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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
If the conditions of to-day prevailed in
the formative stage of this industry, the
developments credited to Chickering,
Steinway, and a host of other creators
would not have been possible.
The scale draughtsman (not the copyist)
of our day may be a specialist, but we have
not yet met one who has not a most thor-
cugh and radical knowledge of every
branch concerned in the process of piano
making. And, moreover, such a man is
not to be found among the younger school,
because the mechanic learning his "trade"
finds it easier, as Mr. Mehlin well says, "to
master some special but narrow field," than
to summon energy enough to master all
branches.
All men who aspire to be superintend-
ents of factories where originality and ex-
cellence are sought after should have a
knowledge, not of the superficialties, but
of the very soul of the piano; hence should
be a master of the important art of scale
drawing—the developments of which effect
the present and future status of the in-
strument so vitally. To those who do not
consider the piano an art creation these
words do not apply. From a purely com-
mercial viewpoint it is handy and econom-
ical to go to a foundry and buy or "rent" a
" scale "—in .other words, a piano plate—
and discourse on its "musical merits "; but
to be able to originate, to improve, is an-
other thing altogether. One is commerce,
the other, art. Each has its usefulness
and fills respective demands and needs.
The conditions existing among mechan-
ics and referred to by Mr. Mehlin, do not
hold out any great measure of hope that
the present and coming generations will
bring forth any great minds whose per-
ceptions, materialized into practical re-
sults, will effect the improvement of the
piano along the lines of acoustics. While
many can copy scales and the other feat-
ures which follow, only a few are to-day
occupying a place of any prominence as
originators of new and novel progressions
in this field, because the laws upon which
the art of scaling are based are scientific
and known only to a limited number of
men. And it is to these men, who are in-
dividually little known in that connection,
outside of the house or piano they are
identified with, is due so much that is in-
calculable in its effects in the art sphere of
the instrument.
BARGAIN MAD.
of the disagreeable features of
modern business, which may be
credited to the incursion of the depart-
ment store, is that of bargains. People
nowadays seem to be bargain mad. The
trouble is no longer confined to the stores
where knick-knacks are sold, but even in the
piano business everybody wants a bargain
—the wholesale buyer, the retail buyer,
the consumer.
And the "cheap" piano man is cheap-
ening all the time, forgetting that at the
same time he is cheapening his reputation
and his position in the industry.
The "bargain" idea in the piano busi-
ness is a veritable curse. It is not only
demoralizing to the retailer, who thinks it
his duty to cater to the demand, but he in
turn affects the manufacturer and so it
reaches the supply man.
This cheapening process is bound to end
in disaster and can be avoided only by a
determination on the part of manufacturer
and dealer alike to maintain a standard
price and to adhere to it.
W. J. Keeley Returns.
William J. Keeley, of Wilcox & White,
returned to town on Tuesday. Sneaking
to The Review on Thursday concerning his
trip, he said: "I found the Wilcox &
White agents enthusiastic in their work,
and learned from them that our products
are steadily growing in favor. There are
more sales, more inquiries, more indica-
tions of active interest shown all along the
line."
Referring to trade conditions as shown
in actual work at the factory. Mr. Keeley
said: "We have decided to build a large
addition to our Meriden factories. The
contract has been given out for a new
brick building with 250 feet frontage and
a depth of 40 feet. It will be 4 stories
high and is to be constructed as rapidly as
is consistent with good work."
This will make a total frontage of 650
feet for the Wilcox & White factories, ex-
PERSONALITY~A FACTOR.
clusive of the annex. Two stories of the
/^"\NE fact stands out clearly when re- new building will be devoted almost ex-
viewing the evolution of business clusively to the storage of music for the
to-day and that is: the increasing value of Wilcox & White products.
personality. It is just as great a factor in
Death of Ethelbert Nevin.
success in this era of gigantic combination
Ethelbert Nevin — he who might have
as it was fifty years ago. The location, been the Mascagni of America—is dead.
discipline and organization of even the Thirty-nine years ago he was born at Edge-
great trusts would count for little were they worth, Pa. Although musically inclined
not backed up by brains and judgment at from his youth, it was not until 1884, shortly
the helm. What is most needed, as ever after he published the "Serenade "and " A
Sketch Book,," that he began to take music
in the past, is a dominant personality im- seriously. It was then that he commenced
pressing his own individuality upon all his studies with Klindworth in Berlin, re-
connected with him, and supplying that maining there three years. Mr. Nevin was
cohesion and enforcing that harmony with- an excellent pianist, excelling in interpreta-
tion rather than bravura, having had, in the
out which success is impossible.
language of his eminent teacher, "a touch
"One man power" is as vital as ever to
that brings tears." His music has won
success, especially if the "one man" in world popularity—his "Narcissus" and "My
"power" has the faculty of selecting cap- Rosary" being best known. His latest works
able lieutenants. Already the growth and were published by the John Church Co. un-
further expansion of these aggegations der the general title of "Songs From Vine-
of capital are "up against" the problem as acre" gracefully christened by Mr. Nevin
after the home of his childhood. The indi-
to what extent and how far the human
vidual titles of these songs are "A Neck-
brain can grasp and solve the constantly lace Of Love," "Sleeping and Dream-
increasing difficulties which beset the path ing," "My Desire," "The Nightingale's
of all growth. The strain and responsibility Song," ' 'Ein Liedchen," ' 'La Lune Blanche"
seem to be too much for this one man to and "Ein Heldenlied." Mr. Nevin's song
bear and the constant cry is for men of cycle, "Captive Memories," has much of
that illusive grace which characterized his
ability and experience to share the load of
earlier work; it possessed much of the
those in authority.
ever present sentiment, which the nobility
of his style alone saved from becoming
Gift for the German Emperor. musically maudlin. The majority of his
After the Saengerfest held in Brooklyn compositions have been published by the
last fall, President Saenger and Otto John Church Co., the Oliver Ditson Co.,
Wissner visited Berlin to express the thanks and the Boston Music Co.
of the Saengerbund to the Emperor for
the magnificent prize which he donated. The Queen Can Do Some Wrong.
After the return of these gentlemen, the
"Queen" Lavinia Dempsey, of the Hol-
Board of Directors decided to present the
Emperor with a souvenir of the festival in land Dames, who, like old-world royalty,
the shape of an album, costing one thou- takes special pleasure in being in debt, is
sand dollars, containing the program, the now being sought for by Hamilton S. Gor-
prize song, the list of the leading societies, don, who desires to recover a piano be-
the autographs of the officers and photo-
graphs of the hall and the various prizes, longing to him which she has in her
which included several handsome Wissner possession.
pianos, donated by Otto Wissner. On
O. R. Parkhurst has been appointed
Monday the gift was presented to the Ger-
man Ambassador at Washington for trans- manager of the business of the W. J.
Lasher Co., of Rome, N. V,
mission to the Kaiser Wilhelm.