Music Trade Review

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW,
school that made manifest the genius of the
elder Broadwood, of Erard, who was as much
identified with London as with Paris ; of South-
well, Wornum, Allen, Stewart and numerous
IN EUROPE.
others to whom we are indebted for many of the
most important earlier developments. For that
(FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ABROAD.)
reason I cannot witness a decadence of the Lon-
don piano industry without some regret.
PIANO MANUFACTURING IN LONDON—SERIOUS
An important indication of the condition of
INCREASE OF IMPORTS—ENGLISH PIANOS
piano making in London is furnished one in the
AND THEIR RIVALS—AN AWAKENING
advertising pages of the English music trade
IN LONDON—WHAT WE OWE TO
journals. Glance over them and what do we
LONDON MAKERS OF THE PAST
find ? Simply this, that they derive the greatest
—THE
ENGLISH MUSIC
part of their support from firms representing
TRADE JOURNALS AND
German pianos, American organs and miscel-
THEIR PATRONS.
laneous musical goods imported from countries
SOME REMARKS UPON A POWERFUL SATIRIST— abroad.
London manufacturing firms' here
again, even at this date, exhibit an appalling
COCKS & CO.—MR. WALTER ELLIOTT—NEW
ignorance of the value of liberal advertising in
MUSIC—BARNETT, SAMUELS & CO. AND
music trade journals. This alone indicates a
THE CHICAGO ORGAN CO.—SONG
lagging behind the times. On the other hand,
WRITING AND PUBLISHERS—
we behold the best advertising positions in the
DANIEL MAYER AND THE
possession of foreigners and houses representing
ERARD PIANO—
foreign goods. Meanwhile the London trade
RUDOLPH IBACH & SONS.
editors are much indebted to American organ
THE SUBERS COMPOUND WIRE ABROAD.
manufacturers for much of the patronage which
they receive.
.tW CANNOT help feeling some sympathy with
*
*
*
*
*
*
^
British piano manufacturers. There is a
The genius who is responsible for the '' Peleg
steady decrease yearly in the gross output of
Diggs
" department of a certain much respected
their shops, while the Board of Trade returns
continue to show an increase in the imports. and moral contemporary of yours is '' hiding his
Of course a large proportion of manufacturers light under a bushel." Such a dazzling wit
will not deal with " protection " in any form, ought to be better known. I am not surprised
nevertheless, and consequently in the broad that the effete Britishers are jealous of the Ame-
spirit of their economic creed they are prepared rican literary world, when it can produce such
to suffer. I cannot help pitying them, however, an intellectual pyramid as Mr. Diggs. I did not
for there was a time when London piano makers see a number of the paper in question for a con-
were able to hold their own against Germany siderable period, until a London nmsic trade
and France, the rival piano-producing countries editor put an exchange copy into my hand one
they have to contend with. But with the ex- morning, last week. It bore the date of August
ception of a few first-class hoiises devoted to 24. The poor London editor appeared afraid of
high-priced instruments, Broadwood & Sons for it. Its display of editors, board of directors,
instance, the mass of London manufacturers business managers, etc., knocks the Bank of
have remained where their fathers placed them, England or our Federal Government silly. The
while Germany and the United States forged London Times or Telegraph, the New York
ahead with the spirit of the times. It is certainly Wotld, Times, or any other piece of newspaper
anomalous that the people who have built up property is nowhere beside that show. And yet
magnificent London, who govern it with such piano firms composed of one or two Jack Smiths,
admirable intelligence, and whose genius is so with only a half a million or so capital behind
manifest in various departments of human them, dare to differ with that mighty arbitrator
activity, should have been so slow to adopt pro- and journalistic institution ! What monstrous
foolishness truly! It is no wonder that my
gressive methods in piano making.
friend the London trade editor looked frightened.
*
*
*
*
*
*
About fifteen j-ears ago, when German pianos He, poor devil, is not used to reading news-
appeared in England, the chances in their favor papers of such magnitude in finance.
