11
September 29, 1928
WE
ONE
W
T the close of one of my first singing lessons, my dear old
maestro said to me: "Remember always to choose your
accompaniment with care. Next to your own voice it can
be the greatest factor'in your success.
At the time I was pulled. What, I asked, had a piano
to do with my success as a singer? But as the years passed,
I learned the truth of my maestro's words. I sang with many pianos. But in
all of them there was something lacking. Something I cannot quite describe
—call it sympathy of tone if you will, or kinship of spirit. Until one day,
shortly after I joined the Metropolitan Opera Company, I found what I was
seeking. And the d?sect cry was one of the happiest experiences of my life.
I had set out to find a practice piano for my home. I tried many different
makes. Then, in the course of my rounds, I seated myself at a Knabe. I had
not played a dozen notes before I realised that here was piano tone different
from any I had ever heard before. Its liquid eloquence seemed to reach the inner-
most recesses of my heart. I was strangely elated, buoyed up. Before Ikrew it
I was singing. Yet, as I sang and played, only one voice rose from the piano.
The voice of the Knabe melted into my own. We were one—the Knabe and I.
And we have remained one. Wherever I sing—at home, on the stage of the
Metropolitan Opera House, on the concert platform—the Knabe sings with
me. Always its golden voice is an inspiration, urging me to do a little better
than my best. And always it seems instinctively to sense the mood of my song,
and to express that emotion in perfect harmony with me.
So today, when young singers come to me for counsel, I repeat the advice of
my old maestro. Only now I can add words of wisdom unknown to him. I can
tell these young students not only the importance of accompaniment to a singer
— l e a n tell them the name of the ideal piano for the singer—the Knabe,
You have only to hear the
Knabe co know why Rosa
PonseJIe has made this piano
her own. And why it is the
choice of Maria Jeritza, of
MartineJIi, Kappeli, Scotti,
Ruffo, and many others. Why
it is the official piano of the
Metropolitan Opera Com-
pany. Why it is the instru-
ment of Roscnthai's art, and
of Orloff's.
For instantly, you wiil
sense the humanly sympa-
thetic quality that distin-
guishes the Knabe from ail
other pianos.Tone of appeal-
ing sweetness, of haunting
beauty. Tone that echoes
every emotion of your heart.
Tone such as you seek in
your piano.
The Knabe may be pur»
chased on extremely attrac-
tive terms: 10% down,—years
to pay the balance. Prices
from $875 to $2,500. Period
models from $1,500.
WM. KNABE &
Co.
N E W YORK - BALTIMORE
pano
Official piano of the Metropolitan Opera Company
MADE
IN
BALTIMORE
Enhanced content © 2008-2009 and presented by MBSI - The Musical Box Society International (www.mbsi.org) and the International Arcade Museum (www.arcade-museum.com).
All Rights Reserved. Digitized from the archives of the MBSI with support from NAMM - The International Music Products Association (www.namm.org).
Additional enhancement, optimization, and distribution by the International Arcade Museum. An extensive collection of Presto can be found online at http://www.arcade-museum.com/library/