Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1901 Vol. 32 N. 24

Page 32 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
34
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
IS NAPOLEON TO BLAME?
"When he crossed the Alps and led his
conquering hosts down into Italy Napoleon
killed the art of violin making. He did it
by building a wagon road. Before that date
all of the grand instruments of the world
were made. Since then not one worthy to
be compared with those of old Stradivarius,
Amati, Bergonzi or Stainer. Ask any man
wise in the lore of the king of instruments
and he will assure you, with a sigh, that
violin making is a lost art; though 'fiddles'
are still made by the thousand—all but one
man. He will tell you :—'Lost—yes—once,
but rediscovered. Napoleon took the vio-
lin from the world—yes. I give it back to
the world. A thousand artisans have sought
the secret, but for precisely a hundred years
the Sphinx has not spoken. For thirty-
five years I have studied, dreamed, tried
experiments. Now I have overthrown Na-
poleon. I have discovered the lost art of
making the Stradivarius violin.' "
"The man who boasts of this most inter-
esting discovery is a San Franciscan. In
a tiny basement shop in a back yard of Ellis
street he has been quietly working out his
problem. If he has succeeded, the musical
world will have reason to make obeisance to
grizzled, clear-eyed Orazio Raffa. If he has
failed the small army of violin cranks in
San Francisco who have heard of this new
product will need to take refuge behind the
somewhat equivocal statement that 'the old
fellow's fiddle is not as good as it sounds.'
"Inquiry among various violin makers re-
veals the fact that they regard prediction as
to the tone qualities before the instrument
is completed as impossible. And yet this
man is said to have accurately predicted
the exact quality of every violin has has
made as he shaped it. 'This one will be
adapted to strong orchestral work; that one
for solos; that will be sweet and mellow,
another a clear soprano,' and so on."
Raffa's secret lies in the treatment of the
wood. He says: "The Alpine pine which
has been soaked for six months in water
immediately after being cut in the forest,
becomes intensely hard. It loses most of
its resin. It undergoes other chemical
changes, due, it may be, to some mineral
in the mountain streams. But it does pine
wood no good to be soaked after it has been
seasoned. It must be green. See these pine
chips and shavings. They are hard as hick-
ory and practically unbreakable. They are
from, the Po River, whence I get all my
Wood, This, then, is a portion of the secret.
"Where does Napoleon come in? Why,
after he built his military roads down the
Alps all the logs used in violin making were
hauled to the market over these roads. They
were no longer floated down the river, and
hence received no soaking. The result was
inferior instruments."
Nextt
The more you pay for advertising, the
cheaper it is. A good advertisement in a
good paper like The Review will always pay.
STARR PIANOS
Embody generous artistic values and have
been found most desirable instruments for
the dealers to handle^
•*
•*
Factories: RICHMOND, IND.
Simplex flMano
(TRADK MARK]
THEODORE P. BROWN, WORCESTER
The easiest to play.
The Simplest.
MASS.
The best in every way.
You want an easy seller
THEN
SECURE THE. AGENCY
FOR T H E
BAUER
cA Leader and a Seller as cAttradi FACTORIES AMO WAREROOMS:
338-340 EAST 31st STREET
NEW YORK
Smttb & JBarnee flManoe
Most
Profitable for th<
Dealer
to
Handle
Factory, 4TT to 481 Clybourn Avenue,
j& A
CHICAGO, ILL
HALAXT
DAVIS
Endorsed by Leading Artists
for more than Half a Century
...BOSTON, MASS.
THE HAGEN & RUEFER PIANOS
RE MADE to satisfy the desire of
the buying public. Honest in
construction, tasteful in design;
touch, light and elastic, and
musical quality unsurpassed. The
prices are low, making them just the right
instrument for dealers who wish to make
money, while building up a good reputation.
WRITE FOR PARTICULARS AND
TERRITORY TO THE FACTORY AT
PETERBORO,
(7hrisiman Pianos
CHRISTMAN & SON,
The Apaches have three different kinds of
violins, each having but one string and played
with a small bow.
•*
N. H.
A PIANO MADE FOR
MUSICAL PEOPLE.
RICH IN VALUE
FOR THE DEALER.
Office and Warerooms: 21 East 14th St., New York.
Factory: 6 6 5 - 6 6 7 Hudson Street, New York.
RADLE
PIANOS
are built to wear, of the best
material and sold at a remark-
ably low price. A money-making
instrument for the dealer.
Factory, 611 & 613 West 36th Street, NEW YORK.

