Music Trade Review
Issue: 1899 Vol. 29 N. 20 - Page 10
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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
12
In the course of an interesting talk last
week with a representative of the Balti-
more Herald he was asked: "Who is writ-
ing the best music for the piano now?"
"Ah, that is very hard to say. They
are all writing very well. Ah, but they
understand it. They learned it from
Liszt. He was the greatest of them all.
He made the piano. Why, before he
showed them how no one could play Bee-
thoven's sonatas. Everyone made them
so dry, so dull—it made Beethoven him-
self crazy—' chopping sticks,' he called it.
But they all played like that then. There
was Clementi. He was dry and formal
as could be. People want thirteen story
buildings nowadays, and they want thir-
teen story pieces."
" But the ideas—take Haydn, for ex-
ample ? "
" Haydn is too simple to play nowadays.
The idea of a one-story building may be
very good, but people want the thirteenth
story buildings. This is a nervous age,
and people want emotional music."
" Speaking of the sonatas, you know the
glissando runs in the last movement of the
Waldstein sonata"—
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Hambourg, hum-
ming them and waving his hands, as
though he were playing them. "But I
do not play them glissando. Paderewski
does, but no one else. They are easy,
however. I once saw the original manu-
script of the Waldstein sonata," continued
Mr. Hambourg, "and over those glissando
runs Beethoven had written 'nicht zu
schnell' (not too fast). It shows what a
genius he had. He could foresee that pi-
anists would want to play those runs too
fast. I have some Beethoven autographs
of my own—a sketch of an overture. I
collect autographs and coins. I have
many works on numismatics, in German,
French and English—quite a library."
"Do you like the last sonatas of Beetho-
ven, Mr. Hambourg?"
"Now, don't ask my opinion about that.
It is quite heretical and would shock peo-
ple. Beethoven tried to write contrapun-
tally—fugues, canons—in those sonatas.
But he was greatest in melody. Bach has
said the last word in fugue. Bach is the
Shakespeare in music. He has said every-
thing. Take a score of Wagner. There is
nothing new in it. He is all in Bach. And
so many of Bach's works aren't known. I
discovered a little while ago that he wrote
thirty-two variations—canons, fugues, cho-
rals—all with the most modern harmonies."
"Are you going to play them?"
'' No; they would take too long and are
very dry besides."
" Shall you play any novelties? "
"Yes, some rather new things. Some
of my own, too."
"And all the war horses? "
"What do you mean by war horses?"
said Mr. Hambourg, looking puzzled.
The reporter explained.
'' Oh, yes, I have a pretty good reper-
toire. I play seventeen concerti. There
are only twenty-one that you can play
everywhere."
"Are you at all nervous when you play?"
"Oh, yes, just before I play. I think
it grows on me the more I play. But a
player ought to be a little bit nervous.
That makes the audience nervous and they
get in sympathy with him.
"In Melbourne, Australia, I met Mark
Twain, who was lecturing at the same
time I appeared there. I was introduced
to Mr. Clemens on the afternoon of one of
my concerts, and he promised to be pres-
ent at my recital that evening. I was
just about to take my place at the piano
at the time Mark Twain was entering
the hall. There was some applause from
the audience during the time Mark
Twain took his seat.
He immediately
got up from his position in the hall, and
bowed right and left. He thought it was
a very good joke, and tried to make me be-
lieve next day that he considered the ap-
plause was intended for him—not for me.
I have since gotten to be a very good
friend of Mr. Clemens, and he has given
me several strong letters of introduction to
friends of his in this country. It will not
be a breach of confidence if I read you one
of these, wherein he says, ' This will intro-
duce to your kind favor and consider-
ation, Mr. Hambourg, a friend of the
Clemens family, whom we have known for
three or four years. He has more musical
ability than I have, but not as good a
complexion.' "
Hambourg, who appeared with the Bos-
ton Symphony Orchestra in this city on
Wednesday and Thursday, was heard with
the same organization in Brooklyn yester-
day, and will play to-morrow evening in
Philadelphia. His itinerary for next week
is as follows: Milwaukee, Nov. 13; Grand
Rapids, 15; Detroit, 16; Buffalo, 17; New
York, 18 and 19, and Wellesley College, 20.
Shoninger Literature.
A NEW CATALOGUE WHICH IS A CREDITABLE
EXAMPLE OF CLEVER EDITING AND
BOOK-MAKING.
The new Shoninger catalogue is a master-
piece of good judgment in the preparation
and selection of material, and does infinite
credit to the firm as an exhibit of well-
directed enterprise.
