Music Trade Review

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PRGAN 9 n
o
VOL. XVI. No.
19.
published Ev/ery Saturday.
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[feu; YorK, December 17, 1892.
like to be enlightened on those points. Let us
look behind Mr. Thacher's figures of speech,
and what do we find ! Exhibition goods are as
a rule exhibition goods. Wherever deviations
from the rule apply they do not apply to musi-
cal instruments. What has a showy case to do
with the intrinsic, technical and musical merits
of a piano or organ ? Now that we are to have
awards look out for considerable fun !
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The Chicago Tribune of December 4 devotes
some space to the awards question and to the
pros and cons of the jury system versus the ex-
pert system in deciding awards. The views of
some of the principal members of the committee
MORE ABOUT AWARDS—CHAIRMAN THACHER'S
are very interesting. Director-General Davis
VIEWS—AN ABSOLUTELY FIRST-CLASS MANU-
favors the jury rather than the individual judge
FACTURER—EXHIBITION INSTRUMENTS
expert plan, Commissioner Thacher favors ex-
AND ORDINARY INSTRUMENTS—
perts, Thomas L. Williams, a member of the
THE JURY VERSUS THE EXPERT
committee, approves of the jury idea. He saj's:
SYSTEM—WHAT DIRECTOR-
" There are fewer opportunities ior disappointed
GENERAL DAVIS
exhibitors to cry fraud when they fail to secure
ADVISES—
official recognition. Then again an expert is
THE LINDEMAN WAREROOMS IN HARLKM—A
open to the charge of being biased."
NAUTICAL DESCRIPTION OF A PIANO—AMY
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FAY AND REGINALD DE KOVEN—
Director-General Davis thinks the jury will
MUSIC AND MORALS—GOVERNOR
cost $700,000. The number of jurymen are esti-
FULLER—MR. STEINWAY'S AR-
mated at 659. He thinks that these jurors, out-
TICLE ON THE PIANO—A
side of live stock judges, should be paid $6 per
COSTLY PIANO—LISZT
day for every day not exceeding forty. He is
IN A TEMPER.
not in favor of paying traveling* expenses, how-
ever.
^RITING to Dr. Peabody, Hon. John Boyd
Every exhibitor stands a chance of securing
Thacher, Chairman of the Committee either a medal or diploma, as there will be fifty
on Awards at the World's Fair, recently said : thousand bronze medals and diplomas for dis-
"We must, in the interest of the public, and in tribution, and the exhibitors will not exceed
the cause of education have the right to pro- that number. "The Reviewer," by the-by,
nounce criticism upon every exhibit, of every would like to know if this official recognition of
kind and nature within the gates of the Expo- mediocrity and merit indiscriminately is calcu-
sition." Commenting on this the Indicator re- lated to advance '' the interest of the public '' and
marks in its last issue : '' The best way out of " the cause of education." There is a poser for
the matter now is to make a competition in Chairman Thacher.
every sense of the word. Nobody wanted it
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and everybody advised against it, but now that
Lindeman & Sons are doing a lively holiday
it has been decided to make awards despite trade at their handsome and spacious warerooms
everything, let the fight be full and free, and let on West 125th street. I called in there recently
the victor have a diploma setting forth the fact and was astonished at the number of pianos
that he absolutely stands first and foremost in awaiting removal to the homes of purchasers.
the ranks of manufacturers " The writer adds Lindeman & Sons have the finest warerooms in
some semi-facetious observations. What I have Harlem and command a fine class of trade.
quoted if put forth in a serious spirit is appal- Some of the first people in that locality use the
ling in its relation to ordinary common-sense or Lindeman piano. Their new calendars are very
to the facts of the case. Apart from everything artistic.
else let me ask if it is possible, at the present
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day, to pick out any one piano manufacturer as
Music trade editors and journalists may find
standing absolutely '' first and foremost in the the appended description of a piano worth
ranks of manufacturers.'' The whole paragraph studying. Our vocabulary of words and phrases
is simply absurd.
is rather limited, and we are frequently at a loss
for novelty of expression. A sea captain hav-
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Can pianos or organs, specially made for ex- ing been asked by his wife to look out for a
hibition, be really accepted as examples of the piano wrote her in this style : " I saw one that
instruments usually turned out by makers in I thought would suit you—black walnut hull,
everyday business? If not, where do "the strong bulkheads, strengthened fore and aft
cause of education " and "the interest of the with iron frame, sealed with white wood and
public" come in? "The Reviewer" would maple. Rigging: steel wire—double on the
ratlines, and whipped wire on the lower stays
53.00 PER YEAR.
SINGLE COPIES, 10 CENTS.
and heavier cordage. Belaying pins of steel,
and well driven home. Length of taffrail over
all, six feet one inch ; breadth of beam, thirty-
eight inches ; depth of hold, fourteen inches.
Hatches can be battened down proof against
ten-year-old boys and commercial drummers, or
can be clewed up, on occasion, and sheeted
home for a first-class instrumental cyclone."
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Amy Fay scores Reginald De Koven very
severely and in a too personal spirit, in the cur-
rent issue of a New York musical contemporary,
because of some uncomplimentary references to
the musical spirit of Chicago in Harper's Weekly
for November 19th. De Koven wrote : " It is to
be hoped that music at the Columbian Exposi-
tion will not suffer and languish along with the
Chicago Symphony Concerts. " This reference
to the symphony concerts excites Miss Fay's
ire, and she retorts : '' Some people like amia-
bility and mediocre performances, while others
prefer discipline and a high standard of perfec-
tion. Mr. De Koven ought to be satisfied with
the present state of things in New York, for
there is any quantity of amiability and much
poor playing here. The Chicago public is more
exacting." Then she remarks that it would be
interesting to know Theodore Thomas' opinion
of Reginal De Koven as a composer.
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Working up to a very personal plane, she
writes : " I went to hear the ' Fencing Master '
the other night, and I must say I do not know
when I have seen a more vapid or disgusting
opera. No plot and no wit in the libretto,
and the music, while pretty, melodious and
' catchy,' has not the slightest claim to origin-
ality. It might as well have been written by
Mr. Anybody-else as by Mr. De Koven." As
for Mr. Harry B. Smith's genius (?) the libretto
of the "Fencing Master" is certainly not the
most remarkable effort of the kind in the world,
but the music is conceded to be tuneful, exceed-
ingly original and far above the libretto in qual-
ity. The "Fencing Master " is alight opera,
and intended to be such. If Miss Fay expected
to hear grand opera she must have been labor-
ing under an hallucination.
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Since reading Miss Fay's charming work,
" Music Studies in Germany, " I have entertain-
ed a very high opinion of that lady's abilities
and intelligence. Her latest fugitive writing—
the one I am commenting on—is, however, a
curiously weak effort, and rather unlike the
clever and thoughtful things which usually
come from her pen. She throws some light up-
on Theodore Thomas' moral sensibilities in the
following extract from the paper referred to :
1
' Operas which depend for their success upon
dressing women in tights, would hardly com-
mand the respect of one whose aim in art has
ever been to elevate and not to lower. Indeed,
so strong is Mr. Thomas' feeling on this sub-
{Continued on page395.