Books › Musical Courier 1926-09-30: Vol 93 Iss 14, 1926 › scan 21
Scan 21
Musical Courier 1926-09-30: Vol 93 Iss 14, 1926
65 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. Printed page 22. See the scan on archive.org.
1MUSICAL COURIER
2Weekly Review of the World's Music
3Published every Thursday by the
4MUSICAL COURIER COMPANY, INC.
5ERNEST F. EILERT, President
6WILLIAM GEPPERT, Vice-President
7ALVIN L. SCHMOEGER, Sec. and Treas.
8437 Fifth Avenue, S. E., Corner 39th Street, New York
9Telephone all Instruments 4652, 4651, 4652 Caledonia
10Cable address: Muscuerler, New York.
11Member of Merchants' Association of New York, National Publishers' Association, Rotary Club of New York, The Fifth Avenue Association of New York, Music Industries Chamber of Commerce, Advertising Club of New York.
12Honorary Member American Optimists.
13ALVIN L. SCHMOEGER, General Manager
14LEONARD LIEBLING, Editor-in-Chief
15H. O. ORGOOD
16WILLIAM GEPPERT
17FRANK L. HALL one of two readings
18FRANK L. HARTMANN one of two readings
19CLARENCE LUCAS
20RENE DEVRIES
21GEORGE MARCHINGER
22THORNTON W. ALLEN
23J. ALBERT RIKER, Managing Editor
24General Representative
25OFFICES
26CHICAGO HEADQUARTERS—JEANNETTE COX, 826 to 830 Orchestra Building, 226 South Michigan Ave., Chicago. Telephone, Harrison 8116.
27BOSTON AND NEW ENGLAND—270 Huntington Avenue, Room 202, Bos. Telephone, Park Street 2114.
28LONDON, ENG.—GEORGE MARCHINGER (in charge), 175, Piccadilly, W. 1 and 124 Wigmore Street, W. 1. Telephone, Mayfair 6453. Cable address: Muscuerler, London.
29BERLIN, GERMANY—C. HOFER TRASS, Seescheimstr. 27, Berlin-Charlottenburg. Telephone, Wilhelm 9144. Cable address, Muscuerler, Berlin.
30PARIS, FRANCE—CLARENCE LUCAS, 12, Hauts Closseux, Sevres, S & O. France. Cable address: Muscuerler, Paris.
31MILAN, ITALY—ANTONIO HARRI, 31 Via Durial.
32For the names and address of other offices, correspondents and representatives apply at the main office.
33SUBSCRIPTIONS: Domestic, Five Dollars; Canadian, Six Dollars. Foreign, Six Dollars and Twenty-Five Cents. Single Copies, Fifteen Cents at Newsstands. Rates for Twelve or More Copies, American and Foreign, Company's Agents. General Distributing Agents: Western News Company, Chicago, Western Distributing Agents. New England News Co., Eastern Distributing Agents. Australian News Co., Ltd., Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Tasmania. Agents for New Zealand, New Zealand News Co., Ltd., Wellington. European Agents, The International News Company, Ltd., Bream's Building, London, E. C. 4, England.
34The MUSICAL COURIER is for sale at the principal newsstands and music stores in the United States and in the leading music houses, hotels and kiosques in Europe.
35Copy for advertising in the MUSICAL COURIER should be in the hands of the Advertising Department before four o'clock on the Friday previous to the date of publication. The advertising rates of the MUSICAL COURIER are quoted in a flat rate basis no charge being made for setting up advertisements. All other charges is made for mortgaging, notching, leveling, and lay-outs which call for special set-ups. one of two readings
36Copy for advertising in the MUSICAL COURIER should be in the hands of the Advertising Department before four o'clock on the Friday previous to the date of publication. The advertising rates of the MUSICAL COURIER are quoted in a flat rate table no charge being made for setting up advertisements. All other charges is made for mortgaging, notching, leveling, and lay-outs which call for special set-ups. one of two readings
37Entered as Second Class Matter, January 8, 1893, at the Post Office at New York, N. Y., under the act of March 3, 1879.
38THE MUSICAL COURIER EXTRA
39Published every Saturday by Musical Courier Company
40Devoted to the Interests of the Piano Trade
41New York September 30, 1926 No. 2425
42New Channel swimmers get across much more easily than new opera singers.