"What the artists say of the Shoninger
Piano, "is the title of the illustrated frontis-
piece. In the centre of the page is a
Shoninger grand of recent design. It is
surrounded by excellent portraits of mu-
sical celebrities who have indorsed the
Shoninger products.
These portraits include Campanini, Ru-
binstein, Liszt, Wagner, Emma Thursby,
Ida Klein, and others of unquestioned
standing in the professional world. Above
each is a quotation from the opinion ex-
pressed. The sum and substance of their
views is represented in the sentence: " I t
is a piano that never fails to realize in the
fullest degree the expectations of those
who buy it."
Six models in Shoninger uprights, 1899-
1900, and the "Shoninger Grand Model,"
are described and illustrated in the body
of the book. Each of the models in up-
rights is being made in ebonized, mahog-
any, Circassian walnut and oak. The
case designs, without exception, are taste-
ful and decidedly attractive to the eye.
The first shown is the Shoninger "Parlor
Upright Model." Then follow two ex-
amples of the "Cabinet Grand Model," a
"Colonial Upright Model," a "Grand Up-
right Model" and the "Columbian Salon
Upright Model."
Following the catalogue proper comes
appropriate reading matter concerning the
new Shoninger scale and other Shoninger
specialties, including improvements in
frame and pin block and sounding-board.
On the last pages of the book appear testi-
monials from educational institutions now
using the Shoninger exclusively and a list
of one hundred schools and academies
using the Shoninger piano.
Taken as a whole, the new Shoninger
catalogue is an imposing document, well
calculated to add still further to the pres-
ent high prestige of the Shoninger house.
Have you seen the Dewey watch? You
can easily secure one. The offer made in
another portion of this paper will explain.
Qain Knowledge
Of the ' innards" of a piano by a little reading. Yon. may
been a dealer for many years, yon may have been a tnner for a
like period, yon may have played a little—maybe more; bnt is
it not -well to get a little more practical knowledge?
Some-
thing to bank on—an authority on all matters relating to tun-
ing, repairing, toning and regulating, scientific instructions—
everything? Written by that eminent authority, Daniel Spillane.
The cost is only a trifle—a dollar.
The book is illustrated,
cloth bound, over a hundred pages- It is called " The Piano.'*
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher, 3 East 14th Street, New York
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
12
In the course of an interesting talk last
week with a representative of the Balti-
more Herald he was asked: "Who is writ-
ing the best music for the piano now?"
"Ah, that is very hard to say. They
are all writing very well. Ah, but they
understand it. They learned it from
Liszt. He was the greatest of them all.
He made the piano. Why, before he
showed them how no one could play Bee-
thoven's sonatas. Everyone made them
so dry, so dull—it made Beethoven him-
self crazy—' chopping sticks,' he called it.
But they all played like that then. There
was Clementi. He was dry and formal
as could be. People want thirteen story
buildings nowadays, and they want thir-
teen story pieces."
" But the ideas—take Haydn, for ex-
ample ? "
" Haydn is too simple to play nowadays.
The idea of a one-story building may be
very good, but people want the thirteenth
story buildings. This is a nervous age,
and people want emotional music."
" Speaking of the sonatas, you know the
glissando runs in the last movement of the
Waldstein sonata"—
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Hambourg, hum-
ming them and waving his hands, as
though he were playing them. "But I
do not play them glissando. Paderewski
does, but no one else. They are easy,
however. I once saw the original manu-
script of the Waldstein sonata," continued
Mr. Hambourg, "and over those glissando
runs Beethoven had written 'nicht zu
schnell' (not too fast). It shows what a
genius he had. He could foresee that pi-
anists would want to play those runs too
fast. I have some Beethoven autographs
of my own—a sketch of an overture. I
collect autographs and coins. I have
many works on numismatics, in German,
French and English—quite a library."
"Do you like the last sonatas of Beetho-
ven, Mr. Hambourg?"
"Now, don't ask my opinion about that.
It is quite heretical and would shock peo-
ple. Beethoven tried to write contrapun-
tally—fugues, canons—in those sonatas.
But he was greatest in melody. Bach has
said the last word in fugue. Bach is the
Shakespeare in music. He has said every-
thing. Take a score of Wagner. There is
nothing new in it. He is all in Bach. And
so many of Bach's works aren't known. I
discovered a little while ago that he wrote
thirty-two variations—canons, fugues, cho-
rals—all with the most modern harmonies."
"Are you going to play them?"
'' No; they would take too long and are
very dry besides."
" Shall you play any novelties? "
"Yes, some rather new things. Some
of my own, too."
