September 5, 1925.
PRESTO
FORMAL OPENING OF
NEW STEINWAY HALL
Inauguration Concerts to Mark Completion
and Dedication of New York's Latest
Temple of Music on 57th Street.
It is poor policy to
try to save a fraction
of one per cent on a
sale at the risk of a
dissatisfied customer.
Fifty years in busi-
ness has taught us
that quality pays the
dealer.
Tonk
Manufacturing Co.
1910 Lewis Street, Chicago
The formal opening of the
new Steinway Hall on West
Fifty-seventh street. New York,
will be marked by a reception
and dinner to be followed by a
series of five dedicatory con-
certs, the first of which will take
place October 27, with Josef
Hofmann, William Mengelberg
and Fraser Gange.
The details of the event in the
annals of musical New York
must be of more than passing
interest. They will serve as a
matter of record in the years to
come, just as the career of the
old Steinway Hall, recently
abandoned on Fourteenth street,
has filled a large chapter in the STEINWAY HAL/L,
history of American art progress.
The formal opening will be marked by the per-
formance of a contata, specially written for the oc-
casion by Mr. Mengelberg, with lyrics by F. W.
Gerhart, and given under his direction by members
of the Philharmonic Orchestra. The solo part will
be sung by Mr. Gange. On November 2, the can-
tata will be repeated and Ernest Hutcheson w T ill give
the second half of the program The Elshuco Trio
will appear at the third concert and Guy Maier and
Lee Pattison at the fourth. The fifth and final con-
cert will be given by Walter Damrosch and Paul
Kochanski.
The new Steinway salon will accommodate only
200 guests, whereas the old Steinway Hall on Four-
teenth street, opened in 1866, seated 2,500 people.
Adelina Patti, Anto Rubinstein and Theodore Thomas
with his orchestra made many of their New York
appearances there. It would call for a prophet to
foretell the triumphs in art which will fill the pages
of New York's musical life with their frui'ion in
the new Steinway Hall in the years unborn.
WARREN WHITNEY HAS
JOINED THE "REALTORS"
Former Well-Known Piano Manufacturer
Goes to California to Sell Florida Boom-
Land in Large Sections.
Warren Whitney, until recently interested in the
A. B. Chase Company, which industry is now a part
of the United Piano Corporation, has entered the
real estate field and will devote, his attention to
Florida land. Mr. Whitney passed through Chicago
last week on his way to Los Angeles, California. He
will settle in that city, or some other in the Golden
State, where he will promote land in the state of
booms, where the moss-covered pines woo the sun-
loving northerners from their snow-clad homes in
winter time.
Mr. Whitney was at one time an enthusiastic
piano man. His father, the late Calvin Whitney, was
the chief power in promoting the A. B. Chase piano,
which is now the leader in the line of the United
Piano Corporation at Norw T alk, Ohio.
LOS ANGELES HEARS
MELODY WAY CONTEST
Big Group of Children Trained by Method
Originated by W. Otto Miessner Show
Amazing Results of Short Course.
Ninety-two youngsters gave a concert in Chicker-
ing Hall, Los Angeles, Cal , recently, and five weeks
ago not one of the performers in that very amazing
musicale had ever touched a musical instrument.
That sounds like a miracle, which it is, a miracle by
means of the Melody Way, by which term the
method designed by W. Otto Miessner, head of the
Miessner Piano Co , Milwaukee, is called.
This concert came at the end of a short period of
instruction given by the Southern California Music
Co. to the children whose parents cannot afford
lessons. It is the plan of the conpany to make these
summer sessions an annual affair in the belief that
the music trade in general will find results of this
free instruction interesting.
Edward H. Uhl, president of the Southern Cali-
fornia Music Company, collaborating with Emma
Partlett, musical director in the city schools, initiated
the work.
The child players ranged in age from seven to
about thirteen. All are children of poor parents, and
all are gifted. But parents are reluctant to gamble
on a child's genius unless the word of some expert
can back the venture.
Mr. Uhl, believing fervently that an understanding
of music makes for better citizenship, as well as
greater personal happiness, threw himself and his or-
ganization into a summer experiment in music.
These children had, up to Saturday morning, had
but ten lessons, two a week for five weeks. They
have worked in classes of sixteen, four at as many
pianos and the rest at cardboard keyboards, dumb
symbo's of the instrument's value. The concert fixed
fully the children's confidence in themselves.
With the opening of school the lessons must be
discontinued; but the inspiration of Mr. Uhl's sum-
mer experiment will be carried forward in the regu-
lation school work.
Ninety-two poor children now know that they may
become musicians. Their parents realize that money
invested in musical instruments and lessons will not
be wasted but will be a valuable personal and family
asset. And ninety-two families have been given a
step up toward harmony and hope.
NEW INCORPORATIONS
IN MUSIC GOODS TRADE
New and Old Concerns Secure Charters in Various
Places.
The Yibro Piano & Instrument Co , Liberty, N. Y.,
$250,000; H. Beck, P. Scheraga, and A. Vreden-
burgh.
Cragan & Co., 6120 University avenue, Chicago;
$6,000; to deal in musical equipment and accessories;
J. Beach Cragun, Iva Cragun and Clarence F. Gates.
The Symphonaer Co., in Wilmington, Del.,
$1,500,000; to manufacture and install player actions
and organs; A. I. Miller, F. R. Bogart and E. C.
LeHane.
The Minchenberg Co., New York; $10,000; to deal
in musical instruments; M. and A. Goldsmith and M.
Minchenberg.
Friedland's Music Shop, $15,000; A. M. Friedland,
L. Stricks, R. Isaacs. Attys., McManus, Ernest &
Ernest, 170 Broadway, New York.
Mayer Music Shops, New York City; to sell music
and music goods; W. Mayer, M. E. Lopin and J. S.
Sheehy.
The Ohio Musical Sales Co., Cleveland, O., $100,-
000, a subsidiary of the Euclid Music Co.; Grant S.
Smith, Dorr A. Warner, M. A. Patterson, H. M.
Siering and J. C. Logue.
The Clark Music Co., Rocky Ford, Colo., has in-
creased its capital $15,000.
STARCK BOSTON BUILDING
NEARING COMPLETION
Structure with White Front on Boylston S'.reet to
Add More Brightness to P.ano Row.
The new P. A. Starck Piano Co.'s building, at 156
Boylston street, Boston, is nearing completion and its
sparkling white front will soon add more brightness
to Piano Row at the Hub. The formal opening,
however, will not take place until an early date in
October, but the building will be occupied before
that time.
The P. A. Starck Piano Co. will occupy the first
and second floors and basement and the rest of the
building; will be arranged for studios and offices.
Near neighbors oi the company are the Vose &
Sons Piano Co. next door and M. Steinert & Sons
and the Mason & Hamlin Co., two numbers away.
TUNERS ELECT OFFICERS.
At the recent annual meeting of the Milwaukee
division of the National Association of Piano Tuners
George M. Brasch was elected president; William
Hamann, vice-president; J. M. Kingsbury, second
vice-president; and Elmer Hunholz, secretarv-treas-
urer. Leslie Hoskins, superintendent of the Miessner
Piano Co., delivered an interesting and instructive
address on "Humidity "
DEPARTS FOR MEXICO.
Carlos J. Melendez, representative of the Schaeffer
Piano Mfg. Co., 209 South State street, Chicago, in
the Republic of Mexico, departed with his wife for
that country after spending a month's vacation in
Chicago Mr. Melendez has capably represented the
SchaefTer line in his country and many orders from
him have been received by the Chicago firm.
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