Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
H. L. Mason's Lecture
Will Use the Knabe.
IN HARLEH.
BEFORE THE NEW CENTURY CLUB AT UTICA.
THE FAMOUS LEIPSIC PHILHARMONIC ORCHES-
TRA UNDER WINDERSTEIN WITH SLIVINSKI
AND TOSELLI, MAKE THE STRONGEST MUSI-
CAL OFFERING OF THE SEASON.
Jackson, Tenn., Feb. 19, 1901.
This city was visited last night by the
most disastrous fire in its history. The
Pythian Opera House, J. R. Lyons' Music
House, besides numerous business offices,
were burned out. The total loss will reach
about $100,000. No lives were lost, as at
first reported. The loss is fairly well
covered by insurance.
Inquiries by The Review on Tuesday,
during a visit to Harlem, as to trade con-
ditions among the piano factories in that
district, brought forth the following re-
plies:
JOHN D. EVANS, with Newby & Evans:—
"We are not experiencing a rush of busi-
ness, but there is a healthy demand for
our latest styles."
JOHN LUDWIG, of Ludwig & Co. :—"Our
list of visiting dealers this week includes
Mr. J. Jenkins, of J. W. Jenkins Sons
Music Co,, Kansas City, Mo. He left an
order for two carloads. We are develop-
ing an export trade and have made several
important foreign shipments recently.
Domestic trade is excellent."
JACOB DOLL: — "Everything is lovely
and the goose hangs high!"
LUIGI RICCA, of the Ricca Piano Co.: —
"The 'Ricca' and 'Cambridge' are both
selling well. Our traveling man, W. R.
Gillett, is securing a lot of orders. We
are kept busy on current work."
CHRIS. GARRITSON, of the Kroeger Co:—
"Business is moving along in good shape.
The 'Kroeger' is forging its way ahead,
and will continue to do so. We don't mind
competition at all—that is, decent, straight-
forward, above-board competition."
HENRY SPIES, of the Majestic Piano
Co. :—"We are just preparing a shipment
of forty 'Majesties' to fill an urgent order.
This is going to be a big year for the
'Majestic' "
PETER DUFFY, of the Schubert Piano
Co. :—"The Schubert is holding its own."
AUGUSTUS BEHNING, of the Behning
Piano Co. :—"Mr. Charles Spanier is back.
He secured a good number of orders dur-
ing his tour. The latest Behning styles
are quick sellers, and orders are freely
given."
EDWIN MILTON BOOTHE, of the Milton
Piano Co. :—"I have just returned from a
visit to numerous big cities in the West
and East. The 'Milton' has become £a
strong favorite, because it finds ready pur-
chasers. I am convinced that our products
have a great future."
JULIUS KRAKAUER, of Krakauer Bros.
"This week is the same as last. We are
always busy and have customers waiting
to purchase just as fast as we can complete
each instrument. But we believe in qual-
ity rather than quantity and prefer not to
hurry our work."
Henry Behning, Jr., of the Behning Pi-
ano Co., made a good business record, as
usual, on his recent Eastern trip.
The new factory floor and offices of Henry
and S. G. Lindeman, on 128th street, are
now being prepared for occupancy. They
will be ready in about two weeks.
The additional floors of the Staib-Abend-
schein factory have been completed. Strich
& Zeidler are now busy preparing to
occupy much needed space.
The business of the Calenberg Piano
Co., including the scales, name, good will
and all other assets have been purchased
by Jacob Bros. They will continue the
manufacture of the Calenberg piano as
well as the retail warerooms at 23 East
Fourteenth street.
The store occupied by the Calix Pi-
ano Co., at 508 Washington street, Ho-
boken, N. J., was damaged by fire last
Saturday night to the extent of $1500.
The loss was caused principally by water.
Henry L. Mason, of the Mason & Ham-
lin Co., delivered an interesting address to
a large and appreciative audience at the
afternoon session of the New Century
Club, Utica, N. Y., on Wednesday last.
His subject, "The Modern Artistic Piano,"
was clear and accurate without being too
technical. He used several models and a
Mason & Hamlin grand piano to illustrate
his paper. The following extracts from
Mr. Mason's address are interesting:
The artistic pianoforte is an evolution,
an outcome of years of scientific investi-
gation and labor, supplemented by touches
of that rare and abiding attribute, genius;
and the differences between the artistic and
the cheap piano are just as distinct and
real as those between a Stradivarius violin
and a $20 fiddle.
