Music Trade Review

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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
JANUARY 7,
1922
WINNERS OF CHICKERING ESSAY CONTEST—(Continued from page 9)
rank and file of the piano manufacturing world
of that day.
It would have seemed strange had not George
H. Chickering followed in the footsteps of his
brothers and added his very pleasant personality
and business capabilities to the company which
the other male members of the Chickering fam-
ily had developed to such a high degree. When
we are told that George H. Chickering had been
president of the Handel and Haydn Society
after having been its vice-president for twenty-
nine years we know him to be generous, humor-
ous, kindly and altogether lovable. How else
could he have retained the affections and good
graces through twenty-nine years of so many
different natures as come into a large society?
Before passing from the personnel of Chicker-
ing & Sons we feel that it is altogether neces-
sary to speak of that part of the institution which
acts as the hands to the artist or the body to the
dancer, namely, the employes in the factory.
Unless the mind which invents and improves
finds complete responsiveness in the workers
the product falls short of perfection and degen-
erates into mediocrity. In the Chickering fac-
tory exists supreme unity between workmen and
those who determine changes and methods. Such
unity, of course, is built upon the good will of
the workers toward the heads of the business.
This good will is obtained by making each man
feel that his work is absolutely essential to the
finished product and that his skill is such that
none other could take his place. The house of
Chickering fosters pride in its workmen and
they answer gladly with the best that they have
to give. If space permitted for rolls of honor
I should like to name the thirty-three men who
have been employed continuously with the
Chickering people for an average of thirty-five
years each.
Sometimes as one sits in a drawing room or a
cozy little living-room where a Chickering grand
reflects its beauty in the polished floor his fancy
weaves about the lovely thing a thousand strange
tales—romances of artists whose souls, per-
chance, have been wafted on its exquisite breath
through the gates of that land where only the
lover of beauty may enter. Or, maybe, the
story of the piano's own birth and development
will be the theme of his romancing. In either
case what a wealth of dreams!
He is led through tropic wilds, where the
mahogany is brought to earth that the Chicker-
ing may be entirely clad in its rich beauty. Or
our own Northern woods enthrall him with their
beauty, where the ash, birch, maple, poplar and
spruce grow that the Chickering may be sturdy
and its tone resonant and sweet.
Along with the romantic history of the Chick-
ering is a very practical one which has its in-
ception in the piano which was once the posses-
sion of Princess Amelia. Jonas Chickering
found it in New Ipswich sadly out of repair.
Though only a lad he soon made it right again
and in so doing found himself. It was shortly
afterward he moved to Boston and became an
employee of Mr. Osborne, a piano maker.
On April 15, 1823, Jonas Chickering, now mas-
ter of the art of piano making as known in that
day, associated himself with a Scotchman, James
Stewart, and thus in a very modest little estab-
lishment the house of Chickering came into
existence. Scotland soon after lured Stewart
home and young Chickering was left to manu-
facture pianos alone. This, however, was accom-
plished with such skill and art that soon his
pianos were found in many lovely homes from
cultured Boston to the happy South.
At the present day Chickering & Sons are the
proud possessors of the very first piano made
by Jonas Chickering.
In 1830 Ghickering produced his first upright
piano. Its high "bookcase" type met with in-
stant approval and lent new impetus to the
business.
It was about this time that Captain John
Mackay became associated with Mr. Chickering.
The captain, master of a vessel which made fre-
quent trips to South America, was a decidedly
helpful acquisition. What more natural and con-
venient than his loading the ship on its outgoing
voyage with pianos to sell in ports where he
should cast anchor and reloading in South
America with rosewood and mahogany for use
in the factory? When an unfortunate voyage
claimed Captain Mackay and his ship as victims
Mr. Chickering bought out the Mackay interests
and henceforth the company remained in the
Chickering family.
Having produced both square and upright
pianos Mr. Chickering worked and dreamed over
the development of a scientifically constructed
grand. Finally, in 1840, Chickering gave to
the world his first grand. Grands had been made
before this time in England. Christofori, the
inventor of the piano, had made his first instru-
ment a grand, but the construction was such
that it was impossible to keep it in tune. To
overcome
this great
problem
Chickering
brought into play all his inventive genius, all
his tireless endeavor and finally, in 1837, his
labors were ended by the invention of the full
iron plate for grand pianos. Because it suc-
cessfully furnished sufficient support for the
mighty strain of the strings Chickering's inven-
tion became the foundation for all modern piano
construction.
This was quickly followed by two other im-
portant inventions. In 1843 a new deflection of
the strings was accomplished and in 1845 a
method of overstringing (setting the strings in
two banks) was introduced to the piano maker's
world.
