Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
gloves that he wanted to swap for terbaccer.
I had more gloves than terbaccer, and I
told him so. Rut he told me to try them
on, and see how they would fit. The left
one went on as slick as a whistle, but before
the right one was half way on I knew some-
thing was wrong. It stuck tight, and I
couldn't get it on nor off.
"Before I knowed what was up that air
Indian gave a yell, and jerked me off the
horse by the leg, and tried to stick me in
the ribs with a knife. I grabbed for my
gun, but the measly glove was in the way,
so I couldn't use it. I threw up my left
hand to ward off the knife, and, would you
believe it, that knife caught in the glove,
jerked it off and, before you could say
'Jack Robinson,' I had put a bullet through
his bald pate with my left hand.
" I didn't have no time to monkey there,
either, because there came a hundred red
devils, riding like fun. I picked up the
left glove, jumped on my horse, and never
stopped till I reached Jim Peters' door. I
have kept them gloves to this day, and here
they be."
Sure enough he wore gloves.
Kingly Knabe.
INSTRUMENTS
HAVE
WON THEIR
EMINENCE.
shows the Knabe piano as it is most popu-
larly used to-day in the homes of so many
WAY TO of the musical, cultured and refined people
of this country.
I
T can be truly said that never in the his-
tory of the house of Wm. Knabe & Co.
has the excellence of its products been so
widely recognized as to-day. They have
won their way above prejudiced criticism
and stand enthroned in the estimation of
all lovers of music as the embodiment of
advanced theories as applied to piano con-
struction.
The remarkable success—in fact, it may
be termed a triumphal tour—of the Knabe
grand piano during the recent visit of Bern-
hard Stavenhagen, the distinguished vir-
tuoso, in the leading cities of this country
and Canada, and the thousands of compli-
mentary and critical notices that have been
lavished on it, have made clear that the high
reputation which Knabe & Co. won years
ago has been to them only a stimulus to-
ward further and greater efforts to attain
the highest standard in piano manufacture.
Apart from the testimony of these great
virtuosi—the late Hans Von Bulow, Eu-
gene d'Albert, and more recently Bernhard
Stavenhagen—as to the superior merits of
Boot he Buys.
the Knabe grand, the enlarged popularity
AST week things did not look roseate of these instruments, as evidenced from the
for W. F. Boothe. The heirs of the remarkable increase in trade for the past
late Sebastian Sommer were evidently year, and its frequent use in the leading
causing him considerable trouble in both concerts and concert rooms, particularly
the affairs of the Sebastian Sommer Piano during last season, all goes to show that the
Knabe piano is esteemed and appreciated
Co. and the Gibson Piano Co.
by the people at large. And the verdict of
Mr. Boothe, however, is a man full of
people
of artistic perceptions who buy and
resources and seems rather inclined to toy
use
pianos
cannot easily be brushed aside.
playfully with adversity and perplexed busi-
It
is
only
necessary to examine the mag-
ness conditions. He tosses both away as if
nificent
line
of instruments which Wm.
they were airy nothings. Last Monday he
Knabe
&
Co.
carry
in stock in their ware-
became, by purchase, sole owner of the
rooms
and
which
also
can be found in the
property hitherto controlled by the Gibson
stores
of
their
numerous
agents in all sec-
Piano Co. Standing as he does, sole pro-
tions
of
the
country,
to
realize
that in the
prietor of this manufactuirng concern, he
modern
requirements
of
improved
case de-
seems at present widely separated from the
signs,
the
development
of
tone
quality,
and
disaster which last week seemed to threaten
all
that
goes
to
make
a
musical
instrument
him. Mr. Boothe seems to laugh at failures
of the highest excellence, Wm. Knabe &
even as love laughs at locksmiths.
Co. are keeping in touch with the times.
A speaker at the trade dinner recently re-
For an Appropriation.
ferring to the role that individuality plays
in the music trade industry, said: "The
OVERNOR MORTON has sent a
name of the maker of a piano establishes its
message to the Legislature in which
value." This is eminently true of Wm.
he calls their attention to the Cotton States
Knabe & Co., for that name on the fall-
and International Exposition, which is to
board of a piano is a certain guarantee of
be held at Atlanta, from September 18 to
the reputation of the instrument. It has
December 31 next, and to the fact that
been in past, and it will be in the future,
New York has been invited to participate,
judging from the magnificent instrument
and suggested a reasonable appropriation
which are being turned out from the fac-
for that purpose.
"*f
tory nowadays. New styles, both in grands
and uprights, are under way in a variety of
EDWIN S. VOTEY,
of the Farrand &
artistic cases made up in fancy woods,
Votey Organ Co., Detroit, Mich., has been which we are sure will prove that Wm.
taking out some important patents effecting Knabe & Co. need not rest upon tradition
the mechanism of the organ, illustrations for their present or future success. Esti-
of which appeared in THE MUSIC TRADE
mate them as you will, from the stand-
REVIEW last week. Electricity is evidently points of tone, of scale, of action, of touch,
going to be a great factor in the pipe organ of construction, of artistic design and finish
of the future.
—in every instance they are splendid speci-
mens of the piano maker's art.
WILL HUNTINGTON, music trade dealer at
Valparaiso, Ind., will open a music store
On the back cover page of this issue
on West Main street, that city.
wall be found an artistic illustration which
L
G
Autoharp Advances*
THE WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES OF THIS POPU-
LAR INSTRUMENT.
T
HE success of the autoharp, both mu-
sically and commercially, can hardly
be paralleled in the history of the music
trade industry. Only a few years ago its
position was unimportant.
Look at its
standing to-day! Its evolution has been
simply marvelous.
How was this condition of things brought
about might well be asked. The explana-
tion is simple. By brains and capital. In
this instrument was found latent possibil-
ities of development. Vast improvements
were made in the method of construction,
and the application of new mechanical de-
vices were used in bringing it to its present
plane of perfection, and to-day the autoharp
has become an actual necessity in the mu-
sical culture of the people.
The next important step was its com-
mercial development. This was attained
by the acquisition of the manufacturing
rights of the instrument by a stock com-
pany, in which Alfred Dolge & Son were
interested; then a large and well-equipped
factory was built in Dolgeville, N. Y., for
manufacturing. Backed by ample capital,
this company have been able to produce the
autoharp at such a price as to bring it with-
in the reach of the masses, and still develop
it musically so as to successfully combat the
prejudice which existed among high-class
musicians against mechanical instruments
in general.
The commercial and artistic development
of the autoharp has gone on hand in hand,
until every progressive music store carries
it in stock, and its charming and inspiring
music, as understandable to those not
blessed w T ith a musical education as to the
high class musician, is delighting thousands.
Who would have thought five years ago
that a Scharwenka would have written
especially for this instrument, or that it
would be played in concert with such organ-
izations as Gilmore's famous band on its
present tour through the United States?
Yet that is the case to-day.
Although a half-dozen styles of autoharps
are manufactured and sold at moderate
prices, yet the best illustration of the
modern instrument is the concert autoharp,
which is in great demand by musicians and
the musical public at large. The manu-
facturers of the autoharp have not reached
the w plus ultra as far as improvements are
concerned. They are constantly engaged
in studying its possibilities, and bringing
into play constructive devices which will
make it appeal to a still wider constituency.
In an artistic supplement to this issue the
present standing of the autoharp is happily
illustrated. It will be seen that in the
affections of the Castilian maid the autoharp
has supplanted her earlier loves. It is thus