Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
T
HE attention which is being given to the
production of artistic catalogues these
days is really gratifying;not so much for the
catalogue itself, but it usually follows that
the firm who go to the trouble of giving
the public an idea of their wares in an ar-
tistic and attractive form are very sure to
have an appreciation of beauty and a
thorough conception of the advanced com-
mercial methods of the day, which must
surely be manifest in the instruments which
they manufacture and in the general man-
agement of their business.
'
"The clothing oft proclaims the man ' is
an old saw, and it holds good with regard
to piano catalogues. An effort to furnish
something new and unique in this line is a
sure indication that steps are being taken to
improve the pianos illustrated therein.
The propagation of artistic and convincing
catalogues pays in the end; it insures their
being preserved and studied.
* *
The largest church organ in the United
States, and the third largest in the world,
is located in the cathedral at Garden City,
L. I., and has 115 speaking stops, being
surpassed in size only by the organ in the
town hall at Sydney, Australia, which has
128 stops, and that in the Cathedral at Riga,
Russia, which has 124 stops. There is no
known instance, however, where the largest
organs are the best organs. Musicians
who heard the Sydney instrument played
at Hill's factory, London, were unanimous
in expressing their disappointment with it,
while the one at Riga has never been con-
sidered the masterpiece of Walcker; it cer-
tainly is not in the same class with his
splendid instrument in the great cathedral
of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Petersburg,
though it is more than twice as large. The
Garden City organ, likewise, was never re-
garded in the lifetime of the builder, the
late Hilborne L. Roosevelt, as one of his
representative instruments, while two small
organs, one in the First Presbyterian
Church, and another in the Clinton Avenue
Congregational Church, of Brooklyn, were
constantly cited as examples of his skill.
The largest organ in England is in Albert
Hall, London, which has 111 stops. And
this, too, is not generally regarded as a very
successful instrument, though some of the
individual stops are particularly fine.
relates having recently come in contact with
a piano maker who he says "has run a fac-
tory in Ohio for twent}' years." I give
herewith the result of this causeric. It
contains a fair percentage of truth and ab-
surdities:
Chicago is now turning out about ^ per
cent, of all the pianos made in the United
States. If you say this in New York you
will be looked on as a Western liar, but it's
the fact. Two or three of the Chicago firms
make good, honest instruments; all the
rest are making "thump boxes." No money
has been made during the last three years
by the big piano firms, in Chicago or else-
where, but the thump-box concerns have
prospered. Two of the old Eastern houses
have gone out of the business—Weber and
Decker Brothers. The Weber concern de-
clined after old Albert Weber died. The
Deckers got rich, and, finding there was no
longer any money in the business, they
closed up. Who buys the thump boxes?
In the first place, the second and third-rate
hotels everywhere buy them as a conven-
tional article of parlor furnishing. Nobody
plays on a hotel piano unless it is the coun-
try girl on her wedding trip, who may drum
through the "Maiden's Prayer" before
she discovers how badly the instrument is
out of tune. Then there is the great army
of country people who buy pianos because
their neighbors have them, and who
will take anything that is cheap and well
varnished. How much money must be put
into an upright piano by the manufacturer
to make a thoroughly first-class instrument?
Well, such an instrument ought to bring
the maker from $300 to $350, and should
retail for $100 more. No first-rate piano
ought to be sold by a dealer for less than
$400, even in these times of cheap labor
and material.
Not more than two or three concerns in
the country make all parts of a piano.
Steinway does, and possibly Knabe and
Chickering, but I am not sure of the last
two. As a rule, the well-known makers
buy the keys, the action, the plate and the
strings. Some make only the cases, and
some buy all the parts and merely put them
together. The thump boxes are set up in
this way, and can be turned out in showy
cases at a first cost of not over $100. In a
year or two the sounding-board warps and
the whole action gets rickety.
9
worry, when it comes to be written, will
read more like an imaginative romance,
such as the "Moonstone," than a recital of
a series of actual happenings. The future
custodian of the famous fiddle, if it still
exists intact, will doubtless lock it in a safe
deposit vault and never play upon it except
when guarded by a corps of policemen.
Even so charming an instrument as the
violin can be transformed into a white ele-
phant by the cupidity of man.
Mr. J. D. Fitzgerald, the distinguished
baritone, will give a grand concert under
the patronage of eminent New Yorkers at
Chickering Hall, on the evening of April
30th. He will be assisted by a number of
leading artists, vocal and instrumental, and
a program of unusual excellence is
promised. Mr. Fitzgerald has a legion of
friends in musical and social circles who
are going to give him a merited "send
off" on this occasion.
The engagement of young Josef Hoff-
man to appear in this country next fall re-
calls to mind a strikingly original sample
of musical criticism which appeared in an
English paper and credited to a Western
paper, during his last visit. It was as fol-
lows: "This curly-headed wonder child
whipped off the chords with the energy of
a belated car driver, while his diminutive
digits skipped over the Steinway key-board
as surely and swiftly as a bank manager off
to Canada, yet as softly and lightly as the
gentle flapping of the wings of sera-
phim."
A young lady of this city, who is passion-
ately fond of music and everything pertain-
ing to it, has a collection of little silver
musical instruments that she has picked up
abroad and which are of considerable value,
owing to the exquisite workmanship of each
piece. There is a grand piano about three
inches in length, a miniature harp, a tiny
violin, a 'cello, flute, mandolin and guitar.
*
^Eolian recitals have been the order of
the day for the past week in different parts
of the country. C. J. Heppe & Son, of
Philadelphia, and the Whitney-Currier Co.,
of Toledo, O., have recently given ^Jolian
*
A recent decision of the United States recitals which have been great successes,
Supreme Court is to the effect that every es- being attended by the elite of these cities.
sential part of a patented article is pro- This public enlightenment of the possibili-
tected by the patent and that, therefore, ties of the ^olian principle as well as elec-
worn-out parts cannot lawfully be replaced tric attachment is destined to prove of
by the purchaser under the guise of repairs. marked advantage to the future sales of the
If this were not so, it is argued, every part ^•Eolian. Such effective methods of public-
might be replaced as it wore out, and thus ity must undoubtedly bring their reward.
the patentee would never be able to sell
more than one article or set to the same
Some years ago a well-known and cele-
person.
brated composer resided in Paris. Hearing
that a great Prince intended visiting the
The history of the famous Duke of Cam- city, he gathered around him a number of
Under the caption "Talks on a Train," bridge Stradivarius violin, the theft of musical lights in order to give a grand con-
E. V. Smalley writes an interesting which from the late Professor Jean Bott cert in honor of the Prince. Knowing of
column in the Chicago limes-Herald. He caused his death through chagrin and the Prince's liberality, he banished his