The AMICA BULLETIN AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT COLLECTORS’ ASSOCIATION JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2001 VOLUME 38, NUMBER 1

THE AMICA BULLETIN AUTOMATIC MUSICAL INSTRUMENT COLLECTORS' ASSOCIATION Published by the Automatic Musical Instrument Collectors’ Association, a non-profit, tax exempt group devoted to the restoration, distribution and enjoyment of musical instruments using perforated paper music rolls and perforated music books. AMICA was founded in San Francisco, California in 1963. ROBIN PRATT, PUBLISHER, 630 EAST MONROE ST., SANDUSKY, OH 44870-3708 -- Phone 419-626-1903, e-mail: [email protected] Visit the AMICA Web page at: http://www.amica.org Associate Editor: Mr. Larry Givens Contributing Editor: Mr. Emmett M. Ford

VOLUME 38, Number 1 January/February 2001 AMICA BULLETIN

Display and Classified Ads FEATURES Articles for Publication Letters to the Publisher Book Review — 9 Chapter News Leopold Godowsky — 10 UPCOMING PUBLICATION DEADLINES CD Review — 26 The ads and articles must be received The Piano and Its Antecedents — 27 by the Publisher on the 1st of the Odd number months: Ode to the Piano — 38 January July March September May November Bulletins will be mailed on the 1st week of the even months. Robin Pratt, Publisher 630 East Monroe Street Sandusky, Ohio 44870-3708 Phone: 419-626-1903 e-mail: [email protected]

DEPARTMENTS AMICA International — 2 MEMBERSHIP SERVICES President’s Message — 3 New Memberships ...... $37.00 From the Publisher’s Desk — 3 Renewals ...... $37.00 Calendar of Events — 4 Address changes and corrections Letters — 5 Directory information updates Tech Tips — 34 Additional copies of Member Directory . . . . $25.00 People — 40 Single copies of back issues Chapter News — 42 ($6.00 per issue - based upon availability) Classified Ads — 63 William Chapman (Bill) 2150 Hastings Court Santa Rosa, CA 95405-8377 Front Cover: Percy Grainger (See Page 6) 707-570-2258 e-mail: [email protected] Inside Front: A.B. Chase Piano Ad To ensure timely delivery of your Inside Back Cover: Melville Clark Piano Co. Ad BULLETIN, please allow 6-weeks advance notice of address changes. Back Cover: The New Orthophonic

AMICA Publications reserves the right to accept, reject, or edit any and all submitted articles and advertising.

Entire contents © 2001 AMICA International 1 AMICA INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL OFFICERS CHAPTER OFFICERS PRESIDENT Dan C. Brown BOSTON AREA NORTHERN LIGHTS N. 4828 Monroe Street Pres. Ken Volk Pres: Dave Kemmer Spokane, WA 99205-5354 Vice Pres: Dorothy Bromage Vice Pres: Jerrilyn Boehland - 509-325-2626 Sec: Ginger Christiansen (612) 780-5699 e-mail: [email protected] Treas: Karl Ellison Sec: Jason E. Beyer - (507) 454-3124 Treas: Terry Goepel PAST PRESIDENT Linda Bird Reporter: Don Brown Board Rep: Sandy Libman Reporters: Paul & Barbara Watkins 3300 Robinson Pike Board Rep: Dorothy Olds Grandview, MO 64030-2275 CHICAGO AREA Phone/Fax 816-767-8246 Pres: Richard VanMetre - (847) 402-5391 PACIFIC CAN-AM e-mail: OGM [email protected] Vice Pres: George Wilder Pres: Mark Smithberg - (206) 763-9468 VICE PRESIDENT Mike Walter Sec: Curt Clifford Vice Pres: Kurt Morrison 65 Running Brook Dr., Treas: Joe Pekarek Sec: Halie Dodrill Lancaster, NY 14086-3314 Reporter: Kathy Stone Septon Treas: Ward Folsom 716-656-9583 Board Rep: Marty Persky Reporter: Dan Brown e-mail: [email protected] Board Rep: Carl Dodrill FOUNDING CHAPTER SECRETARY Judith Chisnell SIERRA NEVADA 3945 Mission, Box 145 Pres: Bing Gibbs - (408) 253-1866 Vice Pres: Mark Pope Pres: John Motto-Ros - (209) 267-9252 Rosebush, MI 48878-9718 Vice Pres: Sonja Lemon Sec: Lyle Merithew & Sandy Swirsky 517-433-2992 Sec/Treas: Doug & Vicki Mahr Treas: Richard Reutlinger e-mail: [email protected] Reporter: Nadine Motto-Ros Reporter: Tom McWay Board Rep: John Motto-Ros TREASURER Board Rep: Richard Reutlinger Registered agent for legal matters SOWNY (Southern Ontario, GATEWAY CHAPTER Western New York) Pres: Yousuf Wilson (636) 665-5187 Pres: Anne Lemon - (905) 295-4228 PUBLISHER Robin Pratt Vice Pres: Tom Novak Vice Pres: Mike Hamann 630 E. Monroe Street, Sandusky, Ohio 44870-3708 Sec,/Treas: Jane Novak Sec/Mem. Sec: John & Diane Thompson 419-626-1903 Reporter: Mary Wilson Treas: Holly Walter e-mail: [email protected] Board Rep: Gary Craig Photographer: Garry Lemon MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY William Chapman (Bill) HEART OF AMERICA Reporter: Frank Warbis 2150 Hastings Court, Santa Rosa, CA 95405-8377 Pres: Ron Bopp - (918) 786-4988 Board Rep: Mike Walter 707-570-2258 Vice Pres: Tom McAuley e-mail: [email protected] SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Sec/Treas: Robbie Tubbs Pres: James Westcott — COMMITTEES — Reporter: Joyce Brite Sec./Reporter. Shirley Nix Board Rep: Ron Connor Treas: Ken Hodge AMICA ARCHIVES Stuart Grigg Board Rep: Frank Nix 20982 Bridge St., Southfield, MI 48034 - Fax: (248) 356-5636 LADY LIBERTY Pres./Reporter: Bill Maguire TEXAS AMICA MEMORIAL FUND Judy Chisnell (516) 261-6799 3945 Mission, Box 145, Rosebush, MI 48878-9718 517-433-2992 Pres: Jerry Bacon - (214) 328-9369 Vice Pres: Keith Bigger Vice Pres: Tony Palmer (817) 261-1334 AUDIO-VISUAL & TECHNICAL Harold Malakinian Sec: Richard Karlsson Sec./Treas: Janet Tonnesen 2345 Forest Trail Dr., Troy, MI 48098 Treas: Walter Kehoe Board Rep: Dick Merchant Board Reps: Marvin & Dianne Polan CONVENTION COORDINATOR Frank Nix Bulletin Reporter: Bryan Cather Newsletter Editor: Bryan Cather 6030 Oakdale Ave., Woodland Hills, CA 91367 818-884-6849 MIDWEST (OH, MI, IN, KY) HONORARY MEMBERS Jay Albert Pres: Judy Chisnell SOUTHERN SKIES 904-A West Victoria Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101-4745 Vice Pres: Stuart Grigg Pres: Debra Legg - (727) 734-3353 (805) 966-9602 - e-mail: [email protected] Sec: Judy Wulfekuhl Vice Pres: Bill Shrive Treas: Alvin Wulfekuhl Sec: Howard Wyman (813) 689-6876 PUBLICATIONS Robin Pratt Reporter: Christy Counterman 630 E. Monroe St., Sandusky, OH 44870-3708 Treas: Dee Kavouras (352) 527-9390 Board Rep: Liz Barnhart Reporter: Dick & Dixie Leis WEB MASTER Terry Smythe Board Rep: Debra Legg 55 Rowand Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3J 2N6 204-832-3982 — e-mail: [email protected] http://www.mts.net/~smythe AFFILIATED SOCIETIES AND ORGANIZATIONS AUSTRALIAN COLLECTORS INTERNATIONAL PIANO NORTHWEST PLAYER PIANO SOCIETY FOR SELF-PLAYING OF MECHANICAL MUSICAL ARCHIVES AT MARYLAND ASSOCIATION MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS INSTRUMENTS Performing Arts Library, Hornbake 3210 Everson Whittle, Secretary Gesellschaft für Selbstspielende 19 Waipori Street University of Maryland 11 Smiths Road, Darcy Lever, Musikinstrumente (GSM) E.V. St. Ives NSW 2075, Australia College Park, MD 20742 Bolton BL3 2PP, Gt. Manchester, England Ralf Smolne Home Phone: 01204 529939 Emmastr. 56 DUTCH PIANOLA ASSOC. MUSICAL BOX SOCIETY Business Phone: 01772 208003 D-45130 Essen, Germany Nederlandse Pianola Vereniging INTERNATIONAL Phone: **49-201-784927 Eikendreef 24 P. O. Box 297 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Fax:. **49-201-7266240 5342 HR Oss, Marietta, OH 45750 Division of Musical History Email: [email protected] Netherlands Washington, D.C. 20560 NETHERLANDS MECHANICAL INT. VINTAGE PHONO & MECH. ORGAN SOCIETY - KDV PLAYER PIANO GROUP MUSIC SOCIETY PIANOLA INSTITUTE A. T. Meijer Julian Dyer, Bulletin Editor Clair Cavanagh, Secretary C.G. Nijsen, Secretaire General Wilgenstraat 24 5 Richmond Rise, Workingham, 19 Mackaylaan 43 Great Percy St., London WC1X 9RA NL-4462 VS Goes, Netherlands Berkshire RG41 3XH, United Kingdom England 5631 NM Eindhoven Phone: 0118 977 1057 Netherlands Email: [email protected] 2 President’s Message

