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THE: MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
YOUNQ AT SEVENTY=FIVE.
CAUGHT BY A SNAP
THE PIANO PLAYER IN EUROPE.
Freeborn G. Smith Tells of His Early Experiences
—The Last of the Old-Time Piano Makers Who
Are Still Active in Business—Acquainted With
All the Prominent Makers of a Half Century
Ago—Still Rises at Five and at Factory Be-
fore Seven—Three Factories and Thirteen
Branches.
Shot Aimed by Arthur Wessell Lands the Genial
Cecilian Ambassador.
Steadily Augmenting Its Popularity—Friendly Dis-
cussion of the Merits of the Players in the Daily
Papers.
Last winter some well known music
trade men met together in San Francisco
and while in that attractive city no
Eastern traveler overlooks paying a visit
to the Cliff house. Mr. Hubert O. Fox,
the general Cecilian representative was
strolling along the path leading from the
Cliff house, when Arthur Wessell, of Wes-
sell, Nickel & Gross fame, who was doing
the Continent with Henry A. Nickel, sud-
Although the frost of seventy-five win-
ters rests upon him, yet the touch has
been so light that Freeborn G. Smith
hardly shows their trace. He steppe*!
into The Review office this week with as
much sprightliness as would be expected
of men half of his years.
While chatting over some early points
in his history, Mr. Smith showed a re-
markable memory, recalling vividly inci-
dents, which occurred more than half a
century ago.
When asked about his acquaintance with
some of the early piano makers, Mr. Smith
remarked:
"I am, I believe, the last of the old time
piano manufacturers. I mean by that,
men of the school of the early Deckers,
Chickerings, Steinways, Knabes and all of
the men of the early days. It does not
seem possible that all of these men have
passed away. I worked in the same fac-
tory with Henry E. Steinway and his
three sons, Albert, William and Theodore.
Bacon, as well, the founder of the Bacon
& Raven business; C. Fischer, all of these
men I knew personally.
Judging from the correspondence in the
columns of the London daily papers, the
piano player is becoming a much-discussed
subject by our friends on the other side of
the big pond. Their accomplishments and
possibilities are highly praised, and it
would seem as if there is a widening field
for the cultivation of piano player trade in
Great Britain. The influence of the piano
player as a medium for educating the pub-
lic and enabling them to derive a proper
idea of the writings of the great masters,
has been widely discussed, and one writer
says: "It is true that the mechanical per-
formance cannot equal that of a great art-
ist, but to my mind it is quite as soulful—
and superior in touch and technique—as
the performance of the majority of pianists
who flood our concert-halls, after spending
years in hammering (no other term is suit-
able) upon their instruments to attain dex-
terity."
He says further: "If every school em-
ployed such an apparatus to give daily per-
formances of the best music to the entire
number of students—going through a
course of Beethoven sonatas, Chopin bal-
lades, nocturnes, polonaises, and all the
best musical literature, both piano music
and 'arrangements'—the result would be
that the pupils would leave school with
considerably more musical culture than
they ever get through stumbling and fum-
bling in their endeavor to become pianists.
"Moreover, such an acquaintance with
the different works would make them far
more intelligent listeners when attending
the concerts of the great artists."
The piano player is fast making itself in-
dispensable in the home and in the school
not only in this country, but all over the
world. As our American manufacturers
lead in the perfection of this device, it is
logical to assume that they should with a
fair amount of energy command the mar-
kets of the world.
"In Boston, too, I had an intimate
knowledge of all of the old makers. I work- denly caught him with a snap shot. The
ed in the Hallet & Davis factory, and was shot hit the popular road man in a vital
acquainted with the Chickerings, W. P. spot and transfixed him with a genuine Ce-
Emerson, the elder Cumston—in fact all of cilian smile, not a frozen smile, but one
the men who gave lustre to the early his- full of melody and mirth.
tory of piano, making in Boston.
Perhaps there were other smiles. Of
"In those days we had to learn piano mak- that we are not aware, the deponent say-
ing from every possible standpoint. I was cth naught, but Mr. Fox looks pleasant,
working in the Steinway factory when a has a satisfied air as if all things were be-
proposition came to me from Mr. Brad- ing drawn towards the Cecilian magnet.
bury to act as superintendent of his fac-
ADDICKS PIANO CAUSES SPLIT.
tory. I accepted the proposition, and when
ill health destroyed his business career he
A special from Wilmington, Del., to the
offered the business to me. I did not have New York Herald, of Wednesday, says:
much faith in my business ability as I had "Shall we accept a piano bearing the name
been trained formerly as a workman. How- of J. Edward Addicks?" is a question that
ever, I purchased it, and the rest you know. is agitating the Woman's Club and Ex- BROCKPORT PIANO CO.'S ANNUAL MEETING.
1 have now some thirteen branch stores change at St. George's. So bitter is the
A splendid report of business advance
and three factories. In our case factory controversy growing out of the proffer of was made at the meeting of the Brockport
in Leominster, we are turning out up- an instrument so marked that the club has Piano Co., held last week, when officers
wards of two hundred cases per week, and been split into two factions. One element
for the ensuing year were elected as fol-
we are finding it difficult, too, to supply in the club insists upon the acceptance of
lows: President, W. H. Parks; vice-pres-
the demand upon us for pianos.
the piano, arguing that music under any ident, D. G. Crippen; secretary and man-
"I feel as young as I did thirty years
ago, and every morning I rise at five circumstances will add to the attractions ager, G. A. Witney; treasurer, Charles
White. George C. Gordon was elected to
o'clock, and am at my factory before seven. of the clubhouse.
I don't have to do this, of course, but it is
the board of directors, which consists of
PURCHASED WEBER PIANOS.
habit, and habit formed of many years is
the above named gentlemen, together with
hard to break. I enjoy it, too, and prob-
The Leake & Watts Orphan Asylum, of Luther Gordon and W. H. Moore. The
ably take as much pleasure in following
Yonkers,
N. Y., have just purchased one general trade outlook for the excellent
out my business as others would in seek-
pianos made by this house, is satisfactory.
grand and two upright Weber piax.os.
ing pleasures in other ways.
"Business to me is life, and affords me
great pleasure. It does not seem possible,
however, when I look back upon my early
associations that I am the only one left of
the old makers. They have all been
gathered in. I have been careful of my
health and worked hard—in fact as a boy
I used to work from six in the morning un-
til eleven at night, and it didn't seem to
29th Street and 11th Ave., NEW YORK.
hurt me either," continued Mr. Smith, as
he stroked his white beard in a caressing
HIGHEST STANDARD OF EXCELLENCE.
way.
• • • -
BEHR BROS. & CO.
PIANOS,