Classic Mode

Music Trade Review

Issue: 1928 Vol. 87 N. 5

Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
AUGUST 4, 1928
Charles A. Haddorff
Dies at Age of 64
Vice-President of Haddorff Piano Co., Rock-
ford, 111., Widely Known as Expert Con-
structor of the Piano
CHICAGO, III., July 30.—Charles A. Haddorff,
vice-president of the Haddorff Piano Co., Rock-
ford, 111., since its organization in 1902, died
suddenly on Thursday, July 26, at his home
from heart trouble after a few days' illness.
He was sixty-four years old.
Mr. Haddorff was recognised as a leading
authority on piano building, and in his capacity
us vice-president of the Haddorff Piano Co. had
been in complete charge of production.
He learned piano building in Sweden, study-
ing every detail of piano construction and its
technic. Later he went to Germany, where he
studied closely all technical features.
In 1893, when a young man of twenty-nine,
Mr. Haddorff came to the United States and
worked in piano factories in New York City.
He then went to Minneapolis, where he was
connected with the Raudenbush firm, and in
1902 joined P. A. Peterson when the Rockford
plant was organized. Mr. Haddorff was an
authority on tone and scale designing and he
produced all the scales for the Haddorff piano
which are well known for their exceptional
tonal qualities.
Besides his connection with the Haddorff
Piano Co., he was a member of the board of
directors of the Swedish-American National
Bank and also on the board of directors of the
Consolidated Industries. He is survived by his
widow and two sons, Irving R. and Carl L.
Haddorff.
Funeral services were held last Saturday at
the home with the Rev. Jacob Peterson officiat-
ing. The high esteem which his associates held
for him is shown by the following tribute from
the board of directors of the Haddorff Piano
Co. read by President A. E. Johnson at the
funeral services:
"The directors of the Haddorff Piano Co.
are filled with sorrow at the untimely passing
of their friend and colleague, Charles A. Had-
dorff. Through close, association of more than
y, quarter of a century he had so endeared him-
self to them in every way as to make the loss
irreparable.
"Charles Haddorff was a man of the
finest character, sincere, conscientious, upright,
courageous, and yet always cheerful, courteous,
kindly and thoughtful of others.
"In his particular field of work he was an
acknowledged master to whose knowledge and
skill the greatest experts paid tribute, and
whose leadership his associates were always
proud to follow. But with all his ability and
reputation ,he possessed a rare and charming
modesty, and his relations with his business
associates were marked always by the most
complete unselfishness. No one ever had a
keener sense of duty, or a more perfect faith-
fulness in its discharge.
"In the conduct of his own life rfe permitted
himself no deviation from the narrow path of
perfect rectitude. But in .his judgment of
others and his dealings with them he was al-
ways kindly and generous, as well as just.
"He had the admiration, respect and affection
of all who came in contact with him. He was
a man whom it was a privilege to know and
be associated with, and whose memory will con-
tinue a life-long inspiration."
Parsill Sells Interests
July 31.—David B. Parsill has
sold his interest in the Knabe Studios, 4700
Broadway, this city, to his partner, Paul I.
Nederman, who will operate the business under
the name of the Nederman Music Co. in the
future. This firm handles the full American
Piano Co. line, including the Mason & Hamlin,
KANSAS CITY,
The Music Trade
Review
Knabe, Chickering and the Ampico. Mr. Par-
sill, who was formerly secretary of the Wunder-
lich Co., and Mr. Nederman purchased the
Knabe Studios in 1925.
Allen Tendered Dinner
by Kohler Associates
Retiring President of Milton Piano Co. Guest
of Honor at Dinner of Executives and Sales
Force of Kohler Industries
A testimonial dinner was tendered Geo. W.
Allen on Wednesday night at the Columbia
Club, New York, by the executives and sales
force of the Kohler Industries. Henry Simpson
presided, and after the dinner was served,
turned the toastmastership over to Corley Gib-
son. The speakers were Mark P. Campbell,
W. J. Kealey, Gordon Campbell, Julius White
and Albert Behning, who was an invited guest.
On behalf of the organization, Corley Gibson
presented Mr. Allen- with a pigskin golf bag.
Mr. Allen with a very few well-chosen words
thanked the organization for its thoughtfulness
and also explained to those present the new
work which he expected to do with the Janssen
Piano Co., showing a photograph of the new
instrument which is going to be produced by
that company.
