Scan 25
Musical Courier 1891-05-13: Vol 22 Iss 586, 1891
80 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 492. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE MUSIC TRADE.
3The Musical Courier.
4PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY.
5ESTABLISHED JANUARY, 1880.
6No. 586.
8Subscription (including postage) invariably in advance.
9Yearly, $4.00; Foreign, $5.00; Single Copies, Ten Cents.
11RATES FOR ADVERTISING.
12PER INCH.
13Three Months………….$20.00 | Nine Months………….$60.00
14Six Months……………..40.00 | Twelve Months………..80.00 one of two readings
15Six Months…………….40.00 | Twelve Months………..80.00 one of two readings
16Advertisements for the current week must be handed in by 5 p. m. on Monday.
17All remittances for subscriptions or advertising must be made by check, draft, or money orders.
18American News Company, New York, General Agents.
20NEW YORK, WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1891
22An article in the music department of this number, entitled "Scharwenka—Ziegfeld," may be of special interest to the trade.
24Mr. Ernst Knabe, of Wm. Knabe & Co., Baltimore, was in the city last week to attend the music festival at New Music Hall. Mr. Tschaikowsky, the great Russian composer, will be the guest of Mr. Knabe during his coming visit to Baltimore.
26The big boom on the Kimball grand continues to obscure all interest in the world's fair à présent, as the French say, but Mr. Louis Falk says:
27Mr. Louis Falk—I think this piano a most excellent instrument and should meet with success.
28What would you do then, Louis?
30Among the new representatives of the Ivers & Pond pianos are the Knight-McClure Music Company, of Denver, and the D. O. Calder estate, of Salt Lake City. Houses of that calibre are an honor to the pianos they represent, and the pianos are honored in being selected by such houses.
32This is an extract from a letter addressed to us by Messrs. James M. Starr & Co., of Richmond, Ind.:
33We find our trade holding up remarkably well; our output is increasing over corresponding months of the previous year, and is an indication to us that the people must appreciate the Starr pianos, as we have no representative traveler on the road at all, or have not had for four years; we are running our shop to its fullest capacity and are unable, even at this time, to fill orders with a degree of promptness which would be desirable.
35The Lester piano is one of the most popular instruments of its class in Pittsburgh. Messrs. E. G. Hays & Co. handle it there, and they are so well pleased with the way it has turned out with them that they push it at every opportunity. They have sold a large number of them, and all are giving entire satisfaction.
37Some of the Testy Money Alls on the new Kimball grand are "beauts." Mr. J. H. Kowalski utters:
38Mr. J. H. Kowalski—I am more than delighted with the new Kimball grand, and would consider it a great privilege to use it.
39You are going to use it and then you are going to give it another testimonial. That is one of the liberties of the Poles.
41Now that the roads are opening up better and the spring season is fairly upon us, the business of Messrs. W. J. Dyer & Brother, of St. Paul and Minneapolis, is blooming forth in keeping with the times. Their road men report good prospects throughout the two Dakotas, and matters are equally as encouraging in other parts of the territory controlled by them. The band instrument and small goods departments naturally increase in these days, and the "Dyers" are so well known in these two lines, being manufacturers, direct importers and heavy jobbers, as well as retail dealers, that the great bulk of the business in all their section of the country comes to them. That they are prepared to handle it will be demonstrated to anyone who will drop them a postal asking for a catalogue.
43We are much pained to hear, while our paper is still on the press, so that no further particulars can be given, of the severe illness of Mr. Junius Hart, of New Orleans. We are informed that he has suffered a stroke of paralysis, a calamity that he has always dreaded, but we are not yet informed as to the extent of the attack, which we sincerely hope is but a light one.
45According to latest telegrams from New York, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Springfield and other points, piano playing is still considered an important element of musical life, William von Sachs to the contrary notwithstanding.
47There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, Willy,
48There is a rapture on the lonely shore, Willy,
49There is society, where none intrudes, Willy,
50By the deep sea, and music in its roar, Willy.
52(Child Harold.)
54An unusual number of vapid and absurd testimonials on the new Kimball grand piano is published, but among all this stands out in bold relief as a humorous contribution to the latest piano literature. Mr. Emil Liebling speaks:
56Mr. Emil Liebling—The Kimball grand will compare favorably with those of older and well-known makers. I take a natural interest and pride in any product of home enterprise, and in this case see no reason to withhold my endorsement.
58But you do, just the same. And yet some people are so stupid that they cannot see how it is that Mr. Liebling has had such financial success in Chicago. The West is great!
