Music Trade Review

Issue: 1900 Vol. 30 N. 26

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
14
The Piano Trade " Over the Bridge
' The importance of Brooklyn as a piano
distributing borough of New York is little
appreciated by those outside, and yet
substantial fortunes have been built by
those who have engaged in the retailing of
pianos and musical instruments in that
borough across the river in Greater New
York. Fulton street is the main artery of
trade, and on it are located the principal
music stores.
Beginning fairly well out on Fulton
street Monday, I made the rounds of a few
important music trade establishments.
Commencing at No. 1192 my first visit was
to R. G. Summers, who for some fourteen
years has been catering to the wants of
Brooklynites in a musical way. He makes
a specialty of sheet music and has an ex-
tensive and varied assortment. In pianos
he carries the Emerson and one bearing his
own name.
Nearly opposite is one of the many
branches which that piano magnate, Free-
born G. Smith, maintains. Mr. Smith,
years ago, saw the wonderful possibilities
of retail trade in Brooklyn and, as a result,
he has amassed a large fortune from the
retailing of pianos in his city. But he is a
man who would have built a fortune any-
where and in any business, and to-day his
numerous factories and his many distrib-
uting branches in various cities in the
union testify to his ability as a piano man
and progressiveness as a manufacturer and
distributing factor in this industry. Scat-
tered all along Fulton street at various
points are his stores all within easy dis-
tance of the headquarters of Mr. Smith at
774 Fulton street.
Heinrich Bros., at No. 590 Fulton street,
told me that business has kept up surpris-
ingly well with them. In fact they have
experienced the best spring trade for many
years past.
Alphonso Smith, 605 Fulton street, is one
of the successful men of the trade and
controls a large business in Brooklyn and
vicinity. Mr. Smith has the agency for
the Weber and Wheelock pianos—instru-
ments which he justly takes great pride in
recommending. It would be difficult to
locate a more enthusiastic man on Weber
merit than Mr. Smith.
At Wissner's I was greeted by manager
E. H. Colell, who maintains an ever-
watchful eye over the retail department of
Otto Wissner's business and also finds
time in his busy life to attend exclusively
to the artistic side of the business. Mr.
Colell has done magnificent work which is
highly appreciated by his chief. In the
Wissner window were displayed the three
instruments which Mr. Wissner has pre-
sented to the Northeast Saengerbund. H.
J. Raymore is on the road looking after
the wholesale Wissner trade.
What magnificent warerooms the Ster-
ling Piano Co. maintain! W. S. Denslow,
the manager, has developed a wonderful
trade in this city, and it would surprise
some of the old-timers to learn just what
figures his annual output reaches. There
is an air of elegance and taste about the
Sterling headquarters which is captivating.
Some of the latest Sterling styles, too, are
superb.
At 500 Fulton street are the new ^5olian
warerooms which are under the competent
management of J. R. Hartpence. It goes
without saying that Mr. Hartpence is an
^Eolian enthusiast, and he is rightly proud
of his splendid establishment which, I
understand, has been remarkably success-
ful since the opening day. The new ware-
rooms of this concern have been described
at length in The Review at the time of
their opening, so it is hardly necessary to
go into details regarding that now.
At 470, Anderson & Co. maintain a
snug establishment where the Hardman
and Standard pianos are displayed to ad-
vantage. Mr. Anderson is a piano man
from the ground up, so to speak, and is
ably assisted by Mr. Pretorius in the retail
department. While Mr. Anderson has
sold the Pianotist for some time he has now
become associated in the manufacture of
the Tonograph, the invention of Robt. A.
Galley. He proposes to push this latter
on a large scale, believing there is a great
future for piano players.
At 487 the unique sign of Jacob Bros,
caused me to halt and enter, where I had
a pleasant interview with their local man-
ager, Mr. P. T. Brooks, who talked in a
most enthusiastic way concerning trade.
