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THE
and inspections generally consisted in an office
chat and inquiries regarding any changes when
inspections were made. I suppose inspectors
took the building as they found it, and let it go
at that. I certainly would have welcomed any
suggestions of value. We all need intelligent in-
spections and suggestions, whether we think so
or not. Ninety-nine men may not like to ac-
knowledge it, but the one hundredth will be
greatly benefited."
In view of what Mr. Jacobs says, may we not
ask the public at large, who sometimes feel that
they are overrun with "inspectors," to listen at-
tentively to every suggestion that any fire insur-
ance man who understands his business may sub-
mit? Should not the principals of large estab-
lishments insist on seeing every inspector before
he leaves his premises and inquire of him if any-
thing can be done to guard against fire? Would
it not be well for manufacturers and others not
to be too mercenary respecting insurance rates
and the cost of improvements? Frequently more
is lost by a fire from the interruption of business
than has been gained by years of hard work.
Insurance furnishes little or no protection
against loss of that kind.
TWAY WAREROOMS DECORATED.
The only retail store in the Fifth avenue dis-
trict that has made any pretensions of window
decorations Is that of W. F. Tway. The scheme
Is festoons of greens, in which are entwined
miniature electric lamps, forming a background
for two of their handsome uprights, which are
adorned with wreaths similarly illuminated and
tied with bows of crimson ribbon. The window
has proved very attractive to the fashionable
crowds that throng that thoroughfare.
C. Fred Colber has succeeded Charles H. De-
vine as manager of the piano department of Den-
tor, Cottier & Daniels, Buffalo, N. Y.
Grinnell Bros., the Detroit piano dealers, have
opened a new branch at 611 Pleasant street, with
E. T. Bailey as manager.
The step of Time stole onward, and
soon brought merry Christmas round
again, with glad and solemn worship in
the churcheB, and sports, gamed,festivals,
and everywhere the bright face of Joy be-
side the household Ate.—Hawthorne.
The step of Time stole—! Again
comes Christmas, and again we have
to express our appreciation of the
trade's good-will, and the ever-in-
creasing recognition of the excellences
of our products.
To say that we deeply value the
approval that has come to us from
all sides is but to state a self-evident
truth. Our efforts will always be
bent towards increasing our efficiency
and worthiness in every respect, to
make ourselves and others happy by-
doing good work—which, after all, is
the best recipe for happiness.
To every member of the trade we
say: May the bright face of Joy
smile beside your household fire this
Christmas.
0*
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
11
THE DECORATIONjOF^THE MUSIC ROOM.
While Considerable Attention Is Paid to Beautifying the Various Rooms in the Home, But Little
Attention So Far Has Been Given to the Specific Decoration
of the Music
Room—
Thousands Are Lavished on Furnishings, But the Room Itself Should Form a Sympathetic
Environment for the Beautiful Instruments Displayed Therein.
Even with the growing art taste throughout
the country, a taste that is finding expression
more and more in the beautifying of the home,
its reception room, drawing room, ballroom, li-
brary, dining room and bed chambers, it is sur-
prising how little attention is paid to the specific
decoration of the music room. People spend
thousands upon thousands of dollars on the in-
terior decoration of their houses, on furniture
and tapestry. They see to it that chief living
rooms are decorated with exactness according
to certain periods, that their boudoirs are cor-
rectly furnished and draped throughout accord-
Ing to a certain century or epoch in decoration,
they try to effect a certain harmony in periods
throughout the house, and yet "any old
scheme" seems good enough, artistically speak-
ing, for the music room. Not only that, but
surprisingly often, even in very large houses,
there is no music room at all, or if a room is
set aside for music the decorations are entirely
inappropriate.
Frequently, in fact, the idea of having a mu-
sic room does not enter at all into the planning
of the house. The piano or harp is surely set
down in some convenient apartment, which is
then designated as the music room, although
there may be nothing but the instrument even
to suggest that it is such. The result often is
that a musical instrument stands amid entirely
incongruous surroundings. Yet if any room
should be harmonious in its furnishings and
decoration it should be the music room. Fre-
quently, however, on account of this entirely
haphazard manner of selecting the music room,
it is the most incongruous apartment in the en-
tire house, so that one need not be surprised to
find a 1906 style of piano set down in a 1780
room. Of course one does not expect if the room
in which the instrument is to be placed be fur-
nished in the period during which Haydn lived
to find a spinet.