43The appearance of Charles Hackett, tenor, as one of the leading soloists at the Worcester Festival next month will be in the nature of a home-coming since Mr. Hackett is a native of that Massachusetts city and is sure of arousing a welcome on his own account, as well as full appreciation of his splendid art.
44New York State is busy with its political conventions, and it remains to be seen which of the parties will put in its platform a plank promising recognition for the American composer. By the way, what became of the Municipal Conservatory which ex-Mayor Hylan promised to New York City?
45The news of the death of William H. Cloudman at the age of forty was heard with much regret by his many friends in the musical world. "Billy," as he was universally known, was a gentle, kindly soul, who made friends with all with whom he came in contact. He will be genuinely missed by the many for whom he had done one favor or another in the course of his many years of association with the Hanson managerial office.
46Now that the fistic championship has been decided, preparations are on for the operatic and concert championships of 1926-27. A large number of aspirants are in active training and confident notes sound from all their camps. The managers are brushing up the box offices, and the critical umpires are sharpening their deadly pencils and pens. The preliminary bouts are scheduled to begin early next month and the main events will follow thereafter in rapid succession. At present the betting leans heavily toward all the old favorites.
47Anne Roselle, American prima donna, was home for only a few weeks' vacation this summer, returning to Dresden where she has already appeared again as the heroine of Puccini's Turandot, repeating her success of last season. This will be followed by a season at the Municipal Opera of Berlin under Bruno Walter and in December she will go to Paris to create the role of Tosca in French at the Grand Opera at Paris, where this particular opera of Puccini has never been given. It is an extraordinary tribute to the voice and art of this American singer to receive such an invitation from the principal French government-controlled opera house.
48Artur Bodanzky, the Metropolitan Opera House conductor, just returned from Europe, declares that jazz never will rise beyond the level of being ball-room music. It is a widely held opinion, that George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and his piano concerto, were heard and liked exceedingly, in that well-known New York dance resort, Carnegie Hall.
49The October issue of the American Mercury carries an article on the violin by John Redfield in which he says: "Put the violin in the hands of an able engineer—one capable of designing a suspension bridge,—furnish him with a moderate amount of fundamental information about sound, tell him to improve the instrument, and in a year or so he will turn out such an instrument as Stradivarius dreamed of all his life but never succeeded in building." Since turn about is fair play, our idea would be to turn some good musicians loose on a couple of gigantic bridges. Doubtless they would be able to think up an improvement or two at least as important as those Mr. Redfield's engineers could invent for a Stradivarius.
50Rochester is fortunate indeed in the way of concerts. The usual three series will be offered this winter in the beautiful Eastman Theater. The lowest price is six dollars for the series in the balcony (which is, acoustically speaking, the best part of the house), bringing concerts down to the price of $1.20 each. The subscription to all three series at the cost of $18 would enable one to hear in the course of the winter an extraordinary list of artists and other attractions which include Gigli, Kochanski, Mary Garden, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Hofmann, Mordkin, Schipa, Seidel, Cortot, Ruth St. Denis, Ted Shawn, Roland Hayes, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Florence Macbeth, John Charles Thomas, Onegin, and Martinelli, and at the end a special Wagnerian operatic night with Elsa Alsen, Kathryn Meisle, Richard Crooks, and Arthur Middleton. There will be few other cities, if any, able to enjoy such a feast of music at such a reasonable price.
51Beniamino Gigli has the happy idea every summer of giving one or two concerts for charity in his native country before he returns for his long season in America. This year the first city favored was Venice, on the evening of August 22, when he sang to an audience that jammed the famous old Teatro La Fenice. The receipts, which went to the charitable institutions of Venice, amounted to 150,000 liras. The most picturesque feature occurred later in the evening when Gigli went out into the magnificent and picturesque Piazza of St. Mark's and sang a few solos at the public concert of the Municipal Band. The historic place was crowded and so still that even the softest note of Gigli's voice was heard in the farthest corner. It was midnight before the concert ended and then it was only with the aid of the carabinieri that Gigli was able to make his way through the dense crowd, which cheered him to the echo. He is to give benefit concerts in his home city of Recanati and then at Rome and Naples before leaving for this country.