The one is an art
product, the other an imitation—alike in
form, but in form only. The divine spark
is in the one, but not in the other. How
few of the Rembrandt, the Franz Hals or the
Holbein subjects would interest us to-day if
we had only ordinary photographs of the
persons in place of their portraits by these
great men! The photographs would prob-
ably seem to us in no way distin-
guished or more worthy of serious atten-
tion and study than a hundred or a thou-
sand others; but because those faces—
albeit commonplace enough in themselves
—have come to us from master brushes;
because in every fibre they are imbued
with that which stands for far more than
mere likenesses of persons; because they
have in them to a rare degree the human
quality. For these and other reasons they
thrill us and impress us as being the very
essence of freshness, brightness, vigor,
pathos, dignity, grace, or what not—in a
word because they are the result of genius
they are ultimate and real, and for this
reason are they superior to and different
from an ordinary painting.
It is the same with pianos; the tones of
one instrument go to the foundations of
our natures, arousing or soothing our
deepest and best emotions, touching our
hearts and stirring our very souls; while
another instrument, in which the hand
of the artist has had no part, merely
tickles our ear, if indeed it does so much
as that.
After these introductory remarks Mr.
Mason said that he had divided his lec-
ture into five parts: First, general con-
struction; 1 secondly, the case; third, the
sounding board; fourth, the action, and
fifth, the iron plate. He had at hand for
illustration a sound board, an action
model and a finished artistic pianoforte
(Mason & Hamlin), so that his remarks
were made clear by referring to these
various parts. The differences between
the construction of the artistic and this
inartistic or "commercial" piano were
brought out and it was shown why a truly
artistic piano costs more than a poorly
made one. Many facts were told as to the
construction of the sound board (the soul
of the instrument), the various details,
etc. For instance, Mr. Mason said that
the sounding board of a finely made piano
was thoroughly seasoned by remaining in
a dry room at a temperature of 150 degrees,
Fahrenheit, for five years; that it required
six or eight months to build such a piano;
that in the average piano the tension of the
strings is constantly over 40,000 pounds.
Interesting was the part about the "pol-
ishing" of a piano. After the lecture Mr.
Mason invited any of the mernbers to ask
questions, and many of them took advan-
tage of the occasion. A rising vote of
thanks was given to Mr. Mason at the close
of the afternoon.
On Tuesday next the Leipsic Philhar-
monic Orchestra, with its founder and con-
ductor, Hans Winderstein, will arrive from
Europe to give a series of concerts in this
country. The reputation of this band has
been of rapid growth and now extends to
various European countries. It is not only
an institution in the musical life of Leipsic,
but it has travelled around in Germany,
Austria, Russia and Scandinavia. This
year it undertakes its most ambitious
journey.
Winderstein is one of the younger Ger-
man conductors. He is a graduate of the
Leipsic Conservatory, and won success as
a violinist before he decided to become an
orchestral conductor. He is considered to
be at his best in his readings of Beethoven
and Wagner.
The programme of the first concert,
which will take place at Carnegie Hall on
March 1, consists of three Wagnerian
selections—the prelude to the third act of
"Die Meistersinger," the prelude and
"Liebestod" from "Tristan and Isolde,"
and the "Tannnhauser" overture, Bee-
thoven's fifth symphony and Chopin's
concerto (E minor) for pianoforte.
At the second concert on March 3, the
orchestral numbers will include Wagner's
"Rienzi" overture, Tschaikowsky's "Ital-
ian Caprice" and "Lohengrin" Prelude.
The soloist who will come with the or-
chestra is an artist who is no stranger—
Josef von Slivinski, the Polish pianist. He
played here in 1893. He was first a pupil
of Strobl at the Warsaw Conservatory.
Afterward he studied with Leschetizky
and Rubinstein. Enrico Toselli, the clever
young Italian pianist, will also play with
the organization. Both artists will use
the Knabe grand piano exclusively. The
appearance of the Leipsic orchestra and
these pianists promises to be the event of
a very busy musical season and the Knabe
piano will be brought into prominence in a
very effective way.
A woman is to manage this musical ven-
ture. She is Mrs. Norma Knupfel, Amer-
ican-born of German parentage. Her fa-
ther was an actor of great talent who was
long associated with the German stage in
America.
Big Fire in Jackson, Tenn.
[Special to The Review.]