*
*
*
*
*
*
were not at all promising, but they secured a
foothold in time. First came the cheaper, then
What struck me in glancing over that issue
the higher grade of pianos, those approximat- was the incidental association of the Estey
ing to American instruments in structure, until Organ Co. with a considerable amount of pro-
their position in the British market could no miscuous blackguardism of a certain literary
longer be ignored by English competitors. standard. Even though that firm was treated
Then, and not until then, came an awakening in a serious spirit and given liberal space, I
among London makers. They saw it was would like to know Governor Fuller's or Col.
necessary to abandon old ideas for new ones Estey's private opinion of the general tone of
under the circumstances. But—mark this point the trade department, as evidenced in that par-
—they did not awaken until very recently, and ticular issue. Respect for the Estey Organ Co.,
until it was nearly too late. They did not begin its traditions and members, ought to have in-
to realize the necessity for making pianos up- duced the music trade organ in question to make
on lines which the intelligence of the ablest that number, at least, a dignified and clean one.
piano makers and pianists in the United States Though the editor-in-chief of the trade depart-
and on the Continent have approved and the ment of that paper is an incorrigible blackguard,
advantages of which practical demonstration judging him by his methods, utterly incapaci-
attests, until they had been left very far behind. tated by intuition and breeding for a higher
I am speaking of the majority of English makers conception of journalistic etiquette, the directory
obviously, not the leaders. Now, however, of managers contains some men who know bet-
there is a manifest desire to catch up with ter, and surely they ought to educate that indi-
foreign competitors, but I am afraid it will be a vidual for their mutual good. In Great Britain,
hard task.
at least, the circulation of copies of the issue
containing an account of the Estey celebration,
*
*
*
*
*
*
The distinguished and useful art of piano even though the account is very full and
making owes much to London. That was the thorough, would not add anything to the well-
.
t-93
deserved prestige of the Estey Organ Co., a
prestige which has been won by years of hard
work, honest methods and a dignified policy in
competing with other organ firms. Imagine
the "only American musical trade editor" at-
tempting to compliment the Estey Organ Co.
upon virtues with which he has apparent^ not
the remotest constitutional affiliation !
*
*
*
*
*
*
Mr. Walter Elliott, manager of the piano and
organ department of Cocks & Co., reports that
the Newman organs are, so far, proving a very
satisfactory addition to their general line of
keyboard instruments. " We have been for
several years on the lookout for an American
organ adapted to our requirements, but until
the Newman organ was put before us we never
found an instrument to answer our needs. We
have consequently accepted the sole agency for
the United Kingdom, and will spare no pains to
push them in line with our general stock." Mr.
Elliott was standing as he spoke by a Winkel-
man piano which he had been showing me in
the warerooms of Cocks & Co. when he uttered
the above. I just dropped in on Tuesday to ask
Mr. Elliott some questions about Mr. Jack
Haynes' departure for home and other matters
relating to trade. I found him exceedingly
agreeable and willing to afford me every infor-
mation possible about the way the Newman
organ is moving along, as well as some facts
about the latest musical publications of Cocks
& Co. Mr. Elliott expressed a hope that Mrs.
Haynes did not suffer any ill-effects from the
voyage across owing to her recent escape from
what threatened to be a serious illness. Cocks
& Co., in addition to their own instruments,
hold the London agency for the Winkelman
piano, a German product. In a previous letter
I said all that could briefly be said about the
character and standing of this old and eminent
firm.
They are about bringing out new songs by
Mattei, Mascheroni (who has just composed an
" Ave Maria" especially for Patti) Cowen,
Roeckel, Hutchinson, Moir and other celebrated
writers, besides instrumental music in the
smaller forms by Meisller, Arthur E. and Char-
les Godfrey (of the Godfrey family), Palmieri
and a host of others. Mascheroni recently sold
them an extremely pretty " Morceau," which
ought to be appreciated in the States. Cocks &
Co. have also entered into an arrangement with
Lawrence Kellie which gives them the exclus-
ive right to publish the compositions of that
clever song writer. "The City of Night " and
" Crossing the Bar, "on Tennyson's little poem,
may be mentioned as examples of Kellie's
genius.
*
*
*
*
*
*
Barnettj Samuels & Co., of Worship street,
are the British agents for the Chicago Cottage
Organ Co. They report business to be extreme-
ly satisfactory. These instruments are finding
new friends from day to day, and are a known
and recognized article in the market of the
United Kingdom. Barnett, Samuels & Co.
control every facility for pushing them to the
highest degree of advantage.
*
*
*
*
*
*
The Lyric is a London monthly published in
the interest of song writers and composers. I
notice in the current number that there are
thirty-five lyrics printed and advertised for sale.
The price affixed is equivalent to ten United
States dollars. On inquiry I found that com-
posers invariably pay that figure to writers
such as E. Oxenford or G. H. Newcombe,
and, what is more, they have to pan down,
or tackle standard poetry. English com-
posers have, however, recently discovered a
way out; they have begun to set American