Music Trade Review

Issue: 1922 Vol. 75 N. 23

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
8
THE MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
DECEMBER 2,
1922
Week of Honors tor H. B. Tremaine
International Tribute Paid in Music to President of Aeolian Co. on Twenty-fifth Anniversary—Noted Men in Many
Countries Members of Celebration Committee—Special Duo-Art Concerts in All Parts of World
Mark Remarkable Event—Honored by Pope and Others of Prominence
International Duo-Art Week, the world-wide
tribute to Henry B. Tremaine, president of
the Aeolian Co., on his twenty-fifth anniversary
as head of that company, has come and gone,
but the memory of the affair will linger long in
the minds of those associated with Mr. Tre-
gether with the elaborate concert at Aeolian
Hall on Saturday night which brought the
celebration to a close.
A Notable Committee
Toward the close of last Summer plans were
first formulated for the celebration of Mr. Tre-
distinguished committee is typified by the fol-
lowing cablegram from Ignace J. Paderewski:
"Shall gladly join the Committee whose noble
purpose is to celebrate the anniversary of Mr.
Tremaine's exceptionally brilliant and dignified
career and to offer sincere tribute and warm
appreciation for his eminent services to the
cause of music."
Tributes from All Parts of the World
Every day of Tribute Week brought some
new expression of the world's appreciation to
Mr. Tremaine as a leader in the art and indus-
t/y of music and opened most auspiciously
with a cable from the Vatican notifying Mr.
Tremaine of his appointment as a Chevalier in
the Order of St. Gregory the Great. The cable
was signed by Cardinal Gasparri and read:
"On the occasion of your twenty-fifth anni-
versary as President of the Aeolian Company,
purveyor to the Papal Palace, the Holy Father
sends you congratulations with the Papal bene-
diction. I have also the pleasure of informing
you of your appointment as Chevalier St.
Grcgoire le Grand."
Mr. Tremaine has already been decorated
with the Cross of the Legion of Honor by the
French Government and has seven royal ap-
pointments from the courts of Europe for his
achievements in the field of music.
More than 500 other cables and wires flooded
Henry B. Tremaine's Activities During "Tribute Week"
1—Mr. Tremaine at the Radio Receiver. 2—Being Presented With Silver Loving Cup by the Officers of the Company;
Left to Right, Thos. H. Fletcher, H. B. Schaad, W. H. Alfring, E. S. Votey, H. B. Tremaine, \Y. V. Swords, F. W.
Hessin, G. D. Beattys and F. L. Young. 3—Mr. Tremaine Seated at Beethoven's Own Piano. 4--With the Latest
Duo-Art Piano and the 14-Karat Gold Cup
maine in the Aeolian Co. or who participated
in one way or another in the celebration.
The program, which was months in the plan-
ning, was carried out without a hitch, with the
result that Duo-Art recitals featuring the re-
cordings of pianists of international repute
were held practically simultaneously not only
in the cities of the United States, but also
throughout Europe and even in Australasia and
the Orient. Never before has such an am-
bitious program been carried out in the music
world and its success affords an excellent com-
mentary on the ability and foresight of those
who arranged and carried out the details.
Even the radio, the greatest marvel of the
age, was enlisted to broadcast into thousands
of homes the message of Mr. Tremaine, to-
maine's twenty-fifth anniversary. A committee
of one hundred prominent musicians and
others was organized with Walter Damroscli
as honorary chairman. Among the members
were Ignace Paderewski, Josef Hofmann, John
McCormack, Victor Herbert, Harry Harkness
Flagler, Mrs. Charles H. Ditson, Sir Henry
J. Wood, Isidore Philipp, Maurice Ravel, Henri
Rabaud, Alexander Lambert, Frederick T.
Steinway, Melville E. Stone, Charles Dana'Gib-
son, David Belasco, Arthur Brisbane, Mrs. Ed-
ward McDowell and other outstanding men
and women of every civilized country.
