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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JANUARY 7, 1922
WINNERS OF CHICKERING ESSAY CONTEST—(Continued from page 11)
history of piano making. This invention revo-
lutionized the industry, and the iron plate has
been the foundation of all piano construction
since that day. An idea of the importance of
this invention can be gained from a speech de-
livered years later by William Steinway before
the Piano Manufacturing Association in New
York: "Samuel Babcock made the iron frame
in the shape of a harp, but Jonas Chickering
brought the iron frame to perfection during 1820
to 1840, and in 1840, for the first time in Amer-
ican history, applied the iron frame to the grand
piano. I, therefore, here say that too much
honor cannot be given to Jonas Chickering, the
father of American pianoforte making."
Three years later Jonas Chickering invented
a new deflection of the strings, and two years
after that devised the first practical system of
overstringing in square pianos, by this method
lengthening the bass strings and bringing them
over that part of the sounding board where the
fullest tones would result. This stringing in
two banks is still used to-day in all types of
pianos. By his invention and diligence Jonas
Chickering had now brought the Chickering piano
to the head of the industry, and in 1851 we see
his pianos winning first award at the first
World's Fair held in Crystal Palace, London,
where they were carefully studied and copied
by the piano makers of the world.
With all the time and thought he devoted to
his business, Jonas Chickering found time for
social activities, and it is not surprising that we
find his inclination leading him into musical cir-
cles. As a boy he had played the fife and clari-
net, but shortly after coming to Boston he joined
the Park street choir. A little later he entered
the Handel and Haydn Society, where his apti-
tude for sight reading and the pleasing quality
of his tenor voice, together with his activity
in the affairs of the society, made him popular
from the start. In 1839 he was chosen to sing
the principal part in Neukomm's "David," which
was very enthusiastically received. He was for
three years vice-president of the Handel and
Haydn Society, and for six years its president,
declining further renomination. During these
years, we learn, his warerooms were used for
recitals and were frequented by most of the
artists of the day. His interest could always
be enlisted in the case of a deserving but poor
artist, and many a young musician was finan-
cially aided by Jonas Chickering without ever
being aware of it. One of his most lovable
qualities was this concealing of his generous
acts.
At this period, too, we find him further hon-
ored by being elected president of the Massachu-
setts Mechanics' Association. It is pleasing to
know that this prominent association held Jonas
Chickering in such high regard as a scientist and
a man that it wished him to share this honor
with those other worthy men who had preceded
him.
By the middle of the century Jonas Chicker-
ing had become the owner and active head of
the foremost piano factory in the world. His
warerooms were the accepted rendezvous of ar-
tists—a place of beauty and interest. His three
sons had followed in his footsteps and, one by
one, passed through various stages in learning
the business. His business acumen had placed the
concern on a sound financial basis and his credit
was unquestioned. Just when it seemed that he
had reached the culmination of his boyhood
dreams disaster overtook him. December 1,
1852, his factory, containing many fine instru-
ments, completed and in parts, was entirely de-
stroyed by fire—a disaster which, to most men,
would have meant utter discouragement. But
we find this remarkable man recovering quickly
from the blow. His first thought for his men,
he notified them that their salaries would go on
just the same. He immediately secured a new
building, recently completed, nearby and soon
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order began to come out of chaos. Plans,
scales, patterns, tools, all had to be replaced. His
excellent credit stood him in good stead now,
and gradually, through hard work and patience,
he got the business on its feet once more. Even
now we find him making plans for a new build-
ing—a factory_ of such size and design as had
been unheard of heretofore. But he was never
to see the realization of this great dream. Sud-
den death overtook him, while he was still
active and planning great things for the future,
just a year after the destruction of his factory.
From 1860 on the history of Chickering &
Sons, as it was now called, was a series of tri-
umphs. The work and ideals of Jonas Chicker-
ing were carried on by his three sons, Thomas
E., C. Francis and George H., who had been
carefully taught all the details of the business
by their father. These sons, by their inventions
and activities, increased the prestige of the Chick-
ering piano and brought it to the foremost place
in the musical world. All the prominent artists
of the day were associated with the Chickering,
both at home and abroad. Its merits were rec-
ognized universally, and in all it received 131
first medals and awards, including those received
from the world's fairs and expositions at Lon-
don, Santiago de Chile, Philadelphia, Sydney,
Cork, Chicago and Paris. At the Exposition
Universelle in Paris Chickering & Sons received
the highest honor ever awarded a piano manu-
facturer—the Cross of the Legion of Honor.
In 1860 C. Francis Chickering, after the Paris
Exposition, went to Rome and presented a Chick-
ering to the great Liszt. The famous composer's
exclamation on trying the beautiful instrument
bears testimony to his delight: "It is imperial!
I never thought a piano could possess such
qualities. This instrument does you honor, sir.