Bon Voyage to those of you lucky enough to attend the convention in Australia soon. I wish I could have joined you, but school districts just don’t seem to understand the importance of improving international rela- tionships through automatic music. Have a great time and take lots of pho- tos. As you probably have heard from now, Mike Hamann was not able to follow through with assuming the duties of AMICA Treasurer and we are very fortunate that Rob DeLand re-assumed some treasurer duties just as some important deadlines were approaching (the IRS non-profit organiza- tion verification, for example). I have contacted a number of individuals and chapter board representatives and now am asking the general member- ship for a volunteer or suggestions of a person with the time and ability to take on the job. We need to move quickly, as Rob resigned at the last con- vention due to personal and business commitments and those are still around. Rob has put the books in excellent order and it should be very straightforward for someone to take over. The records are on the “Quicken” computer program, so knowledge of that would be an asset. If you have questions about the job, please contact me or Rob. This needs to be resolved very soon or we will be forced to hire a private person to complete the needed tasks. Please think about it and let me know any thoughts you might have to help resolve this problem. On the good news front, the Pacific Can-Am Chapter has been doing a lot of investigative work and should have some news soon about the 2003 convention. Members have been working with Frank Nix and after the chapter’s next meeting, should have an announcement to make. Amicably,

Dan Brown

ing, if say you are having a musical program or a special tour, is a good way of not only making the public aware of AMICA, but also fulfilling part of our requirements for tax exempt sta- tus. Plus, isn’t it great to have some new faces attending too? Another concern by some who have written or called me is that sometimes there quite plainly is not enough information in the reports to make them interesting or even worthwhile read- ing. I know that writing these reports can be a real chore, but by including the names and dates of the instruments or details of its acquisition and restoration, coupled with good photos will make you look good as a reporter and make the readers happy too! Determining your advance meeting schedules and getting on the AMICA CALENDAR in the Bulletin is a good way of Hi and Happy New Year! letting members know what’s coming, too. With Membership Renewals in the works right now, I I certainly appreciate all of the work that the AMICA wanted to bring up the topic of CHAPTER REPORTS to every- reporters past and present have put into their reports and know one. A few people have mentioned that they really do not care what a lot of work it is. Let’s put a few more historic details in for the Chapter Report department of the Bulletin. Unfortunate- them. I know your hosts will be more than cooperative with ly, it is required of AMICA for our tax exempt status. What is you. It’s a win-win situation! also required is that the chapters should be doing something educational at their meetings too. Whether it is a tour of a Thanks! End of lecture . . . museum, a musical program or function, there are many things Robin that you can be doing. Inviting the public to your Chapter meet- 3 A Note From the AMICA AMICA Data Keeper Memorial Fund Donations Your 2001 dues notices were sent out in Please think of AMICA as a place to December 2000. If you did not receive a dues remember your friends and family with a dona- notice, this means that 1) your dues are paid for tion to the AMICA Memorial Fund. the year 2001, or 2) your address has changed. Send to: If you have questions about your member- ship, please leave a message at 707-570-2258, or Judith Chisnell [email protected], or mail 2150 Hastings Ct., 3945 Mission, Box 145 Santa Rose, CA 95405-8377. Rosebush, Michigan 48878-9718 517-433-2992 I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. [email protected] Bill Chapman AMICA Membership Secretary

CALENDAR OF EVENTS ANNUAL CONVENTIONS June 26-30, 2002 AMICA Convention, Springdale, Arkansas

CHAPTER MEETINGS

September 1-2, 2001 Pacific CAN-AM Chapter Band Organ Rally Convention Center, Ocean Shores, Washington Contact Norm or Sally Gibson 360-289-7960 [email protected]

Visit the AMICA Web page at: http://www.amica.org

4 Letters…

Whittaker’s Musical Museum Phone: 09-372-5573 2 Korora Road, Oneroa, Waiheke Island 2-11-00 Dear Robin, As AMICA members we appreciate the regular Bulletins we receive and the interesting articles and news they contain. We note a number of articles on the world famous pianist/composer - Paderewski - one in July/August 1993 and then in your lat- est issue. He was regarded as the “King” of piano in his day, traveling worldwide through Europe, America and Australasia. In 1904 he brought with him on his Australian and New Zealand concert tour, his 9 foot Bechstein Concert Grand (built in 1897). After performing in various cities around these two countries, he ended his tour in Auckland, (N.Z.) with performances from the 31st August to the 3rd September. Rather than ship his piano back to Europe, he sold it to a pianist in Auckland - a Mr. J.B. MacFarlane and it was owned by three successive generations - 96 years in all. Recently, we were able to purchase this very special Bechstein for our Museum. It has been totally restored, both inside and out - looks a picture! Now we perform on it six days a week during our “Live Show.” Our Museum is a live, entertaining Museum, containing well over one hundred instruments, which we have restored and can play to the public. It is situated on Waiheke island, near Auckland and we understand that about ninety AMICA Members will be visiting us in March next year after the Conference in Australia. We certainly look forward to meeting and entertaining you all. Thanking you. Yours sincerely, Lloyd (A.T.C.L. Pianoforte) and Joan Whittaker.

WICHITA THEATRE ORGAN, Inc. CD CORRECTION

Hi Robin, Just got the AMICA Bulletin today and we’re delighted with the reviews of the WTO CDs. Thanks so much for your support. There is an error in the ordering information. Our email address should be [email protected] (it’s given as [email protected]) If by chance, you have a “group” address for AMICA and you can send out a correction, we would appreciate it. Hopefully, if an ordering party can’t get a message to go, she/he will order by a different method. Thanks again - Karen Coup, Wichita Theatre Organ, Inc.

To AMICA and AMICA Board Members, Seasons Greetings In the new millennium, facilities like the Internet will hopefully allow us to carry on with our Society for another number of years, reducing the demands on time and expenses that were both- ering us in the past. Whilst respecting identities and different approaches of each national MM- association, we do not really see the need for another all-embracing world organization and trust we may all feel happy with the occasional exchange of information as need be. You may continue to ask for our intermediary when data, national reviews and addresses or historical matters from IVPMMS files are required.