To no individual identified with the commer-
cial development of music and musical instru-
ments has the world ever paid so elaborate
and impressive a tribute. The spirit of the
Unusually Effective "Tribute Week" Window at Aeolian Hall
Loving Cup Presented by the Officers
his office during Tribute Week. They came
from artists in this country and on tour, who
know him and understand his ideals; from busi-
ness associates, from personal friends, and from
well-wishers whose lives have been enriched
by his efforts. They came from all over, from
the rocky promontory of Gibraltar, from the
little Norwegian towns of Gotenborg and Tron-
dygen, from Capetown and Johannesburg; from
picturesque Barcelona, from the manufactur-
ing towns of the south of England; they came
from Japan, the Argentine, Brazil, Chile, Java,
the Dutch East Indies, from Lithuania, from
Australia.
J. B. Vicini Burgos, President of the Do-
minican Republic, wrote:
"My enthusiastic congratulations and sincere
recognition for the extraordinary contribution
which during the twenty-rive years of your
presidency of the Aeolian Company you have
given to the education and culture of musical
art and for which the entire world owes you
thanks for its enjoyment. In this memorable
week I have had the pleasure of hearing on
the Duo-Art the exact and faithful reproduction
of those beautiful compositions, Paderewski's
'Minuet' and Granado's 'Reverie'; executed by
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
DECEMBER 2,
1922
THE MUSIC TRADE
those eminent artists, which is truly most re-
markable."
"Please accept my congratulations on the oc-
casion of the tribute your associates are offer-
ing you and which you highly deserve for your
work in the musical world," cabled Raoul Men-
ocal, former President of Havana.
"Your untiring efforts in the cause of music
have brought into Brazil's most distant homes
the only true reproduction of music as ren-
dered by the world's greatest artists," came
from Rio de Janeiro.
Eugen Ysaye added his message from Lon-
don: "My heartiest congratulations for your
years of work and your devotion to the Aeolian
Co. which you have made one of the most
artistic firms in the world."
The President of Santo Domingo; Albert Zel-
man, Conductor of the Melbourne Philharmonic
Society; Ernst Truman, City Organist of Syd-
ney, Australia; Francois Raase, of the Brussels
Conservatory; Jose Giralt, of Cuba, are among
those from whom greetings have been received.
Musical Educators Enthusiastic
Of particular gratification to Mr. Tremaine
has been the appreciation of musical educators.
A letter from Professor Edward Dickinson, of
Oberlin College, Ohio, expresses the general
sentiment with which musical educators regard
Mr. Tremaine's outstanding achievement, the
player-piano.
"While it is doubtless a sufficient gratifica-
tion to you to have lived to see the name and
influence of the Aeolian Co. extended
throughout the whole cultured world, the mul-
titudes of its friends could -not be satisfied
until the name of the man whose skill, energy
and devotion have been the chief instrumental-
ity in building up this splendid organization
should everywhere be recognized and publicly
applauded," writes Prof. Dickinson. "Few have
been better able than myself to realize the
enormous aid to musical education that has
been afforded by the instruments which bear
the name of the Aeolian Co., and it is
with a feeling of gratitude that I extend to you
my hearty congratulations upon the comple-
tion of twenty-five years of a service which has
produced results of such immeasurable magni-
tude and value."
As already set forth in The Review, Tribute
Week was widely observed by concerts every-
where. Chief interest, of course, centered in
New York City as the headquarters of the
Aeolian Co. Hundreds of persons attended the
recitals in Aeolian Hall and examined with
interest the remarkable collection of historic
musical instruments which traced the growth
of pianoforte construction from the first device
to make a musical sound to the Duo-Art piano
of to-day—the highest embodiment of Mr. Tre-
maine's idea.
The Radio Is Enlisted
On Tuesday evening announcement of the
nature of Tribute Week and its international
scope was made by radio from station WJZ at
Newark. This was followed by a personal mes-
sage from Mr. Tremaine and a concert in which
Arthur Kraft, tenor of St. Bartholomew's
Church, sang two numbers, one with the Duo-
Art accompaniment and the other to the ac-
companiment of Robert Artnbruster, pianist.
Both these artists also appeared in the Tribute
Week Recitals at Aeolian Hall.
In his radio talk, Mr. Tremaine dwelt on
old memories which had been stirred by the
exhibit of musical instruments at Aeolian Hall.
"I never had any musical training as a boy,"
he said. "I was fond of music, but for some
reason was denied music lessons, though my
father was an accomp'ished musician. The in-
struments that the Aeolian Co. were mak-
ing appealed to me strongly. 1 believed that
there were a great many other people situated
just as I was, fond of music, but without skill
to play, and with no time to acquire it.
