Music Trade Review

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THE-
PIPE ORGANBUILDINQ
In the United States Has Made Great Strides
Within Recent Years—Wm. C. Carl Places
This Country Ahead of Others in This Field
of Musical Activity.
Are Uncle Sam's builders of church and con-
cert organs destined to surpass those of Europe
in the skill with which they put up the largest,
most perfect and most admirable of musical in-
struments? A well-known authority, William C.
Carl, says that America is far in the lead of all
other countries in the number of organ concerts
and appreciation of organ music; and the latest
governmental bulletin on the manufacture of
musical instruments and attachments shows that
between 1900 and 1905 the value of the pipe
organs made in this country increased from
$1,188,696 to $2,088,193. This is a greater growth
than that which took place in the manufacture
of pianos or of any other large class of musical
instruments.
Already some very famous organs have been
made in this country. since 17.45 when Edward
Bromfield, Jr., of Boston set up the first collec-
tion of 1,200 pipes. Just now there is public
interest in the biggest instrument in the world
which is in course of erection for a concert hall
in Brooklyn. This will have five manuals. 140
speaking stops and the various mechanical acces-
sories which render the work of the modern or-
ganist less laborious than formerly. It will be
entirely of American manufacture, as is another
very famous concert organ, that in Jordan Hall,
Boston, which was installed a short time ago as
a gift from Eben D. Jordan, Esq., to the New
England Conservatory of Music. This latter in-
strument, built along the lines of a famous or-
gan at Sienna, Italy, and provided with every
possible facility for musical expression, stands
at the modern end of the long line of pipe or-
gans that have been constructed in the state
of Massachusetts since Bromfield's imitation of
an English pipe organ first scandalized the more
rigid Puritans. It was built in the intelligent
technical way in which the census bulletin just
out states that "almost every pipe organ is prac-
tically built to order to accord with the archi-
tecture of acoustic qualities, of the room or au-
ditorium in which it is designed to be placed."
The institution of musical education in whose
charge it is has altogether fourteen pipe or-
gans in daily use by pupils and teachers. This
is more than double the number of organs con-
tained under any other single roof in the world.
MUSIC TRADE
REVIEW
tain special means of securing striking combina-
tions of tone-color, little tricks of the trade,
which I considered my professional property, and
which were regarded as wonders by organists.
Now these very things can be done by the young
student by merely pressing a button. The dif-
ference in the action and the electric and me-
chanical devices now in use is indescribable.
Foreign organists, who are unfamiliar with these
devices, can only teach the American organist a
great many things which he will have to unlearn
or mentally readjust after his return to
America."
MUSICAL NEWS FROM COLE'S FERRY.
Ladies' Aid Society Gives a Musical—The
Critic Pays the Davenport & Treacy Piano a
High Tribute, But Raps Poor Wagner.
One of the most sincere tributes to the Daven-
port & Treacy pianos and one of those most
valued by the manufacturers appeared in an Oak
Bluff, Ark., paper in a criticism of a muslcale
given by the Ladies' Aid Society of the church
in Cole's Perry, Ark.
Sincerity was evident in every line of the criti-
cism, which read as follows:
"There was lots of doings at Cole's Ferry last
night when the Ladies' Aid Society gave the sing-
ing at the schoolhouse to make up money to buy
Preacher Shoop a horse. There was enough folks
standing outside as would make another singing
and Billy Whipple, Ed. Gardner and the fair per-
former on the piano done themselves proud.
"At the first scratch on his fiddle Billy was
solid with the White River contingent who
whooped-er-up in great shape and kept agawping
until the judge called for order with his umbrella.
Big Ed was a good second and was as nifty with
the harp as Billy was with the fiddle. A blind
man could see who was the most popular with
the fair sex when the blond boy put his mouth to
the music.
"The event of the evening though was the.
piano playing by one of Cole's Ferry's most
charming young ladies, Miss Anita Foster, who
performed on the instrument to the queen's taste.
"The piano was made in New York by a man
named Davenport Treacy and it was the best the
judge's money could buy in Joplin. Davenport
knew his business when he made that piano.
We never heard a better one nor a sweeter. No-
body could handle it better than Miss Anita
either.
"We don't know much about music, although
we know a good piano when we hear it. We
hate to be over critical, but we must say we
didn't like Anita's selections. For the most part
she played pieces composed by a man named
Wagner who would have done much better had
he stuck to making sleeping cars.
"During occasional vacations we have traveled
some on the railroads in the luxurious and well
earned ease of the palace cars. Those of Wagner
we remember with pleasure, but as for his music
the less said the better. No offense to Miss Anita
though."
