Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
The Advance of Chickering.
THE
RECOGNITION ACCORDED IN FOREIGN LANDS NOT RESTING UPON TRADITION, KUT
UPON AN ACTIVE AND PROGRESSIVE PRESENT CONTRIBUTORY FACTORS A
""*"
PROMINENT FIGURE IN THE ARTISTIC LIFE OF THE CONTINENT
CHICKERING HALL AS MUSIC DIFFUSING CENTER.
IN the youngest Amer-
ican possession — Ha-
waii, the oldest Amer-
ican piano—the Chick-
ering, will be a domi-
n a n t factor.
The
Philippines—the far-
off isles of spice—will
likewise become Chick -
eringized under the
Stars and Stripes. The
Pearl of the Antilles
will, too, recognize the beneficent Chicker-
ing influence when the Union Jack floats
proudly over it.
The Chickering piano is an American
institution which has become synonymous
with progress in an art-industrial sense
the world over, for it should be empha-
sized that the lines of Chickering conquests
are not by any means confined to this con-
tinent.
While the Chickering institution can
proudly refer to its glorious past, intimate-
ly associated with musical art in America,
its success of to-day is not by any means
due to the glorious traditions which clus-
ter about the ancient house. While not
desirous of belittling accomplishments and
honors worthily won, yet the house of
Chickering to-day builds its future upon
the fact that it is actuated in every depart-
ment by the spirit of progression, so dom-
inant in America at the close of the cen-
tury. In fact the Chickering piano of
to-day is recognized by eminent critics and
trade experts as being the best embodi-
ment of artistic and mechanical skill of
any product which has heretofore borne
the Chickering patronymic.
FACTORY ENTRANCE.
This success is due to the fact that there
has been no stagnation of energy and no
cessation in operations towards achieving
higher ideals. A business cannot subsist
upon traditions alone, and no matter what
the achievements of the past have been by
any institution, they would count for
naught in the face of relentless competi-
tion unless the standard of the products
were maintained to an eminent degree and
enhanced in a manner consistent with
the advance made in mechanical art.
The Chickering piano of 1898 eclipses
any of its predecessors of the many years
gone before, in that it stands in the high-
est sense as the close of the century em-
bodiment of the piano maker's art. It is
a crystallization—a capstone—a rounding
off of industrial energy as applied to one
special line which began with the birth of
piano making. Antiquity without enter-
prise is practically valueless, but combined
with enterprise, an impetus is given to a
business and a value to its product which
can hardly be estimated in dollars.
Energetic dealers know well the value
A GLIMPSE OF THE FACTORY WAREROOMS.
which lies in the Chickering name, be-
cause they know of the artistic value em-
bodied in the Chickering product of to-
day. They know that its antiquity gives
the name of Chickering a household value
throughout the land, and they know that
that supplemented by an artistic product
is of measureless value to them.
They know, too, that the great house of
Chickering is a progressive institution
which has never been content to rest on
the glorious laurels won throughout its
career of over three-quarters of a century,
but it is constantly on the alert—ever alive
to every new idea and improvement that
would tend to advance intrinsically the
musical value of their superb creations.
It is this combination of untiring activity
wedded to an unsullied reputation that has
given them to-day a new and a greater
prestige than ever before enjoyed in their
career.
Perhaps the secret of the Chickering
success is best expressed in the words of a
prominent dealer, who, in talking about
this institution recently said:
"Chickering & Sons are occupying a
leading place to-day and are progressing
because they are not resting merely upon
tradition or past achievements in order to
gain success. They are as active as the
newest houses, and they always lend an
ear to every suggestion made by the heads
of the practical departments of their
factory that would tend to better perfect
the artistic character of their product.
They are persistently striving not only to
maintain the high standing of the Chicker-
ing instrument, but to place it at a higher
artistic altitude than it has ever before
occupied."
This expression of opinion is succinct
and complete. It is an epitome of the
policy which has given the Chickering
name a new and a greater value in the eyes
of dealers than it has ever before held.
The trade is fully cognizant of the
splendid record made by Chickering &
Sons in the musical and trade world during
the past twelve months. . Their instru-
ments have been played in noted concerts
in this city as well as leading cities in the
Union by distingushed artists, while at
other concerts, which drew the elite of our
city to Chickering Hall, the magnificent ton-
al quality of the Chickering grand has been
admired and praised by the music-loving
public.
The coming season Chickering Hall will
prove a momentous factor in the musical
life of New York. Comprehensive plans
are now being consummated whereby the
Chickering piano will be played in concerts
in this city, as well as in the leading cities
throughout the country, by some distin-
guished artist whose name will be an-
nounced later. In the meantime there
will be the regular Tuesday invitation
series of concerts which promise to be
more brilliant and successful than ever
before. In addition it is proposed to have
a course of madrigal concerts which will
be participated in by leading singers
whose names will be a sufficient guarantee
of the superior quality of the entertain-
ments.
This, however, furnishes only a meagre
idea of the plans under consideration for
the augmentation of the Chickering in the
artistic world the coming season. Back of
this very attractive and interesting pro-
gram, there is an unceasing activity at the
factory, where many new styles of instru-
ments are being prepared for the coming
fall. There is indeed sufficient evidence
on hand to enable us to predict that the
Chickering piano will be heard from as it
has not been for some time during the com-
ing musical season. All this is to the be-
nefit of the energetic dealer, and he should
be "alive" to take advantage of it.
41
Patriotic Songs of the United
States."
The Oliver Ditson Co. have just issued
a volume of convenient size, under the
above title. The title page itself is one of
the most striking yet brought to our ob-
servation. It is printed in the National
colors, and gotten up in a most attractive
form. The patriotic songs in the volume
include "America," "American Hymn,"
" Battle Hymn of the Republic," "Colum-
bia, the Gem of the Ocean," "Dixie's
Land," "Flag of Our Union," "Hail
Columbia," " Our Flag is There," " Rally
Round the Flag," and "The Star Spangled
Banner."
E. Hirsch & Co., agents for the Packard
organs in London, have just received a
large consignment of new styles, entitled
No. 370. They are having a big trade
with the Packard products in London, the
provinces, and on the continent.