Steinway & Sons Announce
Six New Representatives
Roman de Majewski, recently appointed suc-
cessor to Ernest Urchs as manager of the
wholesale department of Steinway & Sons,
New York, announced this week the appoint-
ment of several important new Steinway
representatives. Mr. Majewski stated that the
selection of the new dealers was made subse-
quent to his recent trip through the trade
covering about two-thirds of the territory of
the country. The new Steinway agencies are
are follows: The Duff-Gore Corp., Raleigh, N.
C.; Hobbie Bros. Co., Inc., Roanoke, Va.; Pop-
pier Piano Co., Grand Forks, N. D.; Sampson
Music Co., Boise, Ida.; Williams Piano Co.,
Sioux Falls, S. D., and the D. L. Whittle Music
Co., Dallas, Tex.
Baldwin Grand Installed
in Albion High School
A Baldwin grand piano is one of the features
of the equipment of the imposing new high
school opened recently in Albion, Mich. The
instrument has been installed in the auditorium
of the school and will be used not only for
school work but for numerous public and semi-
public events.
Piano Man for Mayor
QUINCY, MASS., July 29.—Charles A. Ross, head
of the Charles A. Ross Piano Co., of Boston,
has formally announced his candidacy for the
office of mayor of this city. Mr. Ross was
formerly president of the city council here, and
in the campaign of 1926 was defeated for the
mayor's office by a narrow plurality.
Buys Guttenberger Go.
MACON, GA., August 1.—The Custis S. Gutten-
berger Music Co., 208 Cotton avenue, this city,
has been purchased by Cliff Gordon, who has
already taken possession of the new store which
he will direct.
M. M. Miller has purchased the interest of
C. E! Parker in the Music Shoppe, 301 East
Main street South, Gainesville, Fla., and is now
in full control of the business. He features
the Cable Company line of pianos together with
several makes of phonographs.
Robert Warner Visiting
American Piano Dealers
Advertising Manager of American Piano Co.
on Field Trip Visiting Company's Leading
Agencies
Robert Warner, advertising manager of the
American Piano Co., New York, left recently
on a trip through the trade for the purpose of
visiting the company's dealers in the principal
cities of the country. Mr. Warner is anxious
to become familiar with the problems of the
various dealers in the field in order to mould
the national advertising matter of the company
in such a manner as to meet the requirements
of every establishment handling the American
Piano Co. line. His trip is a practical demon-
stration of the company's new policy of making
the advertising department a real dealers'
service department. Mr. Warner will be gone
about a month.
Sterchi Opens Branch
TERRF. HAUTE, IND., July 31.—The Sterchi Music
Co., Inc., of this city, has purchased the stock
and warerooms of Sam H. Sterchi, Fourth
street and Wabash avenue, and will operate the
two stores in the future.
Amorous With Marmon Go.
C. B. Amorous, who resigned recently as
manager of wholesale sales for the Aeolian Co.,
has returned to the automobile field which he
left to enter the piano business, having become
connected with the Marmon Motor Car Co.
Pratt Read
Service
We maintain special
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PRATT, READ & CO.
Established i n 1 8 0 6
The PRATT READ PLAYER ACTION CO.
Deep River, Conn.
Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
WESTERN COMMENT
Art, "Art" and Business
REVIEW OFFICE, CHICAGO, I I I . , JULY 30,
easy to keep before the mind steadily the great fact that a musical
instrument business is a business of creating the raw material of
music, that is to say, the raw material of an art; so that there is
not the slightest possibility of disconnecting the art of the fac-
tory from the art of the performer. A music business cannot
live in one of the meadows; it must live in both of them at once,
and be a business in art and art in business. That is the paradox,
the fate, and, just as much, the glory, of the music industry.
1928.
IF one wished to point out a weakness in the civilization of to-day
he could hardly do better than select for his attack the attitude
which most men and women to-day take towards
What
If there is anything which
w h a t t hey c a n " a r t . "
Is
distinguishes a good from a bad civilization it is
Art?
the recognition by the former of the true mean-
ing of the word "art." Rightly speaking, anything is art which
represents the conscious adaptation of means to an end; so that
any piece of human workmanship emerging as something useful
or capable is a piece of art work. The difference that matters
is not between art and practical life, but between good art and
bad art. Good art is good workmanship, no matter how humble,
but done honestly and with a sense of pride in achievement. Bad
art is work, no matter how pretentious, done dishonestly, insincere-
ly, and with a sense of pride in sharpness or shrewdness rather
than in skill of hand and brain. An artist is, thus, any man or
woman who does fine, honest work with greater pride in the fine-
ness and the honesty than in the success of some smart trick
worked in the course of selling. Thus, an honest, low-priced piano
made by a man who strives to do the very best he can for
the money is a work of art made by an artist. A pretentious ex-
pensive piano made by men who think that achievement once per-
fected need never be practiced again, and who deem it fair to
make the buyers of to-day pay for the honesty of yesterday, is
a work of bad art, in fact is truly not a work of art at all; nor
are its makers artists. And precisely here is all the meaning of
that much-abused word art, which silly posers have brought into
dsrepute among honest men. Art does not mean long hair, sneers
at business, a contempt for material success, the twaddle of "self-
expression" or anything else silly and contemptible. It does mean
honest work applied to a useful end, producing something per-
fectly adapted to its intended use and, therefore, perfectly appro-
priate, which is only another way of saying beautiful. That is
what art is; and what it is not.