"Jacob Bros, pianos," lie said, "have ac-
quired a large sale in this town, and it is
a
EALERS who are interested in securing the first place in pianodom should
lose no time in communicating with Wing & Son, whose factory and
general offices are located at 202-204 E. J2th street, New York. Pianos
bearing the name of Wing have been before the public for many years and
have given the utmost satisfaction. Through large periodical advertising,
Wing pianos are well known in every locality in America, therefore, deal-
ers will find that they are not talking a new piano when they talk Wing & Son.
These instruments are now in the thirty-second year of their existence, the firm hav-
ing been established in 1868. The latest cases are most attractive in form and are
gotten up with the idea to appeal to artistic tastes, and giving the utmost satisfaction
to musically cultivated senses. A Wing & Son piano means success. Write to Wing.
XLo IReacb Success
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
15
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
remarkable how the steady increase of
business goes on uninterruptedly."
Mr. Chandler's new store at 439 is well
located and this veteran dealer of Brooklyn
is receiving his full share of patronage.
He has the Ivers & Pond in splendid evi-
dence in his warerooms and I understand
that he has been unusually successful in
disposing of large numbers of these pianos.
"Go to Held's" was a common sight
years ago on the elevated stations, so I
called there at 313. Mr. Held, as you
know, makes a specialty of publishing mu-
sic and has been successful in bringing out
some decided hits in the business. In the
piano line he is a warm advocate of Kra-
nich & Bach, and says that they are the
easiest selling pianos of the age.
Frank A. Sanford has a snug establish-
ment at No. 569 Fulton street, and al-
though he has been but a short time in the
trade, has scored considerable success, one
of the reasons for which lies in the fact
that he sells the Pease piano which is al-
ways popular.
Leaving Fulton street I made a few calls
on Court street, my first halting ground
being at No. 56 where R. V. Tracy is lo-
cated. He handles the James & Holm-
strom and the Transposing keyboard pi-
anos, also the only piano made in the
State of Maine, stencilled Hughes & Son,
Foxcroft.
Goetz & Co., at No. 83 Court street, ap-
pear to be well satisfied with the trade
which is coming their way and, from the
busy scene in their warerooms, I feel that
they have reason for indulging in business
joys. They do considerable music publish-
ing and in pianos they handle the famous
Gabler—a piano which they indeed take
great pride in showing to the finest trade
in Brooklyn. Some of the specimens which
I saw in their warerooms show that the
Gabler instruments fully bear, out all that
is claimed for them.
The music publishing end of the Goetz
business is in charge of T. Mayo Geary,
well known in the publishing world. He
is not only a talented composer but is a
first-class business man who is steadily
augmenting his reputation.
Horace McGee, at No. 77 Court street,
handles the Francis Bacon piano.
Take it on the whole, the trade in Brook-
lyn has kept up surprisingly good and all
the dealers upon whom I called have ex-
pressed themselves in no uncertain way
regarding the trade conditions for the
month. June is usually a dull month, but
this year there has been a glorious excep-
tion to the rule. In fact, the piano trade
in the Borough of Brooklyn has been in
splendid form all through the season.
The Hymnolia in St. Paul's
CHURCH, LONDON DONATED IN HONOR OF
QlJEKN VICTORIA'S BIRTHDAY—WHAT
THE ORGANIST SAYS.
It is not generally known that a hand-
some Hymnolia organ, of which by the
way Chickering & Sons are distributors for
North and South America, is "being used in
the Crypt Chapel of the famous St. Paul's
Cathedral in London. It was presented in
commemoration of the Queen's eightieth
birthday by eighty British women and so
pleased was her Majesty with the gift that
she graciously accepted a handsomely
framed photograph of the instrument.
