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THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
PUBLISHED BY EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Inc.
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. B. Spillane, 373 Fourth Ave., New York; Second Vice-President, Raymond Bill, 373
ourth A T C , New York; Assistant Treasurer, Win. A. Low.
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tions of a technical nature relating to the tuning,
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Vol. LXVIII
NEW YORK, MAY 10, 1919
No. 19
EDITORIAL
HE series of technical conferences held in this city by F. E.
Morton, acoustic engineer of the American Steel & Wire Co.,
for the benefit of the piano manufacturers of New York and their
employes is now at an end, but the results of the conferences prove
without doubt far-reaching and beneficial to the industry as a
whole. It may be that the discussions indulged in at the confer-
ences may not serve to revolutionize trade methods, but they will
at least have had the effect of causing piano builders to'think of
the various problems involved and put them in the way of changing
and improving methods.
Mr. Morton came to New York at the earnest solicitation of
the piano manufacturers themselves, and while here received their
full support. He also accomplished a great deal in connection with
one of his worthy ideas of putting piano building on a recognized,
scientific basis, and his success in this direction is evidenced by
the fact that at the various conferences Prof. F. S. Muckey and
Dr. D. R. Hodgdon, noted technicians and scientists, were constant
attendants.
So much of actual good in a scientific and practical way has been
accomplished in the conferences that it is to be hoped that another
series will be held, perhaps next winter, for further discussion of
tone production and the other problems that have to do with better
piano making.
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HE announcement that Sohmer & Co. have leased new quarters
for their New York establishment on West Fifty-seventh Street
is of importance and interest not alone to the house of Sohmer, but
to the local piano trade at large, inasmuch as it is the first instance
of a house of such prominence moving so far above what has for
some years been considered as Piano Row.
Inasmuch as Sohmer & Co. have during their career followed
the uptown trend of the trade consistently, moving from their origi-
nal headquarters on Fourteenth street to Twenty-second street
and Fifth avenue, and then to Thirty-second street and Fifth ave-
nue, where they are now located, it would seem that this new move,
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REVIEW
MAY
10, 1919
in which they are pioneers, may be accepted as an indication that
Piano Row may be found in a new district before many years have
passed. As a matter of fact, another prominent house some time
ago negotiated for property in the same section of the city, and
other houses have glanced in that direction with favorable eyes.
With Carnegie Hall on Fifty-seventh street accepted as the
largest musical center of the city, it is not beyond the realm of
imagination to believe that this section may in the future develop
into a music trade center. It may be that Sohmer & Co. will be all
alone in their new district, but it is entirely possible, if not probable,
that other leading piano companies will feel the same urge, espe-
cially those occupying leased quarters.
HE statement that the Mason & Hamlin Co. have arranged
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to present as a prize to the most capable student of the Chicago
Musical College, as proven in competitive test, a Mason & ITamlin
grand piano, valued at $1,500, is worthy of the highest commenda
tion from every member of the trade, as well as all those interested
in the development of piano music, and in the maintenance of inter-
est in that instrument.
The Mason & Hamlin Co. have for the past ten years offered
a prize of one of their grand pianos each year to the best qualified
student of the New England Conservatory of Music, and the offer
and the spirit back of it have aroused national interest in musical
circles. The intrinsic value of the prize is much, but its value as a
stimulator of interest in piano study is immeasurably greater. It
is such offers as that made by the Mason & Hamlin Co. that serve
to arouse a proper appreciation of the piano, and the company is to
be congratulated upon its generosity and foresightedness in carry-
ing on the work.
That real interest exists is fully evidenced by the fact that at
the first competition for the Mason & Hamlin grand in Chicago last
week the audience numbered over 3,000 enthusiastic music lovers,
and the future results should be enormous. It is an offer in which
straight commercialism does not enter, and is therefore to be valued
in corresponding proportion.
HE curse of Bolshevism, the total depravity indicated in its
doctrine and its accomplishments, has never been brought closer
to those interested in music than through the announcement that
Andreef, the creator and conductor of the Balalaika Russian Or-
chestra, which was heard with such favor in this country, had died
of starvation because he was a musician, and, as such, had been
placed in the fourth category as representing a non-essential occu-
pation by the Bolsheviki Government.
Right now, when practically the entire world is free in its
acknowledgment of the absolute essentiality and power of music,
these madmen of Russia decree that it is among the arts not to
be tolerated. History from the beginning of time makes mention
of music and its power. Savages, absolutely devoid of the ele-
mentary principles of civilization, have their music, crude to our
ears, but nevertheless music that affects them for good or evil,
as the case may be. Yet in the face of history the Bolsheviki decree
that music is not essential, and following out that decree permit
one of their own countrymen, and one of their greatest exponents
of music, to die of starvation.
We in America have read of the crimes of the Bolsheviki
until we have sickened. We have read of the carnival of murder
and rape, and of the attempts of the Bolsheviki interests to find a
foothold in our own Republic. If there is anything else needed
to make us realize the total depravity of those who turn to Bol-
shevism, anything to make us realize that this curse must and
should be stamped out, it is the attitude that has been taken in
the matter of music alone. It has been said that he who is without
music in his soul is fit for treason, stratagems and spoils, and this
statement has been well proven in the case of the Bolsheviki.
What practically amounted to the murder of Andreef was
made the subject of an excellent editorial in the New York Sun
recently, an editorial that was reproduced in an advertisement by
the Autopiano Co. in the various trade papers. The attack on
music, the failure to realize the celestial quality of the art, is suffi-
cient alone t(f indicate the true color of the Bolshevik. Let those
who view with passiveness. if not tolerance, the attempts to plant
Bolshevism in the United States consider its attitude towards
music. Therein lies their answer.
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