I HAVE heard a piano manufacturer laugh considerably at the bare
suggestion that he might care to listen to a piano recital. I have
heard a dealer laugh with worse than contempt
In
as the door of his store closed upon a musician
One
with whom he had been doing business. Once
Boat
upon a time conduct like this was accounted the
sign of a good business mind. One then had no time for long-
haired musicians or for caterwauling concerts, and would not be
talked into feigning an interest in them just because one happened
to be in the business of making or of selling pianos and music.
Yes, once upon a time those were the brave words. They may
still be brave, but they sound deplorably thin and silly to-day, like
the cacklings of a superannuated rooster vainly trying his outworn
tricks on a farmyard full of bored chickens. For the fact, as
all of us rapidly, and some of us reluctantly, are finding out, is
that this music business of ours, particularly the piano business,
has to face the future from a radically new standpoint. It has
to learn that its principal need of the moment is an alliance,
offensive and defensive alike, with the very elements which it has
hitherto disliked and condemned. It has to learn, in a word, that
it is sitting in the same boat with the music teacher and with the
pianist, sharing the same chance of making land or of being sunk
without trace. To put it in other words, the music industry is stark
up against the grim word Art; and is in a fair way to learn what
that word really means; and likewise what it does not mean.
we like it or not, for the rest of our existence we are
bound up with Art. It sounds terrible, but all it really means is
that we must do for our business what other busi-
Terrible
n e s s m e n ^ o f or theirs. We must take an interest
in the uses to which our product is put, and strive
_
meanwhile to give ever better value for the money
we get. Which after all is only another way of saying that we
shall have to treat our business as an art hereafter. Better pianos,
better made and better sold: that ideal realized will be making our
business into an art. Promoting music, taking an honest interest in
the things musical, and ourselves developing an enthusiasm for what
we want others to do enthusiastically; that, too, will mean making
our business into an ?rt. Better pianos are a possibility than can
be realized here and now. Better pianos sold by promoting better
music are a present possibility of piano salesmanship on the grand
scale. A complete reversal of prejudices and of the belief that in
some way or other it is rather shameful to confess a love for
good music are steps along the road to the future. A sincere
interest in that musical world without which we could not exist
or our business have any meaning, is no longer a luxury, it is a
present and pressing necessity. The music industry of to-morrow
must be a scientific, sincere and music-loving industry, an industry
turning out better instruments, selling them in better ways, and
refusing to believe any longer in the absurd delusion of an an-
tagonism between those who make and those who use. In a word,
it must be and, therefore, will be, an art industry, art in business,
within the true and only exact meaning of the words.
—W. B. W.
WHETHER
ALL of which is said with and for a purpose. The music industries
always find themselves as if on a fence running along between
two meadows. One of these is called Art and the
The
other is called Business. The important question
., ,
is whether one can get down from the fence on
Meadows
° . .
either side without getting into trouble. To alight
in the meadow called Business and stay there all the time is simply
to proclaim that one expects to be able to deal with the Art of
Music and all that goes with it, while taking not the least interest
in it, refusing to look at it and avoiding all real contact with it
as one would avoid a plague. To take the opposite course, and
to spend all one's time in the Art region, in a state of contempt for
Business, is equally absurd, for it is to lose all contact with real-
ises". In point of fact, of course, the division between Art and
Business is purely imaginary. A great business leader is an artist,
and a great artist is necessarily a great executive, even though
his field of action may be restricted to his own highly organized
individuality. In this mechanized age of ours the music industries
are beset always with the temptation to forget that the field of
their operations is a highly specialized, highly organized and yet
extremely individualistic form of art work. They are tempted to
forget that a musical instrument is an instrument of music; and
that its existence as a piece of elaborate manufacture, involving
all sorts of organization and executive ability, is only ancillary to
its being as a maker of musical sound. In other words, with all
that one hears of mass production (most of which is exaggeration)
and of mass selling (all of which is lies), it is sometimes not
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