The "Great Eastern" among American concert
organs was one made in Germany, just before
American manufacturers had sufficiently ac-
quired the confidence of musicians to secure
important contracts. This was the large instru-
ment which was imported from Germany in
1863 for Boston's new music hall—one which Dr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote an enthusiastic
and often quoted description. It was in many
ways a fine piece of apparatus, though it had
mechanical defects. Its use continued down to
1884, when it was sold to a wealthy citizen of
Boston who presented it to the oldest and largest
of American music schools. It was too big for
the building then occupied by the conservatory
and was held for a few years, to be subsequently
sold for the metal and wood it contained.
This was the first important concert organ in
the United States. Since 1863 they have been in-
stalled in music halls of a number of the larger
cities. Some of the organs which are now beirig
made here are destined for private residences,
for it is becoming quite the fashion among Amer-
ican millionaires to install these big "boxes of
whistles" in their residences. Andrew Carnegie,
for example, is aroused from his slumbers every
morning by organ music, and Charles M. Schwab
has a $25,000 instrument in his New York house.
The wonderful quality of American made or-
gans is testified to by the veteran composer and
organist, Dudley Buck, who wrote recently in
The Musician:
"When I toured in America years ago as a
virtuoso organist, I always objected having other
H. E. Nunamaker has left for St. Augustine,
Fla., to look after his store in that city, where he
will spend five months. He expects to open up
playere near the keyboard, as I had devised cer-
his store in Cleveland about May 1.
OLNEY MUSIC CO.'S EXPANSION.
The business of the St. Joseph, Mo., branch of
the Olney Music Co., has increased to such an
extent that larger quarters have become a neces-
sity and the stock will ^ o r t l y be moved from
the present location at 207 South Sixth street to
the building at the southwest corner of Sixth and
Felix streets. The Olney Music Co. have been
in business in St. Joseph for the last three years,
and have won continued success.
C. E. Potter, of the Holt Music Co.,
the progressive new dealers of Kansas
He owns and uses an automobile for
and expects to employ another auto in
after the first of the year.
is one of
City, Mo.
his trade
his work
11
SomeTrade"Straws'
Here are some excerpts taken at random
from the many letters which we have re-
ceived from dealers, toners and salesmen
who enthusiastically endorse "Theory and
Practice of Pianoforte Building."
Here is what the Phillips & Crew Co.,
Savannah, Ga., one of the leading firms in the
South, say regarding "Theory and Practice of
Pianoforte Building":
"We beg to hand you herewith our check
for $2 to cover cost of one copy of "Theory
and Practice of Pianoforte Building," which
has been received with thanks. The book is all
that you claim it to be and should find a ready
place with all those connected with the trade.
With our very best wishes, we beg to remain,"
etc.
George Rose, of the great English house
of Broadwood & Sons, and one of the lead-
ing piano makers of Europe, writes :
"I have perused the book with much pleas-
ure, and Theory and Practice of Pianoforte
Building' should be in the hands of every prac-
tical and interested man in the trade,"
H. A. Brueggemann, a dealer in Fort
Wayne, Ind., writes: "I have one of your
books, 'Theory and Practice of Pianoforte
Building/ and will say that it is just the kind
of a book I have been looking for for many
years. I have been tuning pianos for fourteen
/ears, and from studying the book, 'Theory ana
Practice of -Pianoforte Building,' I have
learned something that I never knew before."
John G. Erck, for many years manager ot
the Mathushek & Son retail piano business,
and now manager of the piano department ot
a big store in Cleveland, writes: "You cer-
tainly deserve strong commendation, for your
latest effort. 'Theory and Practice of Piano-
forte Building' is a book written in such an
instructive and concise form that certainly no
piano player or piano professional enthusiast
should lack it in his or her library. It gives
to the salesman the highest knowledge of in-
struments and is invaluable."
Henry Keeler, of Grafton, W. Va., says: "1
most heartily congratulate you for launching
such a worthy book. I consider it the best
work ever written upon the subject, and !
hope that its ready sale will cause the reprint
of many editions."
George A. Witney, head of the Brockport
Piano Mfg. Co., himself being a scale draughts-
man of national repute, writes: "Theory and
Practice of Pianoforte Building' is a valuable
book for those interested in piano construc-
tion."
Every man, whether manufacturer,
scale draughtsman,superintendent,
dealer, or salesman, should own
a copy of the first work of its kind
in the English language.
The price for single copies delivered to
any part of the United States, Canada
and Mexico is $3. All other countries,
on account of increased postage, $2.20.
If the book is not desired after examination, money
will be refunded.
EDWARD LYMAN BILL, Publisher
1 MADISON AVE., NEW YORK CITY