Page 33 Text:

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
35
\. B. CHASE PIANOS
WILL HANDLE THE MELVILLE CLARK.
In tone, touch, action, durability, and every requisite that goes
to make up an artistic instrument, there are none superior
New York Warerooms
10 EAST 17th STREET
ractory and Principal Office
NORWALK, OHIO
ANGE1AJS
(PIANO
PLAYER)
The ANGELUS is the
ORIGINAL PIANO PLAYER
PRICES UPON APPLICATION
Symphony
SELF-PLAYING ORGAN
Made for twelve years J* All experimenting Has
been done for you <£ You take no chances in
accepting representation of the goods made by us
THE WILCOX
(Si "WHITE CO.
164 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
Main Office and Factory, MERIDEN, CONN., U. S. A
...NO OTHER LIKE IT...
CHASE-HACKLEY PIANO CO.,
Manufacturers of the
1
CHASE BROS., HACKLEY
and CARLISLE
LLJ.&
PIANOS
MUSKEIGON,
n-r>—n^*^~~-«—«»rt—^^w
- — - — - — •
->—**
MICH.
«-^o^^*^——ft—"—^^— r>.
JACOB DOLL
Manufacturer of
High-Grade
Lit Bros., Philadelphia, Secure This Piano as Their
Leader—The Exhibition at the Local Ware-
rooms Attracts Attention.
The enthusiasm with which the Melville
Clark piano has been received by the deal-
ers and the musical public has been a source
of great gratification to the manufacturers,
the Melville Clark Piano Co., of Chicago.
The recent connection with the Lit Brothers
establishment, of Philadelphia—the big de-
partment store of the City of Brotherly
Love—has already been chronicled in these
columns, but the fact is not generally known
that Lit Brothers will handle the Melville
Clark piano as their leader.
The Melville Clark piano will also be sold
at the company's new house, 101 Fifth av-
enue, this city, where the three styles, Em-
pire, Colonial and Flemish, in different
woods, will be kept on exhibition. A lively
interest has been awakened throughout the
trade concerning the Melville Clark piano,
because so much has been said of its artis-
tic qualities that both the dealers and the
musical public are anxious to examine it.
The piano has achieved a remarkable pop-
ularity considering the short time it has
been on the market. Those who have pur-
chased are not only delighted with its artis-
tic appearance, but are also delighted with
its brilliant and magnetic quality of tone,
ft is essentially an instrument that will at-
tract the public, because it offers a combin-
ation in a high degree of the artistic and the
substantial qualities that are certain to at-
tract the piano buyers of the country.
Grand and Upright
Pianos
Pianos
for all
Occasions
JB^ PRETTY BIG COUNTRY, THIS.
The final report of the population of the
United States which has been issued by the
Census Bureau gives the total population of
Factories : Southern Boulevard and Cypress Ave.
East 133d and 134th Streets
the country, including Alaska, Hawaii, the
First Avenue and 30th Street
NEW YORK
1 E TT
Indian Territory and Indian Reservations,
Warerooms: 146 Fifth Ave., bet. 19th and 20th St8.
^ "
" VI ^*
in 1900, as 76,303,387. The total popula-
Send for Catalogue, Prices and Terms.
DOLL'S COLONIAL STYLE "C»»
tion as ascertained by the 1890 census was
63,069,756. For the decade of 1870 to 1880
Manufacturer of
SOUNDING BOARDS, BARS, GUI- the increase in the population was 26 per
&k TAR AND MANDOLIN TOPS AND cent., which was about the same rate as that
MILLS AND OFFICE : DOLGEVILLE, N. Y.
"" SOUNDING BOARD LUMBER
during the preceding ten years; from 1880
to 1890 the increase was just under 25 per
cent., and from 1890 to 1900, 21 per cent.
C R. STEVENS, General Manager.
The report states that Rhode Island, with 407
inhabitants to the square mile is the most
MANUFACTURERS OF
densely settled state in the Union, Massachu-
setts coming next with 390 inhabitants to the
square mile, New Jersey third with 250 and
7yi OCTAVE. PIANO CASE.
Connecticut fourth with 187. Four other
States have more than 100 inhabitants to the
VriU for catalogue and prices.
square mile—viz., New York with 152.6,
MARIETTA, OHIO.
Pennsylvania with 140.1, Maryland with
120.5, a n d Ohio with 102 to a square mile.
Embodies the best vakie for the dealer.
Alaska has but one person to every 10 square
«j*
Attractively gotten u p . miles, and Nevada only four persons to a
like area.
P E T E R DUFFY, President.
MAINTAIN THEIR VOGUE.
JULIUS BRECKWOLDT
Che Stevens Organ and Piano Co.
Stevens Combination Reed-Pipe Organ
•••
SCHUBERT PIANO CO., 535 EAST J34th STREET, NEW YORK.
Name
Tells X5he Grade
SHA
THE SHAW PIANO CO., ERIE, PA.
David H. Schmidt's piano hammers still
maintain their vogue against all comers.
The reasons are not far to seek. Good felts,
accurate and thorough workmanship, prompt
service and reasonable prices combine to
produce results satisfactory alike to the man
who makes and the men who use the Schmidt
hammers.

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