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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
MUSICALLY SPEAKING
badours of Provence had sung their songs
two hundred years before and the arts had flour-
ished in the gay courts of the South of France.
years before the capture of Constantinople (1453) But religious intolerance had waged war on them
by the Ottoman Turks, Italy was already in the and they were no more. The minstrels of Wales
middle of that remarkable movement which was and Ireland, the minnesingers of Germany, had
played and sung in the rude halls of the barons
to be known as the Renascence, the Rebirth, of
Learning. With Greek manuscripts came Greek and within the gabled houses of the trade guilds
scholars, ready to teach the magic language to in many a walled Nurnberg. But this was not
the princes and princesses, the noblemen and modern music, pitched, notated, ruled by gram-
noblewomen of the Italian courts. Latin, too, mar, combined into harmonies and bodied forth
again found its ardent votaries, for it could now in a thousand different forms. Scarcely, in the
be compared with the Greek, from which its fourteenth century, had musicians learned to run
grammar and so much of its literary value were two tones together simultaneously, and this only
drawn, and was ceasing to be the vehicle of a by the painful process of experimenting with two
debased monkish learning. New manuscripts of sets of voices in the chants of the Church, run-
the Latin classics came along with the Grecian ning one set on the same tune a fifth or a fourth
writings. Popes and cardinals prided themselves higher than the other, note for note. Excruciat-
more on their aptness in turning a hexameter ing must have been these earliest reachings-out
than on their knowledge of the Church's formu- towards harmony, but, such as they were, they
larities. An age of polite and delicate Paganism represented a level of achievement that two more
set fn, and during this age modern music, heav- centuries of constant experiment could but
slightly alter for the better.
enly made, was born.
That, then, was the position at the opening of
True, the art had its earlier history. The trou-
(Continued from page 5)
yy
Simple
"Durable"
"Responsive
These words most aptly describe the virtues, and sum up the
advantages, of that remarkable instrument with a nation-wide
reputation known as the
r
M. Schulz Co. Player-Piano
now in its twelfth year of steady progress, consistent approach
to a perfection always held in view as its maker's ideal, and
ever-widening prestige.
From the salesman's point of view the qualities which mark
out the Schulz product from all rivals are its
Splendid tonal efficiency
Extreme simplicity
Remarkable Durability
Unusual Responsiveness
Dealer helps, sales and technical service and a constant endeavor
to preserve the friendliest relations with all members of the
Schulz Retail Family of Dealers, make the Schulz representa-
tion a
.
Steady Source of Satisfaction and Sales
NOVEMBER 26, 1921
the fifteenth century. Musicians, mainly clergy,
had learned to combine voices by intervals.
Guido of Arezzo had invented the notation of
the diatonic scale, craftsmen had arisen to build
organs of great size and great power, the mono-
chord of Pythagoras, long used in convent and
monastery to teach the sounds of the scale to
the choirs of the Church, had blossomed out
into the clavichord. The lovely lute had begun
to achieve its literature and the perfection of
the lutanist's technique. The viols, treble, alto,
tenor and bass, d'amore, da braccia, da Gamba,
violone, ancestors of the modern violin, viola,
'cello and contrabass, had come into being. Every
monastery now had its "chest of viols." The age
of the Rebirth of Learning now opened. It was
inevitable that the freeing and opening of men's
minds should bring about a yearning to be free,
in music, too, from the mortmain of ecclesias-
ticism. The hour was at hand and modern music
was duly born. One hundred and fifty years
later the infant art had grown to adolescence—•
a new era was to open. In the year 1600 a few
gentlemen, gathered at the home of one of their
number in the city of Florence, conceived the
notion of adapting music to an Italian version
of a Greek drama, based on the story of Orpheus,
the magic musician of the Greek mythology.
They proposed to have this music quite free and
untrammeled, to make it follow the natural rise
and fall of the voice in the declamation of the
tragic passages of the drama. In a word, they
broke wholly with the artificial traditions of the
past. With their work opera was born. These
anticipators of Wagner by two centuries and
a half laid the foundations clearly and cleanly of
the music we know and enjoy to-day. Three
hundred years, then, suffice to compass the de-
velopment of all that we call modern music.
Music is the youngest of the arts, and her future
growth no man can estimate.
AVA W. POOLE STUDIES CONDITIONS
President of Poole Piano Co. Spends Six Weeks
Visiting the Western Trade
Ava W. Poole, president of the Poole Piano
Co., Boston, passed through New York last week
on his way home from a trip of several weeks
through the Western section of the country, and
made an encouraging report regarding the situa-
tion as he found it in most sections. Mr. Poole
stated that in the big farming districts there was
still very little buying activity, owing to the low
prices realized for farm products, but that this
condition was being readjusted gradually and
might be expected to right itself shortly. In the
industrial sections there has been a noticeable
improvement and the dealers in such centers are
showing an inclination to order more generously
from the manufacturers.
Mr. Poole reported that the demand for small
grand pianos was particularly noticeable and the
sales of the instruments were reaching a point
where, in some cases, they overshadowed sales
of players. In the player class the reproducing
pianos, especially in small grand form, are com-
ing strongly to the front. Mr. Poole spent about
six weeks on the road and came back with a
first-hand understanding of the situation as it
exists.
DEATH OF HENRY C. TAYLOR
WORCESTER, MASS., November 18.—Henry C. Tay-
Interested dealers may learn much to their advantage by
addressing the
M. SCHULZ COMPANY
Founded 1869
' General Offices
Schulz Building
711 Milwaukee Ave.
CHICAGO
Southern Wholesale Branch
1530 Candler Bldg.
ATLANTA, GA.
lor, retired treasurer of the Simplex Player Piano
Co., passed away at his home at 35 Richards street
here this week, as the result of heart trouble.
Mr. Taylor came to Worcester in 1877 and he
was well known in business circles in this section
of the State. He is survived by a son, a daugh-
ter and a sister, all of Worcester.
NEW HOUCK CO. BRANCH STORE
The O. K. Houck Piano Co.'s branch at Nash-
ville, Tenn., will soon occupy its new quar-
ters at 219 Fourth avenue, which are being re-
modeled.