From International Vintage Phonograph & Mechanical Music Society 19 Mackaylaan, 5631 NM Eindhoven, The Netherlands Phone 31-40-815-394

5 Letters continued…

Percy Grainger Cover-Reference From “The Voice of the Victor” magazine, June, 1916

Sent in by Bill Knorp

C.J. Ianell, manager of the talking machine department at Bloomingdale Brothers, Fifty-ninth Street and Third Avenue, recently arranged to have installed a set of new record racks which are equipped with rolling doors and which are as fireproof as human ingenuity can make them. The doors lock at night, and the racks provide maximum efficiency and convenience for the members of the sales staff. Mr. Ianell reports the closing of a very satisfactory February, with a phenomenal increase in record business. A night photograph of a window display which speaks for itself. LeRoy Webb & Co., Atlanta, Georgia, who recently moved into new quarters at 83 Peachtree Street, report an excellent business in The display of B.J. Shepherd Company, Savannah, the Victor line, which they have been carrying for some time. The Georgia, indicates very well the progressiveness of these exclusive business has increased to such an extent during the past year that Victor Dealers. They have a thoroughly modern talking machine larger quarters were necessary. The new location is occupied jointly department with soundproof booths and all the other equipments and with the Windmayer Music Company, dealers in sheet music refinements so necessary to the customer’s comfort. and supplies. Fred C. Windmayer, manager of this concern, was formerly connected with the Phillips & Crew Company. The Hennessy Company, of Butte, Montana, in announcing the Paintings valued at a hundred thousand dollars, belonging to the opening of their Victrola parlors, use some very interesting Busch Estate, were on exhibition for one week this spring at the newspaper advertising. Before their carload of Victrolas and records Waco Talking Machine Company’s store in Waco, Texas. It was a was unloaded they photographed the freight car, on the sides of great drawing card. which they had previously placed canvas banners and other signs. This photograph was reproduced and proved an unusually attractive Mr. Grainger is listening to his illustration for their opening advertisements. own compositions, “Shepherd’s Hey” and “The Irish Tune from George C. Baish, traveling representative for the W.F. Frederick County Derry” (Victor Record No. Piano Company, of Pittsburgh, and a number of Pennsylvania 17897) Dealers were at the factory recently. In the party were C.A. Bower representing the M.H. Housel Company, of Williamsport; Fred S. The Badger Talking Machine Sammel, Dealer at Bedford, PA; Harve Tibbet of the Tibbet Drug Company expects to have its Company, Ebensburg, PA; Edward E. Smith, of the Clearfield Badger Talking Machine Shop, the Talking Machine Shop; F.A. Myers, of the Rothert Company, retail branch of its business, located Altoona; and D.F. Whetstone, of Everett, PA. They visited the in its new building at 425 Grand factory in the morning from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and were then Avenue by May 1st. The company entertained at luncheon in the Victor Luncheon Club. This was has a fifteen-year lease for the followed by an automobile ride through Fairmount Park up the entire building - two floors and Wissahickon, out to Willow Grove, passing on the way back the An interesting basement - and the structure is famous Widener Estate near Elkins Park. Following the ride they photograph of Percy Grainger, being thoroughly remodeled. The were entertained at dinner by representatives of the Victor Company. taken by H.G. Fisher in his new store when completed will be Victor store at Fremont, Ohio. equipped with sixteen of the latest sound-proof booths provided with ceilings with varying heights to afford purchasers acoustic properties as near as possible to those that exist in their own homes. Daily concerts will be a feature in the new store and novel ideas have been planned for these afternoon and evening entertainments. R.H. Zinke, enterprising manager of the Badger Victrola Shop, has met with a steadily increasing business since he has been in charge.

A series of very cleverly worded and thought-out circular letters have been bringing in splendid results for J.H. Pendleton Sons Drug Company, Victor Dealers at Vernon, Texas.

6 Letters continued… Dear Editor, The September AMICA Bulletin Magazine arrived today, which reminds me that my earlier news flash about the Chopin prize is now in the past. Up-to-date information is attached. My own feeling is that recognition by the Frederic Chopin Society is a “feather in the cap” for AMICA, the PPG and related societies, without whose enthusiasm for the potential locked up in the rolls, I, for one, might well have fallen by the wayside! With best regards Gerald Stonehill

The Mirrie Tel . 01895-832009 Denham, Bucks. UB9 5DS, England Fax 01895-832009

November 2000 NEWS FLASH The Frederick Chopin Society of Warsaw, Poland, makes an award once every five years of the “Grand Prix du Disque”, to promote the finest recordings of the previous few years, but reserves the right to withhold awarding any prize, if the submis- sions are not up to the judges’ standards. This is an event which accompanies the International Frederick Chopin Piano Compe- titions. Great excitement preceded the decision announced on the 10th of October 2000 - at the Ostrogski Castle. Previous winners have included recordings of Vladimir Ashkenazy, Elizabeth Soderstrom, Claudio Arrau, Dinu Lipatti and, please note, Alfred Cortot (on CDH 761050 2). Awards are made in the category of Contemporary recordings (made since 01.01.1974) and of Historical recordings (re-editions from a previous period). The “millennium” winner in the category of Historical recordings was announced as the Nimbus disc of Alfred Cortot in their series of Grand Piano. This disc is NI-8814, available from leading record stores around the world or from Nimbus Records, Monmouth, Gwent NP5 3YZ, in Wales. The award is a triumph for Nimbus, not only for making superb transfers from the (Duo-Art) computer-type perforated- paper rolls of Cortot’s playing, but for Nimbus’s perspicacity and enthusiasm for the splendour locked up in such ancient and fragile recordings. Nimbus’ efforts included supervision by concert-pianist Martin Jones in England, and the erudite introductory booklets, accompanying the discs, written by Professor David Dubal, author of The Art of The Piano, of the Juilliard School in America. The NI-8814 disc includes the following Chopin pieces: Andante Spianato & Grande Polonaise in E flat major Op. 22 Impromptu in G flat major Op. 51 No.3 Nocturne in E flat major Op. 55 No.2 Etude in D flat major Op. 25 No.8 Etude in G flat major Op. 25 No.9 Etude in G flat major Op.10 No.5 Etude in A minor Op. 25 No.11 Etude in C minor Op. 25 No.12 Also on the CD are Cortot performances of Liszt, Beethoven, Saint- Saens, Chabrier and Skriabin. Transfers were made in the Nimbus Performing Arts Centre, using a brand-new German Steinway concert-grand piano. The rolls were played via the Stonehill-Iles vorsetzer, combining the Aeolian Company’s Duo- Art system, with refinements of the late Gordon Iles, inventor and chief theoretician of the Aeolian Company in London. Gordon also constructed (The Silloth) aircraft pilot trainers during World War 2, made almost entirely out of Duo-Art piano parts, later emulated in the USA by the Link Piano Company with their Link Trainers. The Grand Piano Series rolls were provided by Gerald Stonehill in England, who acts for Nimbus as Duo-Art technical consultant, from his own comprehensive collection.

7 8 BOOK REVIEWS

The Midnight Special A Thomas Purdue Mystery by Larry Karp By Peg Kehret Folks who love automatic musical instruments will appreciate the Thomas Pur- due mystery series by AMICA member, Larry Karp. Thomas is a neurologist, a clini- cal professor at New York’s Manhattan Medical School, but his real passion is antique mechanical music machines. A true collector, Thomas’s heart races at the chance to acquire any rare treasure. The first book in the series, The Music Box Murders, introduced a cast of eccen- tric characters such as Broadway Schwartz, the picker who alerts Thomas to old musical items that are for sale, and Frank the Crank, the manic-depressive owner of Wind Me Up, a shop specializing in the kind of merchandise AMICAns love. This unusual group works together to recover a missing music box and to expose a desper- ate killer. Next came Scamming the Birdman, a fast-paced caper where Thomas and his cohorts outwit an unscrupulous man who has stolen a collection of mechanical singing birds. This laugh-out-loud book adds Cleveland Gackle (an extraordinary lock-picker) and 73-year-old Edna Reynolds, known as the Doll Lady because she restores and creates automata, to Thomas’s unique circle of friends. Again, there are murders to solve and treasures to track with plenty of surprises along the way. The Midnight Special, published in March 2001, opens with Edna’s feelings of hopelessness when a stroke makes it impossible for her to continue to restore her beloved automata. Enter Marcus Wilcox, a slimy antiques dealer who tries to relieve Edna of her lifelong collection - for her own good, of course. Add to the mix a missing music box, some art forgery, a murder or two, and Jitters, a young thief with a rare neurological disorder - and Thomas Purdue faces another extraordinary challenge. Along with intrigue and a faithful depiction of the world of mechanical music collectors, Larry Karp offers insights into human nature. Several characters are Thomas’s patients, thus weaving unusual medical information into the intricate plots, and all three books explore the relationship between Thomas and his wife, Sarah, who can’t stand to live together but can’t bear to be apart. All of the Karp books are rich with witty language, and peppered with references to the music that we AMICAns enjoy on piano rolls. What other hero hums Gershwin, has a usical cuckoo clock that plays Strauss, and asks his wife to dance to a recording of A Cup of Coffee, a Sandwich, and You? The Thomas Purdue books are available at most book stores, from Amazon.com, or by mail from Write Way Publishing: 1-800-680-1493. Peg Kehret has published 37 books, most of them for young people, and has won many national awards. Her web site is www.pegkehret.com

