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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
THE SAUNTERER'S COLUMN.
The Weber "Opera" Sale—The Paderewski Reital—Joseffy with the Damrosch Orchestra—The
Mason & Hamlin Triumph—D'Albert on the Pacific Slope—An Everett Story—Attractive-
ness of the Mehlin—Knabe at Wanamaker's—Two Chicago Musicians.
If all special sales met with results as did the
sale of Weber pianos used by the opera singers,
it is certain that there would be no more pianos
sold regularly. Every year the sale of these
pianos has been attended by good results, but
this season there has been a perfect clamor for
them, and the Caruso piano, in addition to hav-
ing been sold practically before the sale opened,
has created such a stir that the Weber Co. has
received letters from all around the country ask-
ing for it. Notwithstanding the fact that the
Webei* Co. might have asked their own price and
received it for this especial piano, they sold it
at the reduction sale price. There will likewise
be a "Caruso" piano all over the country and
that the Weber piano is receiving an immense
amount of advertising cannot be doubted.
At Aeolian Hall the activity goes on unabated,
whether due to sales or to the very high-class
musical entertainments that are provided by that
organization. Up to the present time a good
many more than 100 concerts have been provided
for the entertainment of the patrons of the Aeo-
lian Co., as well as for the proper presentation
of the remarkable products of this firm. The
more one looks into the resources of the Pianola
and the education which it offers, the more
strange it seems that it has not been embodied in
the public school work, since it is assuredly the
most feasible and the most plausible way to con-
duct music study for the great masses. It obvi-
ates the individual side and it represents the
most good to the largest number. Notwithstand-
ing the immense strides that have been made
with the use of the Pianola, it is in its very in-
fancy as an educator and as an entertainer.
With musical life nearing its end for the sea-
son of 1904-05 we are still confronting the great-
est event of the pianistic season, as far as the
enthusiasm is concerned. It is almost needless
to state that this is the Paderewski recital which
occurs to-day at Carnegie Hall. That the house
was sold out before it went on sale is sufficiently
significant that the Pole has lost none of his cun-
ning in attracting audiences. At Ditson's and
at Steinway's as well the flood of people asking
for seats was positively startling. That Pader-
ewski should be the drawing card that he is year
after year, is both without parallel and beyond
understanding. However that may be, he is
worth a mint at the box-office and to use a well-
worn axiom, "that's what counts." Most of the
pianists have been successful this season, and
paramount among these is Josef Hofmann, who
will be heard once more in conjunction with
Fritz Kreisler before leaving our shores. His
tour has been an enormous one, having opened
early in October on the Pacific coast and it has
taken him into every section where artistic piano
playing is known and appreciated; indeed, his
has been a tour worthy of his art and of the
piano he has used—the Steinway.
A final word is yet to be spoken in the way
of great orchestral concerts, and when it is stated
that this word will come from Walter Damrosch
and the New York Symphony Orchestra with
Rafael Joseffy to play two piano concerts, we
may understand that the end has not yet been.
This artist, always greatest among the great, is
dear to the hearts of the New York public, be-
cause in addition to knowing his colossal art,
they know his unassuming modesty and his sim-
plicity. Nothing more delicious can be conceived
by the musical epicure than the combination of
Joseffy an4 the Steinway piano. That indeed,
seems to be the acme.
Both the Boston Symphony Orchestra on Sat-
urday and the Kneisel Quartet on Tuesday even-
ing presented Ernest Schelling for public consid-
eration as pianist. It was delightful to hear
again the Mason & Hamlin's beautiful tone in
the hands of so capable an artist as Mr. Schelling,
who played for the first time in his own coun-
try this year. He has good tone production and
a facile clear technic, and the medium of ex-
pression is one which permits unlimited possi-
bilities as far as tone color is concerned. Henry
L. Mason came over from Boston to be present
at the Kneisel concert on Tuesday night and the
results must surely have been gratifying to Mr.
Mason. The Mason & Hamlin piano has been be-
fore the musical public under most auspicious
and happy conditions this season and through
its having been selected by Emil Paur as the in-
strument for his own use it will be heard on the
festival tour, which will be made by Mr. Paur
and his orchestra when he closes the present sea-
son in Pittsburg. Mr. Paur's sojourn in Pitts-
burg has been a rarely successful one and he has
built up a tremendous clientele for the Pittsburg
Orchestra, and as pianist he has established him-
self as one of the greatest in this country, which
he undeniably is.
Before making his tour through Mexico and
after having finished his engagements in Oregon
and California, Eugen D'Albert will play one
more recital in Carnegie Hall, upon which occa-
sion he will give an exclusively Beethoven pro-
gramme. This will occur sometime between
April 5 and 15, and it will in all probability be
the last concert of tremendous importance. Re-
ports from San Francisco inform us that D'Al-
bert proved himself the gigantic pianist that he
is in every sense of the word, and the Knabe
piano recently placed with Wiley B. Allen has
had a strong impetus on the concert platform of
that thriving and musical western city. The
Knabe piano is also on tour with Ysaye and
since this violinist has drawn such large houses
upon all occasions the Knabe has been heard and
admired by the greater proportion of music lov-
ers in this country during the season. Not only
in the States, but also in Canada has this activ-
ity been pursued. From Montreal, where the
Knabe piano has a magnificent representation
with Willis & Co., come reports of Ysaye's great
artistic success, since he played there twice this
season.
