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THE
7VHJSIC TRMDE
REVIEW
FACTS RELATING TO ^THE_ORIGINAL MATHUSHEK"
Who Made Mathushck Pianos Before the New Haven Corporation Was Formed and After Mathushek Severed
Relations With That Institution—For Over Two Decades Pianos Bearing the Name of Mathushek
Have Been Made in This City by Legitimate Concerns, With Which the Mathusheks Have been
Allied—"Demands" Made by the New Haven Concern—Some Old Advertising Which Defines the
Position of the New York House—An impartial Review.
Now that a legal battle over the use of tral or equalizing scale," and in 1864 brought
the name Mathushek seems imminent, it is out the "Colibri" piano.
an opportune time to give a history of the
In 1866, through efforts made by an agent
two enterprises as well as the connection in the city of New Haven, Conn., the Mathu-
with each of the men whose patronymic ap- shek Piano Co. was formed and incorporated
pears in both of the incorporated companies, under the laws of Connecticut.
Frederick Mathushek was born on the 9th
This company flourished, selling great num-
of June, 1814, in Mannheim, Germany, and bers of "Orchestrals" and "Colibris." In
from his earliest youth manifested an earnest 1867 three of their instruments were exhib-
desire to master the art of piano building. ited at the Fair of the American Institute,
To accomplish this end was not an easy mat- New York City, and in respect thereof Mr,
ter, there being at that time very few piano Frederick Mathushek received two highest
factories on the continent of Europe.
diplomas, one for the Colibri "possessing
Boyish audacity, however, came to the as- great power and sweetness of tone in a small
sistance of the young aspirant. Being curi- compass," and the other for Mathushek's
ous to inspect the interior construction of concert grand, "the best on exhibition." At
the piano, he quietly invaded the drawing- the same time the judges of pianos at the
room, in the palace of Mannheim, of the then fair signed a declaration that they awarded
reigning Grand Duchess Stephany, and dis- to Frederick Mathushek "the honor of mak-
sected that august lady's grand piano.
ing the best of this class of instruments then
To his horror he was unable to replace the and there exhibited, or known to us else-
parts. Driven to bay, he confided his mis- where."
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demeanor to the Grand Duchess, who not
Disagreements arose and Mr. Mathushek
only forgave him, but, admiring his ambi-
tion and search after knowledge, used her in- came back to New York, where he continued
fluence on his behalf and obtained his appren- the manufacture of pianos.
In 1879 the veteran piano-maker took out
ticeship to one of the best pianoforte makers
a
patent
for a method of stringing whereby
of the day.
the
sounding
board is balanced. Of this
At the age of seventeen he had learned all
"equilibre
(or
balance) system" he made a
that his master could teach him, and had ac-
specialty.
quired, also, local fame as a successful ex-
Mr. Mathushek was an indefatigable in-
perimenter.
Subsequently he traveled through Ger- ventor, and the records of the Patent Office
many, Austria and Russia, working "in the show that from 1849, the first year he landed,
piano factories of those countries and adding he was busy at work upon inventions until
1879, for during that period fourteen patents
to his knowledge.
were
granted him.
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This
piano maker was never satisfied un-
Mr. Mathushek next went to Paris, where
less
at
his
bench, and after returning to New
he entered into a contract to experiment for
York
from
his New Haven venture he be-
the celebrated piano maker, M. Pape. We
gan
to
manufacture
pianos.
next find him with the London house of
The
Review
of
the
early eighties contained
Erard, then at the zenith of its fame. Here
the
following
advertisement:
he attracted the attention of the piano trade
of England, and his studio was daily crowd-
Pianos
Genuine
ed with persons of distinction.
All this time, however, Mathushek earnest-
GRAND, SQUARE
and
UPRIGHT • « « «
ly desired to settle in America, in which
Under the EQUILIBRE SYSTEM.
country he felt that his genius would have
Patented February 4th, iSjq.
free course. He landed on these shores in
MATHUSHEK & KINKELDEY,
1849.
129th Street, bet. 2nd and 3rd Aves.,
NEW YORK.