Scamming The Birdman, by Larry Karp, published by Write Way Publishing, 2000, ISBN#885173-84-9 By Dan Brown This second mystery by Larry Karp of the adventures and misadventures of Dr. Thomas Purdue is sure to lure the reader into an addic- tion to the series begun with The Music Box Murders. Again, automatic music is a key element in the story and mechanical singing birds are a particular focus. All the great mystery elements are present: poison, theft, double-crosses, a villain everyone loves to hate and a hero who’s not above a bit of larceny and trickery for a good cause. Vincent LoPriore is The Birdman, the embodiment of all the worst aspects of the collector personality. He lives for the mechanical birds and will stop at nothing to get what he wants. The setting is New York again, so realistically portrayed that you’ll smell the delis and hear the taxi horns. The suspense and danger will keep you interested, but it’s the char- acters who will intrigue and hook you in the story. A cliché, but you really won’t be able to put it down. Larry Karp really has a winner with this story. You don’t have to be a collector, a doctor, or a New Yorker to appreciate all the nuances in this tale, but those with any knowledge in these fields will revel in special touches Larry has interwoven in the tight and intricate mystery. He’s a master of the surprise ending and I won’t spoil it for you. Just be surprised by it and look forward to the next book in the series, which is thankfully on the way. Copies can be bought directly from the publisher, Write Way, 1-800-680-1493; PO Box 441278, Aurora, CO 80044. It’s available at many bookstores - more likely to be in stock at mystery bookshops but can be ordered by any bookstore. And of course Amazon.com. List price $24.95. Check Larry’s website: http://www.larrykarp.com 9 LEOPOLD GODOWSKY Sent in by Robert M. Taylor From International Piano Quarterly Magazine