"And all the war horses? "
"What do you mean by war horses?"
said Mr. Hambourg, looking puzzled.
The reporter explained.
'' Oh, yes, I have a pretty good reper-
toire. I play seventeen concerti. There
are only twenty-one that you can play
everywhere."
"Are you at all nervous when you play?"
"Oh, yes, just before I play. I think
it grows on me the more I play. But a
player ought to be a little bit nervous.
That makes the audience nervous and they
get in sympathy with him.
"In Melbourne, Australia, I met Mark
Twain, who was lecturing at the same
time I appeared there. I was introduced
to Mr. Clemens on the afternoon of one of
my concerts, and he promised to be pres-
ent at my recital that evening. I was
just about to take my place at the piano
at the time Mark Twain was entering
the hall. There was some applause from
the audience during the time Mark
Twain took his seat.
He immediately
got up from his position in the hall, and
bowed right and left. He thought it was
a very good joke, and tried to make me be-
lieve next day that he considered the ap-
plause was intended for him—not for me.
I have since gotten to be a very good
friend of Mr. Clemens, and he has given
me several strong letters of introduction to
friends of his in this country. It will not
be a breach of confidence if I read you one
of these, wherein he says, ' This will intro-
duce to your kind favor and consider-
ation, Mr. Hambourg, a friend of the
Clemens family, whom we have known for
three or four years. He has more musical
ability than I have, but not as good a
complexion.' "
Hambourg, who appeared with the Bos-
ton Symphony Orchestra in this city on
Wednesday and Thursday, was heard with
the same organization in Brooklyn yester-
day, and will play to-morrow evening in
Philadelphia. His itinerary for next week
is as follows: Milwaukee, Nov. 13; Grand
Rapids, 15; Detroit, 16; Buffalo, 17; New
York, 18 and 19, and Wellesley College, 20.
Shoninger Literature.
A NEW CATALOGUE WHICH IS A CREDITABLE
EXAMPLE OF CLEVER EDITING AND
BOOK-MAKING.
The new Shoninger catalogue is a master-
piece of good judgment in the preparation
and selection of material, and does infinite
credit to the firm as an exhibit of well-
directed enterprise.
"What the artists say of the Shoninger
Piano, "is the title of the illustrated frontis-
piece. In the centre of the page is a
Shoninger grand of recent design. It is
surrounded by excellent portraits of mu-
sical celebrities who have indorsed the
Shoninger products.
These portraits include Campanini, Ru-
binstein, Liszt, Wagner, Emma Thursby,
Ida Klein, and others of unquestioned
standing in the professional world. Above
each is a quotation from the opinion ex-
pressed. The sum and substance of their
views is represented in the sentence: " I t
is a piano that never fails to realize in the
fullest degree the expectations of those
who buy it."
Six models in Shoninger uprights, 1899-
1900, and the "Shoninger Grand Model,"
are described and illustrated in the body
of the book. Each of the models in up-
rights is being made in ebonized, mahog-
any, Circassian walnut and oak. The
case designs, without exception, are taste-
ful and decidedly attractive to the eye.
The first shown is the Shoninger "Parlor
Upright Model." Then follow two ex-
amples of the "Cabinet Grand Model," a
"Colonial Upright Model," a "Grand Up-
right Model" and the "Columbian Salon
Upright Model."
Following the catalogue proper comes
appropriate reading matter concerning the
new Shoninger scale and other Shoninger
specialties, including improvements in
frame and pin block and sounding-board.
On the last pages of the book appear testi-
monials from educational institutions now
using the Shoninger exclusively and a list
of one hundred schools and academies
using the Shoninger piano.
Taken as a whole, the new Shoninger
catalogue is an imposing document, well
calculated to add still further to the pres-
ent high prestige of the Shoninger house.
Have you seen the Dewey watch? You
can easily secure one. The offer made in
another portion of this paper will explain.
Qain Knowledge
Of the ' innards" of a piano by a little reading. Yon. may
been a dealer for many years, yon may have been a tnner for a
like period, yon may have played a little—maybe more; bnt is
it not -well to get a little more practical knowledge?
Some-
thing to bank on—an authority on all matters relating to tun-
ing, repairing, toning and regulating, scientific instructions—
everything? Written by that eminent authority, Daniel Spillane.
The cost is only a trifle—a dollar.
The book is illustrated,
cloth bound, over a hundred pages- It is called " The Piano.'*
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher, 3 East 14th Street, New York
Future scanning projects are planned by the International Arcade Museum Library (IAML).