MUSICAL
TIMES
PRESTO
Established
1884
Established
1881
THE AMERICAN MUSIC TRADE JOURNAL
Year
$1.00.
CHICAGO, JUNE, 1932
«i Months. .. .60 cents
Fifteenth of Publication Month
THE GREAT BALDWIN ACHIEVEMENT
The House of Baldwin Makes Public Announcement of the New Masterpiece Piano
Story of a Development of Perfect Tone Quality
The house of Baldwin is just now making an
announcement that is to vitally attract the musical
world and the American music trade. This Baldwin
manifesto is concerning a new, nearer perfect, Baldwin
piano, of several sizes and designs.
The story of the triumph in piano making achieved
by Baldwin reads almost like a romance for it tells
of a piano that, starting from a modest beginning, has
progressed in every way; at every angle, to become
the choice of great musicians, great people in the
musical world; virtually a Leader of Leaders; the
choice of many of the eminent pianists of the day,
chosen by legions of teachers, thousands of conserva-
tories, colleges, and scores of broadcasting stations,
and individual inspection. They were under the guid-
ance of the manager, L. C. Wagner of the Baldwin
warerooms where they were examined by many musi-
cal people; by pianists, vocalists, teachers, tuners and
acousticians, critics, the press and by piano makers
and artisans, salesmen and others who know what a
piano is.
Many, very many were the compliments, and great
the praise accorded these pianos. Piano tuners were
especially appreciative of something fine and note-
worthy in the embodiment of the musical and con-
structive features and which they distinguished in
these instruments.
Thus this greatest of Baldwin creations in fine piano
STYLE 'M" BALDWIN MASTERPIECE. LENGTH
FT. 2 IN. MAHOGANY-BROWN. WALNUT
OR EBONIZED.
as the ideal piano for their studios; in fact, in the
appellation, "At the Baldwin," is a familiar phrase
from Maine to California and the frozen north of
Canada to the hot plains of Mexico.
But it is not on account of the distinction ot wide
publicity which has come to the Baldwin from all parts
of the country and from every prominent source of
musical activities and achievements in America that
the Baldwin Company is now appealing to the pub-
lic, making this announcement of Baldwin achieve-
ment but rather they are proclaiming new advance-
ments, essentially a new era in piano making in musical
quality in pianos. Fulfillments of a duty and of
promises and a duty to give to the world everything
and anything that might be done; any work that could
be put into a piano to perfect the instrument.
This is the message that Baldwin is now giving to
the world and the declaration that they have a grand
which is as near perfect as an instrument of strings
and keys can be made a perfect musical instrument.
These instruments, one of each of the six Master-
piece Models, were early brought to Chicago for
exhibition and were placed in a parlor of the Baldwin
store at 323 S. Wabash avenue, for special exhibition
research to the Baldwin. After investigation and inter-
views he entered into arrangements with scientists at
the University of Cincinnati and these gentlemen
started arrangements for a series of experiments and
tests to comply with the requirements which Mr.
Wulsin had set forth and desired to have developed,
the result of which was that Mr. Armand Knoblaugh
was engaged for the work and followed his experi-
ments and deductions on through to the time of build-
ing the new instruments.
The following letter from Dean Gowdy, in charge
of the Physics department of the University of Cin-
cinnati, tells of how Dr. Knoblaugh, the scientist, and
who developed the 1 one-Spectrograph, making an
STYLE "L" BALDWIN MASTERPIECE. LENGTH
FT. 3 IN. MAHOGANY-BROWN, WALNUT
OR EBON1ZED.
building is now receiving the highest kind of praise
and testimony of quality that could be given a piano
by the many eminent artists and pianists of today who
are concertizing.
Among these are Gieseking, Lhevinne, Schmitz,
Iturbi, Harold Bauer, whose portraits accompanied by
their estimate of the new Baldwin, appear with this
story.
The pianists who have been using the Baldwin
piano during the presen,t and the past season have
been performing on these new Masterpiece Concert
Grands in which has been incorporated the principles
or the newly perfected Baldwin idea of piano tone.
These artists had much to do in creating this new
ideal and their performances in public have been more
appreciated and they have given greater delight than
ever before and the critics and connoisseurs have ob-
served and noticed these conditions in performances
where Baldwin pianos have been used.
The story of the conception and development of the
Baldwin Masterpiece Piano is interesting. Back in
1925 Mr. Lucien Wulsin, president of the Baldwin
I'iano Company, set about to have an analysis made
of measuring tone quality with a view to applying this
instrument especially for this development of the Mas-
terpiece Baldwin, was engaged at the beginning of the
development of the proposition set forth by Mr. Wul-.
sin for the production of a piano of perfect musical
qualities such as he was demanding.
University of Cincinnati, July 8, 1925.
My dear Dean Schneider:
COPY OF LETTER
Professor Brand and I have conferred with Mr.
Wulsin, in compliance with jour request of July the
second.
Mr. Wulsin presents a very clear-cut research prob-
lem: that of measuring tone quality. This amounts
to the analysis of a tone into its component pure tones
and determining the frequency and amplitude of each
of these partials.
The first step in this research would be to develop
an apparatus for tone analysis applicable under indus-
trial conditions. This problem will be difficult, but
there is no reason to regard it as impossible of solu-
tion. When a successful method of tone analysis has
been devised two phases present themselves in its
application: (1) to determine the composition of the
most desirable tone for given conditions, for example,
concert, vocal accompaniment, etc.; (2) to investigate
the effect on tone quality of the variables which enter
into piano construction, for example, striking point,
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