"I do not pretend to say that in those days
I foresaw any such instrument as the Duo-Art.
But I had faith in the principle, and that faith
has never failed me.
REVIEW
"We had a very difficult time in the early
days meeting the prejudice against automatic
musical instruments. The present generation
knows little of that prejudice, but it was a seri-
ous matter for us then. However, after we had
made a really fine organ and developed a music
roll capable of producing artistic results, the
prejudice began to melt away. Artists like
Anton Seidl, Jean de Reszke and Paderewski
endorsed the idea. Later we applied the prin-
ciple to the piano, as many people liked the
piano more than the organ. If you could see
the first piano player it would amuse you
greatly—a big, cumbersome affair nearly as
large as the piano. It is interesting to know
that last year more than 65 per cent of all
the pianos manufactured in the country were
player-pianos."
Wednesday Was "Paderewski Day"
Wednesday was, perhaps, the most significant
day of Tribute Week. Not only was it an im-
portant date in musical history, marking the
return of Paderewski to the concert field, but
it was also the actual day of Mr. Tremaine's
twenty-fifth anniversary. The playing of Pade-
rewski's "Minuet" at three o'clock in the after-
noon, when he played in person in Carnegie
Hall, was a world-wide feature of the occasion.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, in Aeolian
Hall, beautifully decorated for the week, two
loving cups were presented to Mr. Tremaine.
One of silver, the gift of the Board of Di-
rectors, ali of whom were present. They in-
cluded T. H. Fletcher, H. B. Schaad, E. S.
Yotey, Frank Hessin, W. ' H. Alfring, F. T.
Young, G. W. Beattys and W. V. Swords.
The second cup was of gold and was the
gift of the hundred and more Aeolian dealers
throughout the United States.
In the midst of the presentation ceremonies
came a phone message from Havana felicitat-
ing Mr. Tremaine and announcing that on Fri-
day night, November 24, a Tribute Week con-
cert would be broadcasted from there which
could be heard in New York City.
An Ambitious Recital
On Thursday afternoon there was given at
Aeolian Hall a most elaborate program featur-
ing the three cycles of music, classic, romantic
and modern, as represented by the Duo-Art
piano in conjunction with a number of artists
of reputation, among them Edith Bennett, so-
prano; Carlos Salzedo, harpist; Arthur Kraft,
tenor; Lotta Van Buren, clavichordist; Marie
Dawson Morrell, violinist; Robert Armbruster,
pianist, and the Helen Moller Dancers.
The first section of the program, given over
to classic music of the seventeenth century,
was interpreted by Miss Van Buren (in appro-
priate costume) at the clavichord, by recordings
of Harold Bauer and Josef Hofmann on the
Duo-Art and by the Helen Moller Dancers.
The second section, given over to romantic
music, included numbers by Schubert, Chopin
and Liszt, interpreted by Arthur Kraft, who
sang a group of four songs to Duo-Art accom-
paniment; by the Moller Dancers to the ac-
companiment of a Gabrilowitsch recording on
the Duo-Art and in one number with Duo-Art
accompaniment and violin obbligato by Miss
Morrell.
The third section, modern music, offered
numbers by Ravel, Manney, Debussy, etc., in-
terpreted by Edith Bennett to Duo-Art accom-
paniment. The program attracted a very sub-
stantial audience and was repeated to a crowded
house on Saturday evening.
First Pianola for Smithsonian Institution
Another interesting feature of Tribute Week
was the presentation of the original Pianola,
from which has grown the industry represented
by the Aeolian Co., to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution at Washington. The instrument was on
exhibition in Aeolian Hall during the week. It
was sent to Washington, and on Friday, De-
cember 1, was presented with appropriate cere-
monies to the Institute.
The Hall Music Co. has opened an attractive
store in Snyder, Tex.
Victrola No. 130
$350
Victrola No. 130, electric, $390
Mahogany or oak
Other styles $25 to $1500
Victor supremacy
is the supremacy
of performance
Right here and now you
have the advantage of the
experience and knowledge
gained through a quarter-
century devoted solely to
the sound-reproducing art.
This is a consideration of
vital importance to every
dealer in Victor products.
HIS MASTER'S VOICE"
Victrola
REG US. PAT OFF
Important • Look for these trade-marks.
Under the lid
On the label.
Victor Talking
Machine Co.
Camden,N.J.

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