer in
fried fish, six porters, a band performer, two
piano makers and a butcher's assistant among
the rest.
In the last issue of the American Att fournal
Mr. Siegfried Hansing published an interesting
account of some experiments he recently made
in the construction of sound-boards. The object,
need it be said, was to discover new ideas in the
way of improving its tone-augmenting powers.
Mr. Hansing says in a paragraph, " One pecu-
liarity which I observed with reference to all
auxiliary sound-boards, excepting such as form
part of the principal board, is that they are
dumb." The application of the foregoing de-
monstration to practical piano making serves
to show, in my opinion, that the sound-board
derives no vibratory reinforcement from the
sides and other portions of the case. The latter
are not only dumb as far as sympathetic vibra-
tion goes, but, as Myron A. Decker, of Decker &
Sons, shows,in his elliptic scale upright, the tone
of the piano can be strengthened and improved
by insulating the sound-board as much as pos-
sible from the back and sides.
T H E REVIEWER.
ISAAC I. COLE & SON are showing some very
handsome blister walnut veneers at their ware-
rooms, 429 East 8th street, New York city.
Now is the time to obtain an elegant and useful
premium. See our list of delightful books pub-
lished in another part of this paper. You can
make a selection that will add to the interest and
value of your home library or which you can
give as a Christmas present.