There was, indeed, a time when purchasers
of pianos had no choice excepting the instru-
ment with the ordinary rosewood case of com-
merce. But our manufacturers have kept pace
with the development of art in this country, and
the latest piano, and even mechanical instru-
ments like the pianola, can be built and dec-
orated in harmony with the room in which they
are'to be placed, and this without any great in-
crease in cost. The price for a piano is condi-
tioned chiefly by the quality of the "insides,"
not so much by its outward appearance, unless
exceptionally elaborate decorations are desired,
like the Alma-Tadema piano, which the late
Henry Marquand had decorated by that distin-
guished artist. Pianos are now made and kept
in stock by the large manufacturers in most of
the well-known periods under which furniture is
classified.
• • * •
A residence represents a subject—the occupant
and his wife. It is a shock to a cultivated per-
son, when after passing through a series of taste-
fully decorated rooms, he suddenly comes upon
a music room and discovers that it Is wholly
out of keeping with the rest of the house; that
taste in the furnishing has been neglected; that
the case of the instrument is entirely out of
keeping in design with the decorations, and that
these, as well as the pictures on the wall, do not
in any way suggest the purpose for which the
room has been set aside.
No excuse can be pleaded nowadays for such
an incongruous state of affairs.
Twenty-five
years ago, perhaps, before "period pianos" were
made and before the art of mural decoration had
developed in this country and consisted chiefly
of cherubs sitting on pink clouds, the neglect
of this important feature in the house decora-
tion might have been overlooked; in fact, the
man who wanted to- decorate his house properly
and according to exact periods cquld not have
done so without going to Europe, buying his
decorations there and importing them. It is
questionable if even in Europe he could have
secured a piano corresponding with the epoch in
which he had decided to decorate his room, un-
less he had i t specially made to order. Now,
however, everything is right at hand and merely
requires the expenditure of money with taste.
The art of mural decoration especially has made
giant strides in this country, and it is entirely
possible for a wealthy man who builds a house
to have his music room decorated with designs
which are at once appropriate and artistic. .
* * • *
The work of our leading mural decorators,
among them several of the most widely known
artists in the country, is constantly called into
requisition for public and semi-public build-
ings, and the result frequently is extremely beau-
tiful and in every way appropriate to the pur-
pose of the structure. History and allegory fig-
ure most prominently in the mural decorations
of these buildings, and what could be more ap-
propriate than history and allegory with special
reference to music in the decorations of a music
room.
This is especially true of allegory, for music
suggests allegory and symbolism. Moreover,
the musical instruments which would figure in
allegorical or symbolical decorations—the lyre,
the harp, the various instruments of the lute
family—all lend themselves beautifully to dec-
orative effect. Sculpture, too, appears with in-
creasing frequency on our public and semi-public
buildings. The art of the sculptor certainly
could be applied with gratifying results to the
decorations of a room dedicated to music. This
would not necesarily imply statues in the round
or portrait busts. But decorative medallions or
a decorative frieze as well as bas relief panels
certainly could be introduced into the room's
treatment with telling effect.
*
*
•
*
•
These, of course, should not be too heavy in
their carving, for music is curiously broken up
by uneven surfaces. Sound waves cast shadows
very much as light waves do, for the laws of
light and sound have a curious correspondence.
The smooth surfaces of mural decorations paint-
ed on canvas or sculptured decorations slightly
raised are, from the standpoint of acoustics, the
most satisfactory for a music room.
While there are many beautiful tapestries
worked on musical subjects, textiles absorb
sound, and, except very sparsely, should not be
used in a music room unless for the purpose of
correcting some acoustical fault, such as an un-
suspected echo or blur. It is true that in taboo-
ing tapestries for such a room one does away
with a very beautiful and very effective method
of decoration. Yet the fact remains that textiles
of all kinds, and this includes carpets and rugs,
as well as hangings, interfere with the most ar-
tistic results obtainable from a musical perfor-
mance, and that great caution should be ob-
served when they are introduced as to where
and how they are placed.
After all the decorations of a music room are
Intended to put the hearer in complete harmony
with the enjoyment of it, and hence the im-
portance of considering every detail.
* * * •
Pictures relating to musical subjects make
beautiful decorations for a music room. Here
again, however, care must be exercised not to
have the frames too deep or too heavily carved
lest, as would be the case with heavy sculptures,
the music waves be broken up by coming in
contact with uneven surfaces. Many artists, na-
tive and foreign, have painted pictures of musi-
cal subjects, and while the originals may be pri-
vately owned or hung in museums, It is possible
to obtain good copies or even replicas. If, how-
ever, the owner of the house wants only original