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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW,
i6
PITCH Of BRITISH
MILITARY BANDS.
GUSTAV SCHIRMER.
SCHIRMER, the well known
music publisher of this city, died at
Eisenach, Germany, on Monday, August 7th,
of Bright's disease, at the age of sixty-three-
He had been in failing health for the past two
years, but six months ago the malady assumed
a serious form and his death was not unexpected.
He went to Eisenach six weeks ago to visit a
daughter who lives there, as was his habit every
summer. Mr. Schirmer was born in Thuringia
in 1830. His grandfather and father were piano
makers, the former having been piano maker to
the court of Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen. He
came to New York in 1841, and one year later
became an apprentice to a cabinet maker. His
next employer was Mr. Scharfenberg, of Schar-
fenberg & Luis. Young Schirmer was engaged
to work in the music store for a fortnight. He
gave such satisfaction that he remained for ten
years. His next connection was with a music
dealer named Breusing. They formed a part-
nership and took the store No. 701 Broadway.
The business grew rapidly and after a while Mr.
Schirmer.bought out his partner and associated
himself with a Mr. Beer, the firm being Beer &
Schirmer. This connection lasted five years,
when Mr. Schirmer went on with the business
alone, and in 1880 took the uptown store at No.
35 Union square. After a severe attack of sick-
ness last spring Mr. Schirmer converted the
business into a stock company, all the stock
being held by the family. The late publisher
in a very quiet way dispensed a great deal of
money in charity. His wife, five daughters and
two soris, Rudolph and Gustav, survive Mr.
Schirmer.
LUSTAV
TH£ FRICK PIANO
FACTORY,
P
STICK
HANDS
MANUFACTURED BY
3T»GK PIANO CO.
171 AND 173 SO. CANAL STREET,
CHICAGO.
^
„
THE
.
Sterling Company,
7SJNK of the most prosperous villages in
*& Franklin County, Mass., is Farley's,
which is situated in the towns of Erving and
Wendell. The Frick piano case factory is now
being built there, and will be completed and
ready for business by September 1st, and pos-
sibly before, says an exchange. The main fac-
tory is 100x40, and three stories high, the dry-
house is 20 x 30, and the boiler house is a sizable
one. The capital of the company at present is
only $12,000, but this will be increased if nects-
sary. George Frick, who has been the foreman
of the Everett piano works in Cambridge, will
be the superintendent of the local company.
MANUFACTURERS OF
It is estimated that $10,000 will build the fac-
tory and put in the machinery at the start. A
sixty-horse power engine will furnish the
power. About twenty-five hands will be em-
ployed at the beginning, and the lumber used
FACTORY :
for cases will be chestnut, pine and birch, but
the cases will be veneered with more costly
DERBY, CONN.
woods. About two-thirds of the help will be
It is admitted by all that no piano ever put upon the
skilled and will come to the works from other
market
has met with such success as THE STERLING
places.
Pianos and Organs,
THE hearing in the case of Daniel F. Beatty,
Washington, N. J., has been adjourned until
September 28th.
THE Rohrerstown Band, Rohrerstown, Pa.,
has been reorganized.
prom Boo$^y
"THE HIGHEST TYPE."
and thousands will testify to their superiority of work-
manship and durability. Why ? Because they are made
just as perfect as a piano can be made.
THE STERLING ORGAN has always taken the lead, and
the improvements made this year puts it far ahead of
all otheis. J3T Send for Catalogue.
Hallet £ Davis Pianos
OOSEY & CO., London, some time ago
issued the following circular regarding
the divergence in the pitch of the instruments
supplied by different makers to the British
Army bands.
Among the regulations for the Army is one
defining the pitch to be observed in the bands.
The wording of the regulation is : " I n order to
ensure uniformity throughout the regimental
bands of the service, the instruments are to be
of the same pitch as that adopted by the Phil-
harmonic Society." This regulation is the
nearest approach to anything like an official or
Government recognition, or declaration of a
standard of pitch in this country, and it is man-
ifest that a general acceptance of this standard
by all wind instrument players is desirable, and
even necessary for the avoidance of confusion.
' 'Unfortunately,'' say Boosey & Co., " the reg-
ulation referred to above contains no definition
of the pitch of the Philharmonic Society, but of
late years the history of this subject has been so
thoroughly worked out that all the facts are
well determined, and there is no doubt that the
mean pitch of the Philharmonic Band from 1846
to 1854 was A = 452-5 vibs., equal to C 53g'2.
This has been slightly exceeded, but practically,
according to the observations of Mr. A. J.
Hipkins, it has remained the same for about
forty years. In order that it may be understood
that this is distinctly a high pitch, it must be
remembered that the mean European pitch
varied very little for about two centuries prev-
ious to 1816. It was then about a semitone
lower than our present " concert pitch," and it
was used by the Philharmonic Society from
1813 to 1828. From this low pitch the works of
Handel, Mozart, and other musicians of their
time, were undoubtedly written. Another stand-
ard to which reference should be made is the
French pitch, or diapason normal, having A
= 435 vibs., two-thirds of a semitone lower
than our Philharmonic.
" It is much to be regretted that our pitch, al-
ready so high, should be in danger of being
raised still higher, through some instrument
makers, either from inattention, or a yielding to
•outside pressure, habitually sending out instru-
ments which are considerably above the pitch laid
down to be observed in the Queen's Regulations.
With a view to check this tendency—as far, at
least, as Army bands are concerned—a large
standard B flat fork is kept at the Royal School
of Military Music, at Kneller Hall ; and this
fork was adjusted early this year by direction
of Col. Shaw-Hellier, the commandant. Its
value is B-flat = 479 I 3, at the temperature of
6o° Fah., equal to A natural 4524 and C 538.
" Wind instruments should be made to agree
with this pitch at the medium temperature of
60° Fah., and when they are slightly warmed
with blowing ; when fully warmed with the
breath they will then be a shade sharp, and this
can be corrected by the tuning slide. As there
are natural causes which prevent a wind instru-
ment being constantly at one pitch, these
causes should be understood, and are briefly ex-
plained in the following remarks :
'' The pitch of a wild instrument depends pri-
GRAND, SQUARE AND UPRICHT.
Indorsed by Liszt, Gottschalk, Wehli, Bendel, Straus, Soro, Abt,
Paulus, Titiens, Heilbron and Germany's Greatest Masters-
Established over Half a Century.
BOSTON, MASS.