Books › Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937 › scan 134
Scan 134
Ayars, Contributions to the Art of Music in America by the Music Industries of Boston (1937) — the Squier, Farley, Rettberg, Rockwell and Elias Howe matter, 1937
15 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 112. See the scan on archive.org.
1a partnership in 1830 with Captain John Mackay, a prosperous sea captain and a former partner of Alpheus Babcock.2 It was in this year that Mr. Chickering presented an elaborate upright pianoforte.
3The firm then became Chickering & Mackay with a good-sized factory on [address hidden]. Captain Mackay made frequent voyages to South America, where he sold the sweet-toned six-octave pianofortes in different parts and returned with rosewood and mahogany for cases. Even today, these six-octave pianofortes can still be found in Buenos Aires and other places in South America. It is said that this firm was supplying pianofortes, then ranking high in price and character,3 to every available commercial point in the East, South, and as far West as civilization had advanced. By its establishment of the first agencies known all through the parts of the country open to commerce, this company became the pioneer developer of the pianoforte trade of America.3
5In 1841 Captain Mackay was lost at sea with his ship on what was intended to be his last trip. Mr. Chickering then purchased Captain Mackay's interest in the business from his heirs and conducted it alone under the name "J. Chickering, Piano Maker," employing three hundred men and turning out thirteen hundred pianofortes yearly.
7In 1848 Jonas Chickering's three sons were admitted into the firm as partners, and the name was changed to "Chickering & Sons."
9The first World's Fair held in London in 1851 in the specially constructed Crystal Palace was the first time when American pianoforte manufacturers were represented in a foreign exhibition. Chickering & Sons had an exhibit superintended in person by Jonas and Charles Francis Chickering, who returned with many awards and the First Prize Medal. Contacts were also established with influential people and prominent European artists.
11A great misfortune befell the company when the factory and its entire contents, including beautiful paintings, autographed portraits and mementoes, given by great artists and prominent men to Jonas Chickering, were burned December 1, 1852, with a loss totaling more than one quarter million of dollars.
132 See also page 107.
143 Spillane, Daniel. History of the American Pianoforte p. 88.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.