Those are the high lights in the evolution of
the Chickering piano which the piano makers of
the world have followed. But from time to
time since then innumerable other improvements
and inventions have been made, scales perfected,
etc., which are unique to the Chickering piano
and which place it upon a sublime peak of per-
fection whence its sonorous voice awakens
the soul of the artist and loses its hearers in the
land of magic.
In 1852 the Chickering factory, then in Wash-
ington street, Boston, was completely destroyed
by fire. Mr. Chickering and his sons, with
characteristic energy, immediately formulated
plans for a new building which should be larger
and more completely equipped than the first.
However, before the new building could be com-
pleted Jonas Chickering had passed within the
shadows of eternity.
The present factory is in Tremont street, Bos-
ton. In fancy let us wander through its vast-
ness. At first we are more than a little awed
at the very hugeness of the place—our guide
tells us it is the largest factory under one roof
in the United States. Nevertheless, its vine-
clad front, with its innumerable windows, invites
us and we enter. As we wander from depart-
ment to department our personal conductor
points out in what respects the Chickering is
made to excel all other instruments. We fairly
gape, unaccustomed as we Westerners are to
extensive factories, at rows upon rows of most
intricate machinery. Here are labor-saving de-
vices of every description whereby the parts of
a modern Chickering are made, each part true
to the most minute detail of specifications.
We pause to watch the workers setting up a
rast or skeleton, in carefully constructed jigs.
We are told that this particular part must be
made with especial care, as even the slightest
discrepancy in dimensions or shape of any of
its parts might have a sorry effect upon the
sounding board and thereby throw the whole
instrument out of line, with the consequent de-
struction of the true Chickering tone quality
or volume.
We enter the foundry and find workmen busily
filling moulds with a dark sandy-appearing mix-
ture into which later will be poured the molten
iron. They are making the full iron plates which
Jonas Chickering invented. In another depart-
ment raw castings are being finished and still
further on we find the marking and drilling be-
ing accomplished. This also calls for accuracy,
for string lengths must be exact.
We would gladly wander for days through the
various departments, finding our interest riveted
each minute by the hundreds of different opera-
tions which are necessary to turn raw material
into a finished piano. Here are men matching
clear, quarter-sawn spruce for sounding boards.
We watch the process di gluing the narrow strips
to the size to make the completed board. After
they are dried and seasoned, our guide informs
us, they will be in a condition to respond readily
to string vibration. We pause while a pin block
is being adjusted to the strung plate; we see the
strings being drawn into place, overlapping to
the proper degree for evenness of scale; we stand
beside the hammer makers and understand the
care which they exercise in the execution of then-
work that each hammer will be so constructed as
to bring out the proper tone which it is its duty
to draw from the strings; we stop beside the
steel tables where the keys arc being fitted to
the action while our fingers itch to glide over the
smooth ivory. Our guide halts for a moment
to point out the ribs at the back of the sound-
board. The spruce bars are used to maintain
the crown in the soundboard and properly dis-
tribute and increase its resonance. However, the
guide bids us notice particularly that the ribs
are graduated both in height and thickness—a
care quite unusual in many other makes of
pianos.
We have watched the making of string plates,
skeletons, sounding boards and have seen ac-
tions being set up and now we wander to the
cabinet department. Here we find cases in all
stages of completion. Our guide explains that
several varieties of wood go into the making of
the case and its parts. The woods are selected
with regard to the requisites of the piano, where
strength is needed—in the legs and leg supports
—hardwood such as maple, where perfect
straightness is demanded—in top and fallboards
—quarter-sawn or poplar.
The rim is made of five or six laminations of
white maple. Our personal conductor points out
that an extra rim-thickening piece is placed be-
tween the laminations at the side. This method
of placing the extra thickness between the lami-
nations, besides giving added strength to the
case, insures a finer tone quality. The case is
covered with a veneering of mahogany which,
in turn, is subjected to a thorough process of
filling, varnishing and polishing. The mechan-
ism of the instrument, together with this case,
completes the Chickering piano and it is then
ready to grace a home or a concert hall.
The Chickering piano and Chickering people
have ever been associated with the finest musi-
cal talent in the world. Their beautiful ware-
rooms, hung with lovely paintings, in Washing-
ton street might have been called the trysting
place for the musical lights of those days. Here
artists and critics assembled, and places were
gained or lost in the world of artistic success.
Of even vastly more importance to the musical
history of America was Chickering Hall, New
York. Hans Von Bulow made his first appear-
ance in the United States at its dedication, after
which some of the greatest artists of the world
played or sang there and a number of the world's
classics have been first heard in New York
within its walls. String quartets and choral
societies, also, found a pleasant home in Chickj
ering Hall.
Campanini, Richard Hoffman, Madame
Nevada and Mrs. Henschel were amonj
older-day favorites who there bowed to
York, and Saint-Saens' "Samson and Deli!
P I A N O S
A.WD