Some facts in this connection are taken
from the London letter in the Churchman,
wherein we read:
"St Paul's is
rejoicing in a
new organ! It
is k n o w n to
co mparatively
few people that
in the Crypt
Chapel there is
a daily musical
s e r v i c e at 8
A. M. Until
quite recently
the accompani-
ments h a v e
been supplied
by a harmo-
nium. S o m e
ladies natural-
ly took it to
heart that the Cathedral should be depend-
ent on such an instrument under any cir-
cumstances or in any place, and energetic
measures were accordingly taken. The
new organ is what is known as a Positive
(Hymnolia), small, but very effective.
There organs were designed by Mr. T.
Casson, an eminent organ authority, with
a view to supplant the reed organ as an
accompaniment to ecclesiastal music. They
are of limited compass and without pedals
—still, genuine 'pipe' organs. The most
ignorant player has but to play the written
notes of a short score (hymn-tune), and
yet have a good firm bass all through. The
organ was the gift of eighty ladies in com-
Lemuel Cline, formerly of Cline & Davis, memoration of the Queen's eightieth birth-
who recently closed out their place at Ft. day."
Speaking of this Hymnolia, or positive
Wayne, Ind., will herea'fter represent the
organ as it is called on the other side, Sir
Chase-Hackley Co. on the road.
Cbe Ki«9 of Piano Players
The Apollo.
Pronounced by experts, who
have given it the most com-
plete tests, to be the perfect
player. Territorial allotment
is being rapidly made to agents
Geo. Martin, Doctor of Music and organist
of St. Paul's Cathedral, remarked: " I have
been astonished at the varied effects which
can be obtained from so small an instru-
ment."
For the benefit of those who have not
become acquainted with the Hymnolia we
may say that it is a small pipe organ oc-
cupying no more space than a large reed
organ, but with capabilities equal to other
pipe organs of double the size and cost.
Owing to its novel construction the tones
of a church organ of two manuals and dou-
ble bass can be produced on the single
keyboard. The tones are full, refined and
varied and a novel feature is the fact that
music can be played on the Hymnolia in
lower or higher keys than written, without
being transposed by the player. For
small churches, missions, chapels, Sunday
schools, convents, choir practice rooms,
lodges, theatres, regimental quarters,
drawing rooms, steamships, etc., it is in-
valuable. The Hymnolia, which is manu-
factured by Frank Taft, can be seen at the
piano warerooms of John Wanamaker, New
York and Philadelphia.
The McPhail Advance.
The McPhail Piano Co. are among the
wideawake Boston firms who report whole-
sale trade as quite active. Their business
for the past six months has been almost
fifty per cent, in advance of the same
period of the previous year. This goodly
showing is due to the splendid line of ar-
tistic pianos which the McPhail are placing
on the market to-day as well as to the en-
terprise which is being shown by the mem-
bers of the firm in conducting their busi-
ness on such dignified and thoroughly cor-
rect lines. Under such circumstances the
continued advance of the McPhail Piano
Co. is inevitable. Application, energy,
ability wedded to originality and modernity
in case designs, first-elass workmanship
and a thoroughly musical tone, have all re-
sulted in an artistic creation such as the
McPhail, which is justly affording unlim-
ited satisfaction.
Japan Wants American Pianos.
S. Miki & Co., the enterprising music
dealers of Osaka, Japan, and old-time sub-
scribers for The Review, are desirous of
receiving communications from piano man-
ufacturers making a commercial instru-
ment which they can handle in Japan.
This firm have long kept in touch with the
progress of our country in the musical
line and feel that we should be able to man-
ufacture an instrument for the Japanese
trade at a satisfactory price. Manufac-
turers would do well to write at once to
S. Miki & Co. and secure all necessary
data on this subject Don't overlook send-
ing catalogues.
Frank T. Nutze, formerly connected with
Lehr & Co., is now associated with the
road interests of Jacob Doll.
mclvilk Clark Piano Co.,
Manufacturers of the . . .
APOLLO and the ORPHEUS,
FaCt r
° w aarn e d roo m s: W ' 4 0 5 W- UM\m
CHICAGO, ILL.
$1

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