52Probably there is no house in the branch of music industries—and, as for that, in any other industry—to equal the unbroken and continued existence of the firm of Neuner & Hornsteiner, violin makers in the little town of Mittenwald which is tucked away in a valley high up in the Bavarian Alps close to the Austrian boundary. The great Mathias Klotz (1653-1743), father of the German violin industry, was a Mittenwalder and founded the industry there in the latter part of the seventeenth century, after his years as apprentice in Italy, learning to make fine fiddles. In less than a century after Klotz was born the firm of Neuner & Hornsteiner was founded, 1750. Last year was the celebration of the 175th anniversary of its foundation and it is still in the hands of the Neuner family. Hans Neuner has been in charge since 1904 and there are two sons of his to keep it going after his days are ended. America has always been the principal market for Mittenwald violins and the war dealt a terrible blow to the industry from which it has by no means recovered. Even this 175 year old firm, the oldest and largest of the town, has been having a severe struggle to weather the storm, and it is hoped that the courage and energy which have sustained it for so long will pull it through to celebrate that rarest of all things in any business—a 200th anniversary.
53STATISTICS
54In Cedar Falls, Ia., there are twenty-nine professional musicians. Of this number, says Rene Devries, four have made names for themselves in Cedar Falls. None are known in the State of Iowa and not one has a national or international reputation.
55RADIO PROBLEMS
56According to a special report printed in the New York Times, Edison says: "Music on the radio is very poor because it is badly distorted. I quite approve of radios and think there should be one in every home, but at the same time it should not be used for musical purposes. . . . There is no money for the dealer in it. We have made a survey of Edison dealers who have sold radios and find that they are rapidly giving them up. The mechanism is too complicated for the average man to fix once it gets out of order, and the dealer is called in again and again, with the result that he loses both time and money."
57On another page of the same issue of The Times it is reported that the net profit of the Dubilier Condenser and Radio Corporation for the year ended June 30 was $38,233, equal to 12 cents a share on the common stock, as compared with a net of $253,190, or 83 cents a share, in the preceding year. And, of course, we know that there have been many business failures in the radio world; and radio shops spring up and disappear with amazing speed—and are mostly small affairs at best, except when combined with talking machines, sheet music, records, pianos and other allied trades.
58But none of this proves anything to speak of. If ever a business was "in its infancy" the radio business certainly is at the present time. What Edison says about distortion and difficulty in maintaining receiving sets at their best is true at present, but improvements are being made constantly, and quality and stability are being taken care of.
59It is our belief that radio manufacturers are falling into error in endeavoring to make receiving sets more simple, with fewer controls. Under ideal conditions, that would be highly desirable, but conditions are rarely ideal, and the radio receiving set is such a delicate mechanism that it has a constant tendency to get out of balance. Radio manufacturers should take this into consideration and should make sets so that balance adjustments could be made without taking the whole set apart or altering the hook-up.
60It is a common thing for a radio fan to have a perfect or almost perfect set for a while, and then to experience trouble. What he generally does then is to call in the dealer, as Edison says, or write to the newspaper question-and-answer department for advice and guidance—which it is impossible to give at long distance, and difficult to carry out except by an expert.
61Distortion may be caused by any one of a multiplicity of causes, the chief of them being: overloading, poorly balanced tubes, interlocking magnetic zones, a poor loud-speaker, loose connections, corroding parts, dampness, defective batteries, dust, etc.
62But much of this will be cured in the future manufacture of receiving sets. Parts will be sealed in (as they already are in some sets) so that nothing can slip, neither dampness nor dust can reach them, and they will "stay put" permanently; there will be arrangements for the application on every separate tube of distinct "A," "B" and "C" battery voltages; and tubes will be manufactured (as they already are to some extent) to fit every particular place in any set so that there will be no overloading. Loud-speakers of the cone sort, now very perishable because of the material used (paper sides and exposed magnets), will be made more trustworthy (and, it may be added, will be shaped so as not to give the "hollow" tone so common at present).
63The radio receiving set in connection with the talking machine is a wonderful thing. They are being built into one cabinet, and it is possible either to listen to broadcasted programs or to turn on your own record and amplify it with your radio receiver.
64The problem of making money with radio is a complex one, chiefly perhaps because it is so easy to build a set, and so fascinating to do it. The only sure features of it, from the manufacturer's point of view, would seem to be condensers, tubes, batteries and speakers. These are the chief costs in building a set, and the builder cannot make them himself. The matter of profit-taking will adjust itself in time. Radio has most certainly come to stay, and somebody is going to make money out of it. Probably in the end the talking machine people will make money out of it too.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.