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THE
ffUJIC TIRADE
VOL. XL. No. 14.
Published Every Saturday by Edward Lyman Bill at 1 Madison Ave., New York, April 8, 1905.
AN ORNATE HARPSICHORD
Treasured by Pope Innocent X. (1644-56)
Added to Collection of Musical Instruments
of Metropolitan Museum of Art.
With the installation of the interesting Crosby-
Brown collection of keyboard instruments, occu-
pying an entire room, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, at Central Park, has secured a series of
novelties which will make a strong bid for favor
and fame among laymen as well as musicians.
Among the very recent acquisitions is an ornate
harpsichord, once treasured by Pope Innocent X.
(1644-56), and presented by him to the widow of
his brother, Donna Olympia Maidalchina, whose
salon was one of the features of his reign.
The immense instrument, some eight feet in
length, and now incased in glass, is of alderwood,
with a richly gilded and carved body. The carv-
ings depict Neptune in a chariot surrounded by
attendants, while a rostrum, resting on claw feet,
supports an elaborate group of mythological fig-
ures bearing musical instruments. The harpsi-
chord has survived the crude workmanship of
numerous repairers, in some instances hand-
made nails of wrought iron having been em-
ployed. The figures are after the style of Michael
Angelo, but the beautiful modeling has suffered
considerably from repeated attempts at restora-
tion. Originally the figures were enameled in
flesh tints, the water having been the same color
as at present. About 1700 the enamel was over-
laid with water gilding, some of which remains
to-day. The instrument, which was illustrated
in the Times of Sunday last, bears no name.
In the same gallery may be studied the evolu-
tion of the piano, as shown in a remarkable
series of drawings, dating from Christofori
(1720) to those of American manufacture in 1S40,
all of which is supplemented by a complete dis-
play of action models of the square, grand, and
upright pianos of the present.
Additionally remarkable for their faithfulness
to detail are a number of construction cases show-
ing, piece by piece, the evolution of the violin
from a block of Swiss pine to the completed in-
strument. Here also is a block of Granadilla
wood, from which is evolved the finished concert
flute, and again the sheet of brass which is de-
veloped into a cornet. Still another case con-
tains the physical, or, rather, mechanical, his-
tory of the organ in detached pieces.
A series of drawings recently completed and
placed on exhibition in the same gallery illus-
trates the distribution and use of musical in-
struments among civilized peoples, as shown by
authentic records, from the earliest times to the
thirteenth century. The donor has sought to
make the collection the most complete and com-
prehensive in existence, above everything to have
it so arranged as to be helpful to the student.
All the drawings are done in India ink and
arranged in groups, according to type, under
geographical divisions. By this arrangement one
may see at a glance how the various types wers
distributed, and in a way follow the stages of
civilization attained by different races and na-
tions, as evidenced by the class of instruments in
vogue, as, for instance, in Western Europe and
Greece, where the types of string instruments
were highly developed as contrasted with the
East, where few strings were employed, but many
forms of drums and cymbals.
NEW RULING IN BANKRUPTCY.
The Supreme Court Lays Down a New Principle
Which Will Keenly Interest Business Men.
(Special to The Review.)
Washington, D. C , April 3, 1905.
In answering a question certified by the United
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in
the case of Keppel, trustee, against the Tiffin
(Ohio) Savings Bank, the Supreme Court, by a
bench divided 5 to 4, laid down a new principle
in bankruptcy proceedings. This was that a
creditor who has received a merely voidable pref-
erence, and who has in good faith retained such
preference until deprived thereof by the judgment
of a court upon a suit of the trustee, might there-
after prove the debt so voidably preferred.
It could not be presumed, said Justice White,
that Congress, when it enacted the surrender
clause in the present act, could have contemplated
that the clause should be construed as inflicting
a penalty upon creditors coming within the scope
of the enlarged preferences of the Act of 1898,
thereby entailing an unjust and unprecedented
result.