The man whom Rachmaninoff described achievements. In “Retrospect,” Godowsky tells us he was born as “the only musician of [his] age who has in “Sozly, a little town not far from Wilno [sic]’ on 13 February given a lasting, a real contribution to the 1870, the only child of Anna and Matthew Godowsky. “From development of piano music” has, following hearsay I know he was a highly respected physician in Sozly, years of critical neglect, finally emerged as a man of extensive learning and of great kindness.” Neither one of the most important pianist-composers parent was musical and, ironically, it was only the early death of the twentieth century. Jeremy Nicholas of his father in the cholera epidemic of 1871 that opened up the has the story. world of music to the young boy for, left almost destitute, Anna Godowsky moved to Vilna (or Vilnius), the then capital of GOING IT Lithuania, to live with her friends Louis and Minna Passinock. “Uncle Louis” was “an extremely good amateur violinist” who ALONE ran a second-hand piano shop and wished for nothing more than a wunderkind violinist as a son (the couple had no children of Ah yes! The Golden Age of Pianists their own). - Rachmaninoff, Lhevinne, Hofmann, Godowsky, Rosenthal! Always those “Aunt Minna” was a pianist of limited ability but, when five who have somehow come to be she was not involved in her duties as a midwife, introduced considered as the apogee of pianistic Leopold to the keyboard - in secret, for her husband forbade finesse and sophistication during the him to play the piano, so determined was he that the boy would half century between 1890 and 1940. Of become another Paganini. As a result, it is said that by the age these five, though, Godowsky was the of five Godowsky had become proficient enough not only to odd man out. He was, and remains, the accompany his uncle in home recitals but also to play the solo only world-class virtuoso to be part of Mendelssohn’s E minor Violin Concerto. In the same completely self-taught - self-taught, that year he composed his first piece of music “The middle section is, in the sense that his musical was a perfect canon,” he wrote in The Etude (January 1928). education involved no lengthy course at This is noteworthy because up to that time I had never heard a Leopold Godowsky on a conservatoire, no systematic regime of canon. I used this in another composition 23 years later.” Riverside Drive, New study, no important teacher. It was York, Passinock emerges in “Retrospect” as a charming rogue at (9 August 1931) undoubtedly the happenstance of his pains to exploit his adopted son’s precocious talent for all it was early life that created such an worth. Godowsky made his public debut at the age of nine, independent mind unencumbered by academic preconceptions after which a series of knights in armour appear on the scene that led him to examine the potential of the piano in the way bent on rescuing the youngster from Passinock’s clutches. A that he did and which led Rachmaninoff to state that: lawyer from Grodno organized a full scholarship at the “Godowsky is the only musician of this age who has given a Petrograd Conservatory with Anton Rubinstein. Passinock lasting, a real contribution to the development of piano music.” turned it down. Next a banker from Konigsberg, Feinberg by Alone again among this quintet of legendary name, equally smitten by Godowsky’s abilities, became his names, Godowsky’s recordings are, with few exceptions, patron and arranged an audition with Joseph Joachim at the disappointingly lacklustre and earth-bound, outshone Berlin High School for Music. His acceptance led to the only technically, musically and sonically by the others. Yet - another period of systematic musical instruction Godowsky ever of the many contradictions surrounding him - no one was held received. “I have not,” he averred in The Musical Leader of in more reverence by his peers. “All acknowledge his masterful 1919, “had three months lessons in my life.” It is often repeat- art, authority and uniqueness,” wrote his friend and pupil, the ed in articles that he was a pupil of Ernst Rudorff in Berlin and, critic Leonard Liebling. Harold Bauer confessed simply, later, of Saint-Saens. This, Godowsky insisted, was an error “There is no doubt that he is the master of us all.” Godowsky’s and though he remained grateful for their friendly interest, “the music leaves a clear indication of the kind of pianist he must relationship was not that of pupil and teacher” (The Etude, have been in his prime. Harold C. Schonberg in his “The Great January 1928). The lessons in Berlin were not to his taste (“his Pianists” described it as being “of such complexity, burdened brilliant natural endowment enabled him to be always ahead of with such elaboration of detail, crossed with so many inner his teachers,” recalled an unnamed classmate). After twelve voices, that none but he could play it” (an exaggeration, but weeks, using the money remaining from Feinberg’s gift, with only a slight one - substitute “few” for “none” and you have it). his mother and Uncle Louis (Minna having died in the From this, Schonberg judged that “in independence of hands, meantime), Leopold Godowsky set sail for America. equality of finger, ability to juggle polyphonic strands, and Having arrived there in November 1884, he made his debut general pianistic finish, Godowsky may have been unique in on 7 December in Boston as a member of the Clara Louise keyboard history”. Kellogg Company. In New York, he found a third fairy Godowsky’s early years are shrouded in mystery which godfather. His name was Leon Sachse (1829-91), who had even his single chapter of autobiography, entitled “Retrospect,” owned a number of “cigar emporiums” on Wall Street and does little to dispel, prompting as many questions as those Broadway. He was to have a lasting effect on Godowsky’s life it answers. It is an extraordinary tale of aleatoric events, a and appears to have welcomed the teenager into his family like singular journey for any future international virtuoso, and is a long lost son. He already had five children, one of whom was worth rehearsing at length in the light of his subsequent his daughter Frederica (known as “Frieda”), born in the same year as Leopold. Sachse arranged to accompany Godowsky 10 back to Europe in order that he could study with Franz never assembled to hear a pianist play. The triumph of that Liszt at Weimar. The two set sail for France in July 1886. occasion was certainly one of the most remarkable in pianistic Extraordinarily, Leon Sachse then spent most of the next four annals, for overnight, Godowsky was acclaimed as one of the years with Godowsky in Europe (Mrs. Sachse was eventually greatest living pianists and became among the most sought- sent for, though leaving her children behind!). From 1886, both after of all instrumentalists. For the next three decades he Godowsky’s mother and Louis Passinock fade from his life. remained at the top of his profession. Passinock’s fate is unknown and all we know of Anna His two daughters and Leopold Junior were joined in 1906 Godowsky is that she remarried, lived in Brooklyn and died by Gutram (later anglicized to Gordon) and his home, whether shortly before the First World War (she and her son seem to in Berlin, Vienna or New York, became celebrated as a focal have retained only nominal contact.) point for all visiting artists. Few musicians have gathered such As Sachse and Godowsky arrived in France they read the a glittering galaxy of creative minds to their circle. news of Liszt’s death. No problem. Sachse effected an Godowsky’s original compositions from this time include the introduction to Saint-Saens. The composer, then at the height Sonata in E minor (1911) and the 24 Walzermasken (1912). of his powers, became so fond of the young prodigy that “he What caused more of a stir were his continuing series of wished to adopt me, but with the proviso that I take his own reworkings of the Chopin Etudes, his clever suite Renaissance name; but this I refused to do, and it made him very angry.” (16 re-harmonized works of old masters like Rameau and Godowsky made his home in the French capital from the age of Lully) and there three imposingly-titled Symphonic Metamor- 16 until he was almost 21. phoses on Themes from Johann Strauss II’s Kunstlerleben, Die In 1891, Leon Sachse died and this, as much as the lack of Fledermaus and Wein, Weib und Gesang, among the best- recognition he had gained, determined Godowsky to return to known and most frequently recorded of Godowsky’s music - America to try his luck there once more. He arrived back in “Johann Strauss waltzing with Johann Bach,” as they have been October. Six months later, he gave a recital in Carnegie Hall, characterized, and “probably the last word in terpsichorean one of the first pianists to play there - on 24 April, two weeks counterpoint.” before the hall officially opened. On 30 April he married his In 1909, Godowsky was invited to become the director of childhood sweetheart Frieda Sachse (now Americanized to the Piano School of the Imperial Academy of Music in Vienna. Saxe) and the following day became an American citizen. It was unprecedented for a Jew to hold this prestigious post, and Concert dates were hard to come by, though, and he resorted to Godowsky negotiated extremely good terms, a contract that teaching, a calling which was to become a lifetime’s concern. made him the highest paid artist-teacher in Europe at that time. At the age of only twenty-three, Godowsky was chosen in Among those who attended his master classes were Jan preference to Edward MacDowell to head the piano department Smeterlin, Issay Dobrowen and Heinrich Neuhaus (the future at the Chicago Conservatory, a post he held for seven years. It teacher of Radu Lupu, Sviatoslav Richter and Emil Gilels). was during the 1890s that Godowsky began to make Karol Szymanowski and Artur Rubinstein were among the arrangements of other composers’ music, not keyboard many young artists whom he befriended and helped in transcriptions of orchestral works but of extant piano music, establishing. While engaged in his demanding roles of teacher, arrangements that manifested a fascination with keyboard composer and father of four, Godowsky managed to tour polyphony, one that dominated his creative life. A set of 53 widely. From November 1912 to April 1913 he was in America pieces in this style, reworkings of 26 of the 27 Chopin Etudes, (playing under Stokowski, among others) where he also made was produced between 1893 and 1914 and formed the basis of his first gramophone recordings (for Columbia). In July 1914, his reputation as an important composer for the piano. Indeed, Godowsky took a villa at Middelkerke (on the Belgium coast) apart from a few early songs, and a handful of arrangements for for the summer, taking his Vienna class with him as usual. On violin or cello and piano (based on his works), Godowsky wrote the day Great Britain declared war (August 4), the Godowsky for no other medium than the piano. family managed by sheer good luck to scramble on to the last By the end of the 1890s, Godowsky had played all over boat sailing from Ostende to England, in the face of the America and Canada winning him solid, if unspectacular, advancing Germans. attention. He decided to take a year’s sabbatical from the He arrived in London with only the possessions he had Conservatoire in an attempt to establish his reputation in taken with him on vacation. After a brief stay in England, Europe once more. He sailed for France on 4 July 1900 Godowsky and his family set sail for the United States and, together with Frieda, his although it was not long before his finances were restored, daughters Vanita (born substituted his elegant home in Vienna for the Plaza Hotel in 1894) and Dagmar (born New York. He was now 44. Godowsky was a small man - only 1898), and infant son five feet three - with a high-domed forehead, a round, cherubic Leopold Junior (born face, twinkling eyes and features that aged into Buddha-like 1900). placidity. From his thirties he acquired a figure that made him, On 6 December 1900, while never less than sartorially elegant, compactly plump and Godowsky made his debut the owner of that most important of pianistic attributes, a large at the Beethoven-Saal in and wide seat. What sort of man was he? Abram Chasins, the Berlin. His reputation had pianist and composer, left a most vivid portrait of life chez preceded him and it was Godowsky in his book, Speaking of Pianists. “Once anyone said that a more critical entered Godowsky’s door,” wrote Chasins, “he became a audience had probably disciple . . . Everyone and anyone was welcome . . . Popsy [Godowsky’s nickname] loved people and loved to be Left to Right Leopold surrounded by them . . . Everyone was treated with equal Godowsky with Leon Saxe (Sachse) and Charles Saxe informality and graciousness. Popsy’s old-world courtesy and (before 1891) sparkling humour pervaded every word and action as he waddled between the living room and adjacent dining room Photo Stephen O. Saxe 11 filling plates and glasses, emptying ashtrays, scattering remarks For much of the 1920s life was one of constant travelling and vicious jibes.” He was renowned for his caustic wit. Who and touring, giving concerts all over the world. In February has not heard the story of Heifetz’s American debut when, 1923, for instance, we find him in China. From there he during the interval, violinist Mischa Elman remarked to proceeded to Java. This visit resulted in one of his most Godowsky “Phew! It’s hot in there!”? “Not for pianists,” came original creations, the Java Suite, in which he attempted to the quick retort. And yet Artur Rubinstein, while in awe of his transfer to the keyboard the sonority of the gamelan. It was technique (“It would take me five hundred years to get that kind also during this tour that he began transcribing three solo Violin of mechanism”), thought Godowsky “an unhappy, compulsive Sonatas and three solo Cello Suites of Bach - 37 separate man, miserable away from the keyboard.” Dagmar Godowsky movements in all. Kaikhosru Sorabji felt that the peaks of described her father as “terrifyingly wonderful and dazzlingly Godowsky’s attainment were reached in these six transcrip- celebrated. He knew everything and everybody . . But it was tions. His last major work, Passacaglia, was composed as a never easy to be close to him. I might be on his lap, but tribute on the centenary of Schubert’s death. It is a large-scale Leopold Godowsky was far away in another world.” conception based on the opening eight bars of the “Unfinished” Symphony, comprising 44 variations, cadenza and fugue. The same contradictions apply to him as a pianist. Chasins maintained that the public never heard Godowsky at his best. Then, in October 1929, came the first of a series of What he presented on the platform was, “never less than the disasters. The Wall Street Crash left Godowsky in a financial precise scholar and technical magician. But the dramatist and position from which he never recovered. The following year, colorist remained at home.” This was probably not the case having celebrated both his 60th birthday and 39th wedding early in his career but, certainly from his forties on, “no public anniversary, he flew to London to record all Chopin’s Etudes performance, no recording I heard matched the freedom and and the four Scherzi. On 17 June, just after completing the E beauty of Godowsky’s playing in an intimate atmosphere, in the major Scherzo, Godowsky suffered a paralytic stroke. His right presence of admiring friends and colleagues.” Josef Hofmann hand and motor-reflex system were irrevocably impaired. He echoed this view when he told Chasins after an evening at never played the piano in public again. Godowsky’s: “Never forget what you heard tonight. Never In December 1932, Gordon Godowsky committed suicide lose the memory of that sound. There’s nothing like it in the by gassing himself. Frieda Godowsky’s frail health world. It is tragic that the public has never heard Popsy as only disintegrated and barely a year later, she succumbed to a heart he can play.” attack. Following Frieda’s death, Godowsky moved to a New In late 1916, Godowsky moved from New York to Los York apartment with Dagmar but, though he played the piano Angeles. His daughter Vanita, married the pianist David constantly (and whenever friends and admirers called, more Saperton, future teacher of Abbey Simon, Jorge Bolet and often than not they would be treated to an impromptu recital), Shura Cherkassky and who later, despite his father-in-law’s in reality, the life he had enjoyed so much and to which he opinion (“he plays like a butcher”) made the first substantial contributed with such vitality, was over. For much of 1937 he recordings of Godowsky’s music. Dagmar meanwhile pursued was confined to bed with heart trouble and gout. He died aged a career in films and had some success as a vamp of the silent 68 of stomach cancer on 21 November 1938. Tributes came screen. By 1926 she had been twice married and divorced. from all over the world but it was in a bitter letter to Dagmar, Leopold Junior developed an interest in photography, a hobby written over five years before his death, that Godowsky penned that would lead - with his friend Leopold Mannes - to the his own epitaph. “I worked honestly with the highest ideals for invention of the colour photography process that became my chosen art and beloved instrument . . . A few know the Kodachrome. In 1935 the Eastman Kodak Company acquired importance of my having lived. When I am but a memory my the production rights from the two for several million dollars. works and my influence will begin to live.” Along the way, in 1930, Leopold II married Frances Gershwin, It is only now, more than 60 years after Leopold younger sister of George and Ira. Gordon Godowsky, however, Godowsky’s death, that his prophecy is coming true. With the at the age of 25, abandoned his English literature studies at Har- advocacy of pianists like Jorge Bolet, Marc-Andre Hamelin, vard to marry a vaudeville dancer. Godowsky was furious and Carlo Grante, Konstantin Scherbakov, Francesco Libetta and disowned him. others (a far greater number than in Godowsky’s own lifetime) have we been able to appreciate and reevaluate his legacy to the piano.

