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REVIEW
THE
MU5IC TRADE
1
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EDWAPB .LYMN*
Messrs. Steinway & Sons,
New York.
Gentlemen:
The supreme qualities of your instruments have been ior many
years universally recognized. Public and individuals, amateurs and
artists have been looking upon your pianos as upon a standard of
perfection. Whenever perfection is attained progress is stopped,
for there is no room for climbing when the summit has been reached.
And yet, in your case, this law of nature seems to have been defied.
Having played Steinway pianos, after a long interval, in many
concerts, during a season of unusually sudden and unfavorable cli-
matic and atmospheric changes, I feel obliged to declare, and I do it
most emphatically, that you have realized an astonishing progress.
To the former qualities, now magnified, intensified^ you added an
entirely new one, a quality which had been considered unimportant,
superfluous, almost incompatible with the character of tone; an easy,
light, surprisingly agreeable action.
In former years I had to select my pianos before every tour; I
used to go repeatedly to Fourteenth street to try most carefully
the instruments, and my choice invariably fell upon those two or
three which were considered of the best ones by the makers them-
selves. This time it was quite different. Before beginning my tour
I went only once to Steinway's warehouse; I tried an amazingly
large quantity of instruments, dozens of concert grands, and I could
not make a choice; I could not select the few best ones because all
were best. Is there anything which could demonstrate more con-
vincingly the wealth of resources of your firm, the astonishing
vitality of your house? But there is in it something to rejoice the
heart of everyone who is devoted to his profession: Young men
inherit fame and fortune, general respect and universal recognition
most legitimately acquired by the genius, industry and honest, per-
sistent labor of their illustrious forefathers. Instead of simply
enjoying life, instead of dwelling passively upon the golden ancestral
laurels, they concentrate in noble, ambitious efforts all their energy,
and up they go to a higher plane, and, indeed, they reach still higher
regions.
Such a thing can only be accomplished by a sincere love of pro-
fession, and it is to this love of profession that I wish to pay my
tribute of high esteem and admiration.
Most faithfully yours,
New York, May 4, 1914.
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