Justices Harlan, Brewer, Brown and Day dis-
sented, and the last named in his opinion said
that the bankruptcy law contemplated that a se-
cured creditor who held a security voidable under
the law must make his choice while he yet had
something to give for the privilege of being
placed in the class who should share in the equal
distribution of an estate. To permit him to prove
his claim as a general creditor would tend to
defeat the purpose of the act and encourage the
very thing the surrender clause was intended to
promote—a prompt and inexpensive distribution
of the estate.
SECURE AUTO-GRAND AGENCY.
The Pommer-Eilers Co., of San Francisco, Cal..
have consummated arrangements with the Auto-
Grand Piano Co., of New Castle, Ind., whereby
they will hereafter represent the Krell auto-
grand made by this institution. They will also
handle the auto-piano made by Kohler & Camp-
bell.
LEITER BUYS CHASE & SMITH CO.
Leiter Bros., of Syracuse, N. Y., announce that
they have bought the business of the Chase &
Smith Co., and will take possession of the store
on May 1, on which they have secured a lease.
They have given up their jewelry line entirely
and will devote all their time to the piano busi-
ness.
RAUDENBUSH SECURES SOHMER AGENCY
S. W. Raudenbush & Co. have secured the rep-
resentation of the Sohmer piano, which they will
handle as their leader. This instrument is well
and favorably known in the "Twin Cities" and is
destined to prove as great a favorite as it has in
other parts of the United States.
SINGLE COPIES. 10 CENTS.
?2.00 PER YEAR.
RECEIVERSHIP SETTLED.
Long-Drawn-Out Litigation in Keller Bros. &
Blight Affairs at Last Come to an End.
(Special to The Review.)
Bridgeport, Conn., April 3, 1905.
The litigation over the receivership in the case
of the Keller Bros. & Blight Piano Co., of this
city, which went into bankruptcy, was finally set-
tled this morning in the Civil Superior Court be-
fore Judge Shumway, after having been in the
courts since May, 1890. The case was No. 42 on
the docket and the numbers have now reached the
3,000 mark. Phases of the case, out of which a
number of other suits grew, were taken to the
Supreme Court. The litigation grew out of the
fact that the directors of the company declared
dividends even when the concern was insolvent.
The final report of the receiver was accepted by
the court to-day. A claim of $11,067.97 was a l -
lowed Marsh, Merwin & Lemmon, and Charles
Keller was allowed a claim of 1-3 of $7Q. The
total claims against the firm amounted to $28,703.
FINAL ZELLMAN-SOCOL CO. HEARING.
Wm. Allen, referee in bankruptcy, has sent out
a notice to the effect that the final meeting of the
creditors of the Zellman-Socol Piano Mfg. Co.,
bankrupts, will be held at his office, 67 Wall
street, this city, on April 10. At this meeting
the trustee's account will be examined, and if
found correct he will be discharged of his trust,
and the amount remaining for dividend will be
distributed.
PURCHASED BARCKHOFF CHURCH ORGAN
The Eleventh Street M. E. Church, of Birming-
ham, Ala., have purchased the handsome pipe
organ which has been on exhibition at the ware-
rooms of the Seals Piano Co., and which was
built by the Barckhoff Church Organ Co., of
Pomeroy, O. The instrument was examined by a
number of experts and pronounced to be one ot
especial excellence both in tone, construction and
other individual features.
ANZINGER"S NEW QUARTERS.
Wm. Anzinger, piano dealer of Springfield,
O., having found his present quarters inadequate,
has leased new warerooms at 51 West Main
street, which, when renovated, he will occupy
with a full line of Hardman, Melville Clark, New-
man Bros., Cable-Nelson, and Harrington pianos
and Apollo piano players.
WESER AMBASSADOR WEST.
Otto N. Heinzman, ambassador for Weser Bros.,
New York, when last heard from was visiting the
Pacific Coast. From there he went to Portland,
where he visited the Eilers establishments. He
reports business very excellent all along the line
and has secured some very excellent orders.
The great piano plant which is being built at
Despatch, near Rochester, N. Y., for the Foster-
Armstrong Co., is now being pushed by the c-on-
ti actor, and every available effort will be made to
have the building completed around July 1.