“DO NOT JUDGE ME BY MY RECORDS” Godowsky’s famous plea, coupled with his enthusiastic endorsement of the piano-roll system, has understandably led many to assume that the direct-to-disc recording process misrepresented and even distorted his artistic vision. Yet, as Charles Hopkins explains, the situation is by no means as simple as it may at first appear. “All of my piano records were made at a time when recording was very primitive. The left hand had to be louder than the right hand; the pedal had to be used sparingly and not at all when the hands were close to each other. The fear of First Row, right to left: Leopold Godowsky, Charlie Chaplin, Frieda doing a trifling thing wrong augmented while playing. . . It was Saxe Godowsky, a friend; Top Row, right to left, L.E. Behymer, a dreadful ordeal, increasingly so the more sensitive the artist. another friend, and Miss Behymer How can one think of music or emotions! Do not judge me by Photo Musical Leader my records!” Written in February 1938, less than a year before 12 his death, to the Australian enthusiast Paul Howard (founder of colleagues, who believed that the extreme refinement and an International Godowsky Society dedicated to the promotion scrupulous attention to detail in his playing were virtually of a wider appreciation and understanding of Godowsky’s impossible to project across the wider distances of a large contribution to the advancement of piano playing and auditorium, he admitted that the pressures of constant repertoire), Godowsky’s reference to the “nerve-killing repetition, even in the concert hall, were apt to lead to an tortures” he had endured in the recording studio reinforce the unavoidable impression of disengaged ennui in performance. impression of a great artist totally inhibited by a process with Indeed, he was to observe that, in effect, interpretative whose perceived demands he felt compelled to comply. spontaneity might be seen to diminish in direct proportion with Although in poor health at the time he wrote these words - he the number of occasions on which its simulation was required, actually attributed his collapse in 1930 to the strain of recording the artist often finding himself “at 3 o’clock one afternoon upon - there is no denying the deep and long-standing reservations he a concert platform, confronted with an audience and the need to held not only about his own recordings but about the medium as rehash and rechew - just as a cow does - a program of works a whole. Even when the necessary technical adjustments that he has given over and over again.” Even before the stroke required to address the shortcomings of the process had been that was to bring his public career to an abrupt end, he had successfully addressed, for Godowsky the fear of making the written to his assistant, Maurice Aronson, about the absurdity of slightest error became greater still. public performance and the sense of shame he felt for his Nevertheless, on the evidence of several of Godowsky’s collusion in its perpetuation. Later, he was to write even more later recordings in particular, the position is far less open and bitterly of exhausting his energies “on unworthy listeners, on shut than his disclaimers would appear to indicate. Indeed, deaf ears, on callous minds” and of spending his vitality “in despite the exhaustion and tribulations of the sessions casting pearls to s[wine].” themselves, there is some reason to believe that he was A further dilemma in contextualizing Godowsky’s recorded beginning to resign himself to the rigors of the process (and not legacy in relation to the surviving artistry of many of his simply for the necessary, if temporary, financial security it contemporaries, as well as in reconciling the documentary afforded at the time) and to play with greater freedom in the accounts of his playing with the evidence of his recordings, is studio, as, for example, in his readings of the Grieg Ballade and posed by the comparative objectivity of his approach. The clear the Chopin E-Major Scherzo. In these performances there is distinction he drew between private and public performance, also a suggestion of the colour and fire that his colleagues indeed, suggests a modernity of outlook, which places him would marvel at when he was playing in private for a ahead of his time. In private, to colleagues and other knowledgeable and informed audience. cognoscenti, he would allow himself the latitude to display the type of contrapuntal dexterity and almost mischievous This said, however, Godowsky could hardly be described polyphonic espieglerie that were the envy of his fellow artists, as ever having been truly at home in the recording studio. The yet without the kind of exaggerated distortion that was apt to inevitable compromises imposed by a medium that was still in disfigure the playing of any attempting to imitate him. In many respects highly experimental, and that by its very nature public, however, by contrast, the dramatic tension with which preserved any passing imperfections for posterity, were he invested his playing privately would invariably tend to be irreconcilable with the artistic credo of a perfectionist such as replaced with an objective reserve that in its relative austerity Godowsky. Of course, there were artists such as Cortot and took on an aspect, however authoritative, of restrained Schnabel, who remained comparatively unconcerned by the didacticism, elegantly proportioned and immortalizing of their finger-slips, so long as the musical idea perfectly controlled, yet ultimately was captured, as it were, on the wing. (Some blame for the lacking the inner fire and momentum to reservations of many artists of the time may also be laid at the sustain the imagination of the listener. door of the reproducing equipment, which was on the whole Even in the early years of Godowsky’s scarcely more sophisticated than many of the purely mechanical career, when he might have been aspects of the recording itself. Expert remastering using expected to have indulged in a certain modern technology has, indeed, revealed many subtleties that amount of playing to the gallery in pur- have previously passed largely unnoticed beneath a seemingly suit of the goal of establishing a solid impenetrable layer of surface noise). Moreover, the constant reputation as a virtuoso, his approach repetition of separate sections of a work, thus fragmenting its was more likely to call to mind a chess structure and depriving the performer of any real feeling of player solving a problem rather than a continuity, let alone organic growth, would further cramp the latter-day Promethean stealing fire style of any artist, particularly one such as Godowsky, whose from the gods. Public performance whole performance ethos was based on meticulous effects of was, in essence, an almost priestly cer- voicing and the subtlest of tonal nuances, as well as a carefully emony so far as Godowsky was con- calculated, expository pacing of structural content. Godowsky cerned, one in which the composer’s was, of course, far from alone in his discomfiture in the word was the ultimate authority, not the recording studio. Rachmaninoff, a similar perfectionist, was potentially distorting commentary and apt to become extremely nervous under studio conditions and insights of the individual performer. felt unable to concentrate fully and give of himself in the face He had little time, for instance, for the of the constant technical interruptions and the lack of audience attention-seeking idiosyncrasies of stimulus. He also recorded side after side before reluctantly Pachmann on one hand, nor for the passing a particular version, insisting on the immediate thunderous pyrotechnics of Rosenthal destruction of those he considered “failures”. on the other. There were, of course, In addition, although Godowsky himself persistently many aspects of their playing he did maintained that his finest work was to be heard before an admire - he dedicated pieces to each audience, something disputed by the majority of his admiring of them and himself performed Godowsky’s hands Rosenthal’s Papillons and Study in Photo APR 13 double notes on the Minute Waltz of Chopin - but he was totally could then play either part, using Godowsky’s complete out of sympathy with what he saw as their inclination to exploit performance as a template, with the benefit of the master music as a vehicle for theatrical sensationalism. “beside” him, improving, in the words of the sales pitch, “under When it came to recording, his approach was scarcely less the eyes, as it were, of Godowsky himself.” Sadly, this project, rigorous, while the frustrations caused by the inherent like many others, never came to fruition and the rolls, like the inadequacies of the system at the time, as well as the distasteful majority of those already mentioned, were not issued, although compromises forced upon him in the studio, not least the it remains a possibility that uncorrected master copies may still constant cuts, even in shorter pieces, necessary to accommodate survive. If this were to be the case, then recent developments the restrictions of side length (three minutes, or thereabouts, in in the recreation of roll performances, such as those of the case of a 10-inch side, four to four and one half for a Rachmaninoff, should be applied to the extensive repertoire 12-inch) all added to the pressures and ultimate dissatisfaction recorded by Godowsky for the medium, so that we may have at he felt with the process. Ironically, when taking into account least some impression of him in a representative amount of his his comments about the emotionally emasculating effects of own original music, as well as in the larger transcriptions on attempting to make music under studio conditions. Godowsky which much of his fame (or notoriety!) rested for so long. devoted a good deal of time and energy to cutting piano rolls, (Hardly less notorious in this context is Busoni’s famously evidently favoring the process over the gramophone, and barbed bon mot that Godowsky could play faster than a piano continued to do so until late into the 1920’s. By this time, the roll, but that the roll played with more feeling!). medium had begun to be superseded by disc recording, despite In addition to the Angelus material, he recorded some of the limitations and problems caused by reproducing piano his Chopin Etude paraphrases, including the combination study, sound on record. His clear preference is borne out by the fact Badinage, as well as a number of pieces from the Renaissance that he made more than twice as many piano rolls as he did collection, for the Hupfeld system. Here again, notwithstanding gramophone recordings. Not only did he lend his name to the limitations of this system (alongside the Ampico in fulsome endorsements of the more particular), there is enough significant material of interest to sophisticated and technically prompt a search for and restoration of these valuable advanced systems, such as Ampico performance documents. This is especially true where, as in the and Angelus, but also permitted case of his Angelus roll of the Rachmaninoff Polka de W.R., himself to take part in promotional dedicated to Godowsky (like the Blumenfeld Left-Hand Etude, exhibitions designed to demonstrate of which he also made a roll), there is significant textual the fidelity of the reproducing roll, embellishment in the cadenza section - the late Gilles Hamelin appearing on stage playing along- managed to locate a copy of the roll and notate the alterations. side his own rolls of the same reper- The reproducing piano is, however, an artificial medium, toire. He was not, of course, alone insofar as it is dependent entirely upon the serviceability of the in doing this - Moiseiwitsch, player mechanism. In effect, despite recent advances in the Rubinstein and Levitzki were not field, the difficulty of determining much more than the averse to participating in this type mechanical efficiency of an artist from a roll is still not unlike of publicity exercise - but his trying to distinguish the subtle chiaroscuro effects of an preparedness to go along with these Impressionist canvas from a monochrome photograph or, at charades does give some indication best, through the flickering light of a home movie projector. of the extent of his belief in the roll Nevertheless, in Godowsky’s case the essential paradox Leopold Godowsky (right) process as a whole. remains that at times his earlier disc recordings in particular can with Josef Hofmann It is all the more sad, then, that, as appear strangely colorless and even perfunctory in comparison Photo APR with the misplaced trust he put in with his rolls of the same material. various business advisors on a number of occasions, he backed Even so, in his very first recording, made for American the wrong horse, as it were, in choosing the reproducing roll as Columbia (Victor would have been his preference, but the more faithful means of preserving his art. This is especially contractual arrangements proved less favorable) on 10 April true in the case of his own music and his connection with the 1913, despite the sonic deficiencies, there is enough in the Conway-Angelus Company in Meriden, Connecticut, an Mendelssohn “Spinning Song” to suggest the urbane refine- association which began in March 1919 and lasted until ment of Godowsky’s rhythmic accentuations. Admittedly these October 1928, thus overlapping with an “exclusive” are less immediately identifiable than those in Rachmaninoff’s arrangement with the American Piano Company, proprietors of reading, but they are sufficiently defined to give the the Ampico system. The mouthwatering selection Godowsky performance character, as does the suitably embellished ending recorded for Angelus, in addition to such substantial offerings - he also opts for a more understated final cadence than as the Beethoven “Pathetique” and “Waldstein” Sonatas, Rachmaninoff’s deliciously mannered “moment of inertia” as Schumann’s Etudes symphoniques and the Liszt B minor the connecting rod on the wheel reaches the apex of its path. Sonata, included his own complete Triakontameron [Thirty Also, the meticulous distinction he draws between different Moods and Scenes in Triple Measure], eight of his Schubert types of ornamentation in Liszt’s Gnomenreigen nevertheless song transcriptions, five pieces from the Java Suite, along with steers clear of schoolroom pedantry and, if the elfin diablerie his transcription of the Bach C minor Cello Suite and the of, say, Petri’s version, which is also rather quicker, is to some Fledermaus and Kunstlerleben paraphrases. extent lacking, compensation is to be found in the lightness He was also convinced of the educational possibilities the and poise of Godowsky’s performance. Likewise, in the reproducing piano had to offer and recorded a sizeable Chopin C-sharp minor Waltz, Op. 64 No.2, his tracing of an proportion of his Miniatures for four hands in this context. independent line by prolonging the last right hand eighth-beat Each roll comprised a version of the whole piece played by of each measure in the piu mosso sections, continuing the voice Godowsky, followed by the secondo (teacher) part alone and to a conclusion in the upper line of the accompanying chords in then the primo (pupil) part alone. The idea was that the pupil the left hand, would appear to indicate that, whatever his

