Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
.
. • A Strich & Zeidler Work of Art. . .
The beautiful instrument illustrated in
the accompanying" engraving-, is from the
manufactory of Messrs. Strich & Zeidler,
ot New York, who, distinctly perceiving
American progress in the art and the in-
creasing refinement of popular taste among
the cultivated classes in the United States,
have accordingly prepared themselves to
keep pace with the advance.
So much pleasure has been experienced
in the inspection of this magnificent in-
strument, at the factory, (134th street and.
Brook avenue), that I desire, notwith-
standing the difficulty of adequately re-
presenting a work of this kind by a small
sized picture and brief written description,
to convey such an idea of its merit as an
art work as will induce art lovers and the
general public to seize the coming oppor-
tiinity of seeing and studying a design of un-
common excellence by the hand of a master.
The artist is Prof. Raffaele Raineri, a
Sicilian by birth, and brother of Salvatore
Raineri, a sculptor of high repute, with
whom he studied till, at the age of four-
teen, he became a pupil of Prof. Valenti,
President of the Institute of Beaux Arts
in Palermo, where his ardor as a student,
originality of conception and combined
freedom, and delicacy of execution, made
his name familiar in all Sicilian art circles.
Subsequently he and Salvatore Raineri,
were employed by the eminent architect,
Emanuel Basile, and invested with full
control in the execution of the stone deco-
ration of the buildings of the Exposition
in Paris, (1878), and later, of the magnifi-
cent theatre, Massino, in Palermo. Be-
fore coming to America, Prof. Raineri
also designed and executed sculptures and
carvings in numerous residences of the
Italian nobility. He has recently estab-
lished an atelier in New York.
Desiring to patronize an artist of ac-
knowledged genius, and to demonstrate the
possibilities in artistic decoration of which
the modern upright piano is susceptible,
Messrs. Strich & Zeidler engaged this able
artist to illustrate these possibilities by the
superb example shown in the engraving.
The central picture shows the general
appearance of the work, as well as can be
done by such a representation, and the lim-
ited space allowed me inhibits more than a
general outline of the principal features of
work. As an exam-
ple of the noble and
ancient art of wood
carving, carried to
the highest perfec-
tion, this country
contains very few, if
any, rivals to it, and
in composition, ar-
tistic feeling, deli-
cacy and firmness of
treatment, it is wor-
thy to rank among
the best work of
European masters.
The first impres-
sion experienced by
critical observers of
this carving is com-
plete, pervasive har-
mony in all details
of the design. Al-
though very elabor-
ate (it fully occupied
the artist for twelve
months), it first im-
presses the feeling
of simplicity, rather
than of complexity;
yet it would be diffi-
cult to crowd more allegorical meaning
into the limited space that the sculptor had
at his disposal.
As would be expected from the brief
sketch of the artist's career above outlined,
the work is in the Raphaelesque style as
taught in the purest school of Italian re-
naissance, of which there are few examples
in America. The motive is the association
of music with the sister arts, particularly
poetry and the drama, with suggestions of
the mystic chords of human feeling, by
which all good music and all true art stir
human passion, and stimulate the imagi-
nation of poetic dreams, tender emotions,
lofty inspirations and indefinite longings—
collectively the richest boon of earthly ex-
istence.
The upper part of the frame has what
would be called in architecture a pediment,
upon which the artist has wrought the most
important part of the entire design, and
which will well repay careful minute study.
The over-lapping lower portion of this
pediment, consists of a mask symbolizing
dramatic art. This is surmounted by quills
which allegorize poetry, and which are
artistically grouped with interlaced twigs
and foliage of oak and laurel. These are
flanked by dolphins seized and held by
claws of love-birds.
Surmounting the mask, is the exquisitely
chiselled figure of a cherub, under the half
of a bivalvular seashell, which forms a
canopy, and the hinge of which also forms
a sort of pedestal for the gracefully posed
figure. Upon the right hand of the figure,
a butterfly, symbol of the human soul, is
in the act of alighting, and the left hand
holds a garland artistically twined about
the figure. The extreme left and right
hand parts of the pediment show fishes,
reposing in, and just visible through en-
tanglements of seaweeds.
The top moulding is supported by con-
soles, each of which is a grotesque of dif-
ferent design from any of the others, and
it may here be noted that all duplicate parts
of the work which have similar contours,
have distinct and individual treatment.
No two similarly formed pieces are exactly
alike in decoration.
The upper full swinging frame has a
central panel, flanked on either side with
smaller panels. The larger panel has an
oval center, the marginal moulding of
which is treated to give the same effect,
except in color, as hammered silver work,
and is surrounded with symetrically arrang-
ed, finely chiselled scroll work and foliage.
In the center of the oval is a gracefully
posed Venus, surrounded by an artistically
disposed group of cupids, who have ex-
changed bows and quivers for musical in-
struments. In the background a sunburst
is shown, and in the right foreground are
symbols of musical art and composition.
Thus human love as expressed in music is
typified. The bottom of the oval is occu-
pied with finely-cut scroll work. The
flanking smaller panels have each a gro-
tesque head as the center of a tasteful
arabesque, which decorates the space re-
maining. The left pilaster of the upper
full swinging frame is decorated with a
male and the left with a female figure;
both these figures are superbly chiselled.
Each of the trusses of the keyboard and
the ornamental pieces that decorate the
arms, has been treated differently from the
other. The truss at the left of the plate is
decorated with a face slightly grotesque
while the face of the one on the right is
such as could only be conceived and mod-
elled by one inspired by the genius of
beauty and art.
The lower large panel, is in pure renais-
sance, beautifully elaborated, but subordi-
nated to other more prominent features of
the general design. In the centre is a
shield for a monogram or coat of arms, and
this is flanked on the right and left by
female heads from which extends, on
either side, a graceful design of oak and
laurel foliage, twining around large flow-
ers, one at the right, and another at the
left of the heads.
The shelf and keyboard are ornamented
with low-relief mouldings, and the handle
of the fall is a lion's head forming part of
a graceful design which includes the es-
cutcheon of the key-hole on the key-slip.
The tone of this instrument has the high
standard of quality for which the instru-
ments manufactured by Messrs. Strich and
Zeidler are justly famed. The solid carved