We have had a visit from two of Chicago's
most charming pianistes this week and both
have won laurels for themselves and for the Ever-
ett pianos, upon which they have been heard.
They are Mme. Birdice Blye, who played at the
National Arts Club, on Saturday night, and at
the Waldorf-Astoria on Wednesday night, and
Miss Mary Wood, who was the assisting artist
at the Kneisel Quartet concert, given in Brook-
lyn on Thursday night. The piano was heard to
great advantage, especially in Brooklyn, where
the concert hall was so much better in acoustic
qualities than either of the New York houses.
Speaking of the Everett piano brings to mind
an amusing occurrence in which one of the in-
terested parties was Ralph Clifford Jackson, who
in addition to being a salesman at the Everett
warerooms, is a composer who has had the sat-
isfaction of seeing many of his compositions go
into four, five and more editions. Not long ago
a lady and gentleman came into the warerooms
and in trying the pianos the lady played first
Joseffy's "At the Spring." then Moszkowski's
"Valse d'Amour," after which she dashed off a
charming little composition called "Naivete."
Mr. Jackson asked whether she knew the com-
poser and she answered that she did not and
did not even know whether he was living or dead.
Mr. Jackson informed her that he was very much
alive. Then she wanted to know about how old
he might be and Mr. Jackson thought he was
about his own age. To make a long story short,
she was very much delighted to meet the com-
11
poser of one of her favorite pieces, and she
bought the piano. Mr. Jackson has been very
successful with most of his piano compositions,
they being published by both the John Church
Co. and by Schirmer, and they are in consider-
able demand all through the country-
The cantatas of Gaul's "Holy City," and the
"Hymn of Praise," by Mendelssohn, continue to
be great drawing cards at Wanamaker's, where
they repeated these works this week on account
of the vast numbers attracted last week. M. J.
Chapman, manager of the piano department, has
resumed this form of advertising for a short time
and it seems to have brought great results in its
wake, as the people have not been satiated with
that sort of thing this season as has been the
case heretofore. The piano stock at Wanamak-
er's is fresh and new and most inviting. The
Knabe piano is a great addition to the line and
those on the floor make a fine showing. The new
Chickering stock is also thoroughly up-to-date,
because as a matter of fact they were so thor-
oughly sold out that practically everything is
new. S. E. Clarke, formerly of Detroit, is among
the new assistants in the sale forces of the Wana-
maker piano department.
A new style upright is attracting the attention
of the callers at the warerooms of the Mehlin
piano. This piano, as all the others bearing this
worthy name, has a distinct individuality that
in addition to the qualities which distinguish the
Mehlin pianos in general, give it new properties
and new claims for the consideration of piano
buyers. The novelty of this particular style lies
in the lower part of the case which has been
accorded a typical art nouveau sweep that is in
keeping with the cylinder top, well known to be
found exclusively in the Mehlin piano. The
lines are exquisitely graceful and thoroughly
artistic. In a very few days still other new de-
signs in pianos will be found at the Mehlin ware-
rooms since they have been working for a long
time to produce something which shall be at once
highly artistic, yet not beyond fitness in a home
of refined simplicity. This the Mehlin piano
represents throughout, since musically it is the
most pronounced type of refined and artistic
workmanship. It is small wonder that both in a
retail way and in the wholesale department the
demand for Mehlin pianos is steadily increasing.
THAT "KICKER" LITIGATION.
This week a mandate was filed by Judge
Platt, United States Circuit Court, Hartford,
Conn., directing the enforcement of the judg-
ment given in his court and affirmed by the
United States Circuit Court of Appeals, in the
case of Theodore F. Brown, Worcester, Mass.,
against the Huntington Piano Co., Shelton, Conn.
This is known as the "kicker" suit, in which a
charge of infringement for using Brown's pat-
ented mechanism for operating the music disk
was established. The Huntington Co. was the
nominal defendant, representing a pool of piano
manufacturers as a test case, conducted under
the auspices of National Piano Manufacturers'
Association. The basis of settlement with the
Huntington Co. was five cents for each "kicker"
used and an additional lump sum for shop
rights.
Louis Southgate, of Southgate & Southgate,
Worcester, Mass., attorneys for the prosecution,
in connection with the above case, said to The
Review, Thursday:
"Of the nineteen piano manufacturers speci-
fically charged with infringing Brown's device,
seven have settled. The remainder are still hold-
ing out, so that it has been necessary to proceed
against them legally to carry out the high court's
decree. To-morrow we shall file suits in the
United States Circuit Court against F. Radle and
C. E. Byrne Piano Co., New York. Suits against
other piano manufacturers will also be instituted
unless prompt settlement is made."
The firm of Schneider & Alden, music dealers,
Marietta, O., has been dissolved, Mr. Alden re-
tiring.