60There are surprising things in store for those who don't know what is coming. The following testimonial on the Kimball grand by Frederick Root is here already. Root branches out thus:
62Mr. Frederick Root—I am struck by the full pervading tone of the new Kimball grand and its resources for climaxes and brilliant effects. As I touch the instrument the mechanism seems to me perfect. That it is a Chicago instrument is a cause for pride. Chicago can boom something besides packing houses and real estate.
64You bet it can. Cosmopolitanism and local pride are not handmaids, and if the Kimball grand is so well adapted for smilaxes and brilliant defects why not congratulate the whole United States, including Kalamazoo and Tippecanoe?
66"It is a long lane that has no turn." It has taken "quite a length of while," but the honest violin maker and violin dealer is about to be vindicated by having the taint of swindling, attached to his business by frauds and humbugs, finally removed. All honest violin makers and dealers should combine to have their vocation purified by ousting the contemptible, swindling leeches in it. The late developments in violin and 'cello frauds have given a big boom to new violins and 'cellos, and the old frauds must be relegated to obscurity for the time being to give the living violin maker who makes an honest instrument an opportunity for development and improvement.
68It is always gratifying to have one's work appreciated, and in no instance is appreciation more grateful than when it is extended to a newspaper in the shape of indorsement of the paper's influence as an advertising medium. Some time ago there appeared in some of the piano factories here paper piano covers that were used in shipping and for the protection of the instruments while in work. We noticed them, thought they were a useful thing, and found out who made them—Mr. R. M. Webb, of Brooklyn. Mr. Webb didn't believe in advertising; he declared that he did all of his business by personal solicitation, that he was as busy as he could be, and that he did not want to spare the money and all that sort of thing.
69As a test we printed an inch long description of the covers in a current issue without mentioning who manufactured them. The next time that Mr. Webb called he was presented with a batch of letters addressed to The Musical Courier, asking who he was and where he could be found, that surprised him. He started in at once with a small advertisement. This was about six months ago. Last week he called upon us again and enlarged his advertisement threefold. Now he believes in advertising in The Musical Courier, and well he may. He has doubled his capacity, his address is now Nos. 915 and 917 Marcy avenue, Brooklyn, instead of only 915; he has done more business in the first eight days of this month than ever in the whole month of May in previous years; one order to a single house runs up to over $3,500, and he is happy. One of the things that surprised Mr. Webb after he commenced to advertise in The Musical Courier was the business that he worked up among tuners and repairers from all parts of the compass. He didn't know there were so many men in existence who needed his wares. He goes about among piano makers and supply men. Ask him to tell you himself what his experience has been with The Musical Courier; then come and do likewise.
71At the meeting of the Piano Manufacturers' Association which occurred yesterday afternoon the question of the reinstatement of the Pease Piano Company was to come up. We presume that the matter went through all right and that the association now numbers one more member. It will be remembered that the Pease Piano Company retired from the association during the varnishers' strike, claiming that they had a contract with their varnish foreman and dealt with him alone, having no direct relations with their men. We believe the association adopted the warranty.
73On May 1 all piano workmen in this city commenced work on the 10 hour basis, the compromise shops, the scab shops and the union shops now being on the same footing.
75No dealer in pianos and organs, in musical merchandise, in sheet music or musical instruments can possibly do justice to himself or his business unless he is a subscriber to The Musical Courier. This paper, now in the twelfth year of its history, is a weekly epitome of all important events in the music trade, and the dealer who can afford for the sake of saving eight cents a week to conduct his business without reading this paper every week will find, if he has not discovered it already, that his competitors who read it have passed him in the race for trade. Send your subscription to The Musical Courier. Keep in line with your competitors, and if possible outstrip them.
77People who are handling a piano made by Cable and stenciled Lawrie & Haynes are hereby warned that there is no such firm in existence and that one of the parties, whose name is being used without his consent and against his protest, will shortly bring legal action to stop their manufacture and to prosecute those who are offering them for sale. The pianos are sold under false pretenses both by their manufacturer and by the retail dealer, and the gentleman mentioned, who has built up an honorable and legitimate business for himself, does not propose longer to have his name dragged about in the nasty mess of this stencil humbug.
79The sale of Decker Brothers pianos at retail in the city of Chicago has been one of the most remarkable features in the piano trade of that city in recent times. It is due to the energy thrown into the business by young Mr. Camp since he has assumed charge of the department. Mr. William F. Decker, who was in Chicago last week on his return trip from the Pacific, received another large order from Estey & Camp.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.