The same year he became associated with
Wartr00ms'. 21b East I2btk St., N. Y.
one of the old-time piano men of this city,
Later Victor Hugo Mathushek, who had
John B. Dunham.
r
From 1852 to 1857 ^ - Mathushek man- worked for years with him, became associated
ufactured the Mathushek piano in this city. with the veteran inventor, and the firm name
He then became associated with another New became Mathushek & Son.
The Review of 1888 contained the follow-
York man and between them they produced
some novelties, such as double sounding ing announcement:
board pianos, built oval on both sides and
violin shaped, the lifting hammer rail for soft
Manufacturers of the
pedal purposes, etc.
CELEBRATED EQUILIBRE SYSTEM,
A year or two later Mathushek again start-
ed for himself and soon surprised the trade
GRAND, SQUARE AND
UPRIGHT PIANOS &
by producing his mammoth grand piano, be-
Patented Feb. 4th i&rq.
242-244 E. 122nd St.
lieved to have been the largest ever construct-
Warerooms: 108-110 E. 125th St., N. Y.
ed. It was afterwards used at Gilmore's
N. B.—No connection with the Mathushek Piano Mfg-.
Co. of New Haven, Conn. They can't use our equilibre
memorable mammoth musical festival at Bos-
system or any of Frederick Mathushek's later inventions.
ton, Mass. In 1862 he invented the "orches-
Mathushek
MATHUSHEK & SON,
II
In 1890 Mathushek & Son was incorpor-
ated under the laws of the State of New York,
and the following were the incorporators:
Frederick Mathushek, Victor Hugo Mathu-
shek, Charles Jacob and C. Albert Jacob.
Since that time the Mathushek pianos have
been manufactured by a corporation, as the
factory in later years has been located at the
corner of Forty-seventh street and P>roadway.
Frederick Mathushek continued at his fac-
tory work and died a number of years after
the incorporation of the company.
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The New Haven factory was some time
after the incorporation removed to West
Haven, where a special factory was erected
for the manufacture of Mathushek pianos.
This factory is in many respects perhaps the
most novel in this trade, it being only one
story in height and covering several acres of
ground.
The raw material starts at one end and at
the other end of this unique factory comes
the finished product.
Henry S. Parmelee was the president for
many years of the New Haven corporation,
and since his death the presidency has been
held by his son, Henry F. Parmelee, a tal-
ented young attorney of New Haven,
The New Haven concern now demands of
the gentlemen composing the members of the
New York Mathushek corporation:
We hereby demand that you and each of
you, desist and refrain, and cause your agents,
servants and employees and all other per-
sons acting under you or on your behalf, to
desist and refrain from using the name
Mathushek alone or in connection, colloca-
tion or conjunction with any other word or
words in any manner in connection with the
manufacture or sale of pianos; from placing
or causing to be placed on pianos the name
of Mathushek in any form, or any name in
imitation thereof; from selling or offering
for sale any pianos on which the name Mathu-
shek, or any name that may simulate or re-
semble the name of Mathushek, is placed;
from publishing or advertising the pianos
made or sold by you to be Mathushek pianos
or in any manner whatsoever representing
such pianos to be Mathushek pianos; from
representing in any manner that pianos made
or sold by you are genuine Mathushek pia-
nos, or the only Mathushek pianos, or the
only genuine Mathushek pianos; from repre-
senting in any manner that pianos made or
sold by you are the only pianos made by a
Mathushek or the only pianos in which a
Mathushek is at all interested; from repre-
senting in any manner whatsoever that pia-
nos made or sold by you are manufactured
by our company.
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This is a case containing more than usual
interest.
We are not aware of any objection which
has hitherto been made to prevent Frederick
Mathushek from using his patronymic in
connection with piano manufacturing.
While there were a number of changes in
the firm from 1879 to 1890, the name Mathu-
shek was kept a dominant one on pianos
manufactured by him, no legal contention
having been made to prevent the continuance
of this name.
The Mathushek & Son Co., of which the
original Mathushek was one of the founders,
has' been a company regularly incorporated.