14 reservations, he was not merely sleep-walking through the dans l’eau (also dating from August 1925), or Sinding’s sessions, no matter how many times he had used this particular Fruhlingsrauschen, to gain some impression of the greatness of device in the past. This idea is also in evidence in his 1928 Godowsky’s artistry, demonstrating in the case of the Sinding Brunswick remake of the piece, as it is in Rachmaninoff’s 1927 how material that is intrinsically not especially distinguished version. Whether or not Godowsky was the first to explore this can be elevated to an altogether higher level in the hands of a possibility, several of his successors were to take it on board, master. Equally, his 1921 recording of the Chopin A-Flat including Novaes and Cziffra, both noted for the intuitive Impromptu provides a good example of Godowsky’s capacity extemporaneity of their differing approaches. Of the early for unexaggerated eloquence in the unusually broad tempo he Columbias, one of the more satisfying is his account of the adopts in the middle section, while the fluency of the outer Chopin A-flat Waltz, Op. 42, which, while not as briskly passages is never allowed to seem merely glib and repetitious. despatched as Rachmaninoff’s 1919 Edison account, nor as Another particularly impressive reading, despite the now breathtakingly fleet-fingered as Hofmann’s 1935 RCA version, familiar surgery on its vital proportions, is his account of the nevertheless, has some individuality, not least in the harmonic Tarantella from Liszt’s Venezia e Napoli, worthy to stand beside filling-out of the secondary theme and the two-handed Hofmann’s similarly cut November 1916 Columbia version. It amplification of the final arpeggio flourish. is a performance of astonishing clarity and precision, brimming Although the limitations of side-length in the earlier with unexaggerated virtuosity, his articulation of the rapid recordings effectively determined the nature of the pieces repetitions, in particular, casting aside any lingering doubts chosen, most of the selections at this time being confined to as to the accuracy of contemporary reports of his superhuman “encore” material, the remarkable breadth of Godowsky’s facility. The same might be said with reference to any of personal repertoire is reflected in the inclusion of comparative the January 1924 takes of La leggierezza, which, while narrow- rarities such as Henselt’s Wiegenlied and La Gondole, the ly falling short of complete perfection (whatever that might Rubinstein and Moszkowski Serenades, Schutt’s Etude be!), is worthy to stand beside Paderewski’s July 1912 perfor- mignonne, Poldini’s Wienerisch, and other delightful “trifles” of mance as one of the treasures of the early recording the same kind - he also made rolls of many of the same pieces. process. Godowsky’s double-note technique, in particular - his (The pianist Douglas Miller later recalled how, for many of his characteristically practical and inventive fingerings for provincial dates, Godowsky would have a repertoire booklet chromatic thirds clearly repay study - can be heard here at its sent to the concert promoters so that they could select a pro- most commanding, even in direct comparison with his Ampico gramme for him to play, a booklet that listed all the major com- roll performance. positions of Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and a great deal else Numerous other examples of this side of Godowsky’s art besides!). In all of these he appears more relaxed than in the could be cited, such as the apt wizardry of his performance of more standard warhorses, such as a cut version of the Chopin Macdowell’s Hexentanz or the nonchalance of his buoyant A-flat Polonaise and the Paganini-Liszt La Campanella, giving account of the Schubert-Tausig Marche militaire, particularly accounts of enormous delicacy and charm, as well as providing the September 1926 version that was to be his last recording for a hint of the refinement and unobtrusive stylishness of his play- the company. Even in the Mendelssohn Andante and Rondo ing at the time, even through the dimness of the recorded sound Capriccioso, despite being squeezed on to a single side, there is and noisy surfaces. hardly any sense of indecent haste in the playing, the Godowsky, however, remained less than wholly convinced introduction a model of restrained lyricism. Similarly, his by the recording process and, although he continued to cut December 1923 version of the Chopin-Liszt Meine Freuden piano rolls, recorded very little in the years immediately displays the same type of poetic nostalgia that characterizes following his first session in April 1913, apart from a controlled Rosenthal’s various performances, while maintaining an burst of activity in the first half of 1916. In May 1920, he arguably stronger link with the piece’s vocal origins - the purely began an association with the Brunswick-Balke-Collander decorative aspects of the writing are also of remarkable Company that was to last until September 1926, during which delicacy. Probably the finest of them all, however, are the two time no fewer than twenty-three discs of Godowsky were Schubert songs, Morgengruss and Gute Nacht, in Godowsky’s published, eleven of the titles being repeated with the advent of own free transcriptions, in which he unostentatiously displays electrical recording. Although the sound quality represents an his consummate mastery of the recreative aspects of both improvement on his first recordings, this series, nevertheless, transcribing and performing. His effortless command of still raises a number of perplexing issues, not least why such an polyphonic textures and layered dynamics is nothing short of intensely self-critical artist of such rigorous standards should breathtaking, while the tonal beauty he draws from an other- have passed for issue a performance, such as that of the heavily wise ordinary sounding instrument never sounded, in Edward cut A-flat Ballade from 1922, whose coda emerges as little Blickstein’s words, “more incorporeal, ethereal, ineffable, and more than a chaotic dash for the line, which places an not of this world.” unexpected, if momentary, fallibility firmly in the public Harold Schonberg once described Godowsky’s Columbia domain. Similar reservations remain, though on artistic rather and Brunswick recordings as demonstrating “a calm, pluperfect than technical grounds, with regard to the 1924 recording of the kind of playing, a little lacking in tension,” and there is, B-flat minor Scherzo, which is subjected to such savage cuts as admittedly, in some instances an element of desinvolture about to disfigure the piece almost to the point of travesty - although the playing, not in technical terms but in respect of a deeper there is little suggestion that Godowsky’s fingers are ever emotional involvement with the music, although, as has already overstretched by the task of fitting what remains of the music been noted, some of the selections do not necessarily demand on to the single 12-inch matrix. more than the superficial charm with which Godowsky imbues them. For a combination of physical and interpretative For the treasures of his time with Brunswick we must turn, authority, as well as a sense of total commitment in once again, to his performances of shorter pieces, such performance, one must turn to his altogether transcendental as Dohnanyi’s F-minor Capriccio from 1922, the 1925 version reading of the Grieg Ballade, a work he had championed even of the Chopin Fantaisie-Impromptu, Debussy’s Reflets before his triumphant return to the European stage at the turn of

