Scan 44
Musical Courier 1895-12-25: Vol 31 Iss 825, 1895
58 lines. Read by computer on 26 September 2026. Printed page 45. See the scan on archive.org.
1polygonal in form, and with the wooden frame, supports the soundboard, to which the edges are continuously glued. Thus the vibrations, starting from one part of the soundboard, are not dispersed, but are taken up by the rim and redistributed to the entire board and to the vibratory system as a whole, thereby enhancing the power and beauty of the tone.
3And then, again, underlying the entire construction is the scientific application of the principles of the acoustic law. The attainment of tone and tone quality has always been the primary object with them, and so it is that sonority, resonance, reinforcement, singing quality, brilliancy, purity and richness of tone have been developed in the highest degree.
5Acoustic Disk.
7In this connection it is well to note another feature of an individualizing character in the make-up of their pianos, and that is the soundboard with the acoustic disk. To the end that the ribs may be brought more directly under the influence of the vibrations of the strings a disk of hardwood is set into the soundboard at the intersection of each rib with the bridges. In this manner vibrations are set up which are transmitted through the ribs to the binding strips and acoustic rim, with the result that the tone is further augmented and enriched.
9These are some of the illustrations in proof of the continued watchfulness and effort in the matter of improvement in all that goes to make up the nearest perfect piano, and the methods pursued guarantee the continuance of the tone quality and insure the greatest possible durability.
11Special Designs.
13The Baldwin Piano Company carries out the idea that the eye can, and therefore must, be pleased as well as the ear, and so it has given special attention to designs for the case. In addition to their regular styles they are prepared to carry out any design which may be submitted to them, or they will furnish faithful reproductions of the styles of former periods.
15This building was designed by Mr. A. O. Elzner, architect, and was erected by the general contractors, J. W. Cotteral & Co., while Burns, Russell & Co., of Baltimore, furnish the glazed tile to be used on the roof.
17The building is a monument to the enterprise and success of one of the most notable piano making concerns in the world, and an architectural compliment to our city, with which their name is identified. It is incorporated under the laws of Ohio, and the officers and directors are: President, Lucien Wulsin; vice-president, D. H. Baldwin; secretary, G. W. Armstrong, Jr., and A. A. Van Buren and Clarence Wulsin.—From Cincinnati Times-Star, August 31, 1895.
19Smith & Nixon.
20Crawford, Ebersole & Smith.
22THE old house of Smith & Nixon is one of the best known in the trade, having been founded in Cincinnati in 1848. For many years the firm operated in Cincinnati and also in Chicago.
24The growth and development of the business of this house would be in itself a history of the evolution of the piano business in the past 50 years; especially during the last 10 years it has been an index of the changing conditions that have directed the course of the piano trade. Although a distinctly Cincinnati enterprise, its influence has gradually extended over adjoining territory, until it has become one of the most extensive as well as one of the most systematically and compactly organized systems that have been controlling factors in the trade in recent years.
26The present members of the firm, Henry W. Crawford, Joseph G. Ebersole and J. Llewellyn Smith, are all young men in the prime of life, progressive and aggressive. A quick perception of the changing conditions of the times and of the trade was followed at the right time by the establishment of their own manufacturing plant, which has produced their own piano, the Smith & Nixon, and the great success with which it has met has shown the result of careful planning and the benefit of the extensive experience of the house, putting them in the position to meet the requirements both from the manufacturer's point of view and that of the dealer. Their factory is located in Chicago and their home office in Cincinnati.
28This house has long been one of the largest representatives of the Steinway piano and is a great admirer of its high artistic qualities. The main salesroom of the Cincinnati house is one of the largest and most imposing to be found in any city, being a spacious apartment 120 feet by 52 feet, with high vaulted ceiling and a gallery over a series of parlors. This is an old historic hall and has been the scene of many a concert and other gathering of importance in the history of Cincinnati. In this hall Buchanan was nominated for the Presidency in 1856, and Jenny Lind sang there when she first went to Cincinnati.
30A Lost Prima Donna.
32ONE evening a nice young man, elegantly dressed, was hurrying along a narrow street in Residenz city of Leberwurst. Suddenly he checked his steps and began to walk backward and forward in front of a basement window.
34It was a lovely voice singing a child to sleep that stopped him on his way, and when the song ceased, and the child was presumably stowed away in its little bed, he went down the steps and opened the door. It gave admission to a little shop, and as no one was in he began to turn over the things on the counter as if intending to make a purchase. At the noise he made a young and beautiful woman appeared from the inner room and asked him what he wanted. "It is no use playing a farce," he said, "let me ask you at once if it was your voice that I heard just now."
36"I was singing the baby to sleep," she replied; "why do you ask?"
38"Do you know that you have an incomparable voice?" he exclaimed with enthusiasm.
40"My school teacher said something like that," she replied, blushing; "at all events it is good enough to sing my baby to sleep."
42"Your baby!" he cried in surprise, for she did not certainly look like a mother. "Are you married?"
44She laughed as she answered: "Married, and the mother of a fine boy."
46He seemed to meditate a few moments and then said:
47"Can I see your husband?"
48"He is very ill and confined to his bed."
49"So ill that I cannot speak to him?"
50"He suffers from rheumatism, but I will go and ask him."
51In a few minutes she returned and bade him enter the inner room, where he found the sleeping child and the sick man. To the latter's question what he wanted, he answered:
52"I have a proposition to make to you. As I passed your shop I heard your wife singing, and was enraptured. I can assure you most positively that if her voice were trained we should have the finest prima donna ever heard in an opera house."
53The sick man laughed, and his wife joined in as if much amused. "That's a poor joke," said the former.
54"No joke at all. I am conductor at the opera house and know what I am talking about. I assure you that your wife has millions in her throat, but they must be made to come out."
55"That would require money, lots of money, and I have none," said the sick man in a sad tone. "I am a poor workingman and have been confined to my bed for three months. Naturally we are behindhand in everything. My wife cannot go out and work because she cannot leave the child."
56"That's nothing," exclaimed the court conductor, joyfully; "the prince is a lover of music, and has often lamented that we have never produced a good prima donna. I have only to tell him that I have found one that can not be surpassed, and that it only needs a few bills from his pocketbook to train her, and he will free you from all care about money."
57The sick man looked at his wife as she passed her hand
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