I thank you for it, and will take most jealous
care of it." The "Liebestraum," among others of
his works, was composed on this piano, and to-
day this instrument, with a second Chickering he
used, is preserved in the Imperial Conservatory
at Budapest. The Chickering was Gottschalk's
choice when he toured America in 1863. In those
days it was unusual for an artist to carry his
own piano on his tour. Most of the prominent
artists thereafter followed his lead. Jenny Lind,
the "Swedish Nightingale," visiting this country
in 1850, gave ninety-five concerts, each a tri-
umph. She used a Chickering throughout her
tour.
In 1865 Chickering Hall in New York was
dedicated, Hans von Bulow playing a Chick-
ering. This hall, with Chickering Hall in Bos-
ton, became very popular and was used by most
of the notable artists coming to this country.
Among the well-known musicians using the
Chickering we find the names of Mme. Car-
reno, Joseffy, Neupert, the Henschels, Emma
Nevada, Teresina Tua, Rummel, Scharwenka,
Hofmann, De Pachmann, Charles Gounod, Sir
Arthur Sullivan, etc.
Coming down to the present day, we find fa-
mous artists still favoring the Chickering. Among
the most noteworthy are Mme. Alda and Charles
Hackett, of the Metropolitan Opera Company;
Ysayr, greatest of living violinists; Kubelik,
Kerekjarto, Telmanyi; the composer-pianist,
Dohnanyi, and Mmes. Elly Ney and Germaine
Schnitzer, Alfred Mirovitch, Frances Nash,
George Copeland, Mme. Szumowska, etc. Per-
haps the ensemble playing of Guy Maier and
Lee Pattison on two pianos has been the most
brilliant and remarkable demonstration of the
Chickering qualities. Heard last year in a series
of concerts, these young artists give much credit
for their success to the Chickering pianos.
What of the construction of this piano to
which Jonas Chickering and his three sons de-
voted their lives? One of the greatest secrets
lies in the fact that the Chickering piano is made
complete in its own factory. It is not merely
an assembled piano with its frame made by one
concern, its sounding board by another, its ac-
tion by another, and so on. Chickering & Sons
make all of the parts right in the factory, and
when completed the piano is truly a unit—an
artistic combination in which each part is so
carefully fitted and nicely adjusted that a per-
fect balance results. Every workman feels that
he is making an important part of the Chicker-
ing piano, and he keeps the picture of the com-
pleted article before him. Many of the men
have been with the company for over a quarter
of a century and all have the ideals of Jonas
Chickering at heart. One well-known company
advertises: "If there is no harmony in the fac-
tory there will be none in the piano." The
Chickering & Sons factory surely complies with
this condition.
In constructing the case, woods most suited
to the various parts are used. The rim, where
both strength and beauty of curves are required,
is built up in layers of hard white maple glued
together. Five or six of these layers are used
and, to secure greater thickness, filling pieces
are put between the laminations. In the fall
board and top ash is used, because it will remain
straight and not warp. All exposed parts are
covered with veneer, beautifully grained and
matched. To complete the finish four coats and
a flow-coat of varnish are put on, each rubbed
down as it dries. The result is the "Chickering
finish."
The skeleton, or rast, which supports the other
parts of the piano is also built in laminations of
maple with supporting braces and bars of spruce
and rock maple. The rast is made very accu-
rately in order that the important parts such
as plate, action, sounding board, etc., which it
holds may be exactly in position.
The sounding board is made of the finest
grained quarter-sawed spruce, which is known to
have the greatest acoustic qualities. The wood
is matched for texture of grain and glued in
narrow strips into a large board. This board
is kept for a long period seasoning, so that when
finally shaped and placed in the piano it re-
sponds most fully to the vibrations of the
strings. A crown, or belly, is secured in the
board by ribbing it on the back with straight,
grained spruce bars, each bar being shaped ac-
cording to its position on the board, so as to
give the greatest resonance to that area, and
graduated in thickness as well as height, a fea-
ture peculiar to Chickering pianos.
The full iron plate, an invention of Jonas
Chickering, varies in each scale and is designed
to withstand the great tension and to secure
the best tonal effects. The pin block is fastened
to the plate. In the Chickering this block is
made of seven thicknesses of quarter-inch rock
maple pieces. Each piece is edge-glued to the ad-
joining one and the sheets thus formed are glued,
with the grain running in opposite directions,
into a solid block under great pressure. In the
resulting blocks, pins will hold under all con-
ditions. Chickering & Sons put special care into
the making of this pin block, realizing how
essential it is for a piano to stay in tune.
Comparatively few concerns to-day make their
own actions. Those responsible for making the
Chickering feel that they cannot allow such an
important part of the piano to be made outside
the Chickering factory. Hence all the hundreds
and hundreds of processes required in action
making are done in the factory. Only one ac-
quainted with action making realizes the amount
of painstaking work and skill that must be used
in making and assembling the parts of an action,
and in the final regulating and adjusting. The
elasticity of the Chickering action gives proof
of the care and skill used in its making.
The present factory, where all the parts
made and assembled, is a building worthy of .
Planned by Jonas Chickering, it was comj
after his death in 1853. It is a spaciousi
story building of pleasing outward appearq
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