15 the twentieth century and on which he had received the yet never overemphatic, expressive quality in the playing composer’s advice and enthusiastic endorsement. From the and a genuine poignancy in his response to “L’absence.” In controlled voicing of the opening theme to the meticulously Schumann’s Carnaval and the Chopin B-flat minor Sonata weighted textures of each successive variation, there is an comparison with Rachmaninoff, as well as Cortot, is, perhaps, organic unity about the performance that confounds the inevitable. Godowsky’s rendering of Carnaval does not take as inherently fragmentary nature of the form. Even the complete its point de depart the insistent reiterations of the motto theme freedom of his handling of the stretto recitative passages never in all its permutations, nor the polarized characterizations in the compromises the cohesiveness of the whole. Schonberg sums it apostrophized depictions of the composer’s own multi-faceted up most succinctly as “an example of pellucid, sensitive, psyche. Yet the performance is not lacking in vigor, despite its perfectly integrated piano playing.” In short, this is a greater concentration on the pianistic proportions of the work performance that by its commanding integrity transfigures an rather than subtextual psychological considerations. Likewise, already accomplished work to such an extent that it assumes the the Chopin Sonata, in which Godowsky, like Hofmann, air of a great one. observes the first movement repeat, is arguably less imposingly Recorded in May 1929, the Grieg Ballade represents the magisterial than Rachmaninoff, less programmatically high point of his last affiliation with a recording company, suggestive of the model of Anton Rubinstein - Rubinstein had English Columbia, that had begun the previous year with a shown great interest in Godowsky as a prodigy - less obviously group of twelve of the Chopin Nocturnes, each one issued with concerned with the architectonic unity of the whole work, like a spoken introduction by the critic, Ernest Newman. One can Cortot, than the structural cohesion of the individual point to various performances by Godowsky’s contemporaries movements. Nevertheless, there are numerous imaginative that in one way or another reveal more vividly the complexities touches, not least in the bass amplifications of the “Marche of the composer’s psyche and how these complexities are funebre” itself, as well as in the suggestions of melodic reflected in his creative output. Cortot, for example, in the contours in the whirling figuration of the last movement - in the C-sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1 achieves an independence of line Trio of the march he also rearranges the accompanying figure at and voice that Godowsky chooses to underplay, while in the one point, perhaps to avoid the sensation of consecutive F-sharp, Op. 15 No. 2, the playing is improvisatory in style and octaves! rhapsodic in tone, whereas Godowsky is more restrained, more Of all Godowsky’s commercial recordings, however, it is self-contained - Cortot’s great contemporary, Edouard Risler, his last, ironically yet fittingly, which encapsulates the essential left a recording of the piece that combines a similar emotional truth of the documentary evidence of his playing, from reserve with pianism of high sophistication. Likewise, in the knowledgeable critics to admiring colleagues. The F major Nocturne, Op. 15 No.1, Godowsky’s approach does not privately-made recording of “Gardens of Buitenzorg” from his seek out the mystery Pachmann finds in the music, nor does he Java Suite, which dates from 1935, is stunningly beautiful, display the same extraordinary metrical elasticity. Equally, despite the appalling sound quality, and shows that, while his Paderewski’s performance of the piece is justly famous for its medical condition may have drastically depleted his physical exquisite tonal effects as well as for the comparative restraint of strength, his feeling for tone coloration and chromatic the con fuoco section - curiously, his protégé, Witold counterpoint remained unimpaired. His account of Chopin’s E Malcuzynski, later went to the opposite extreme in his major Scherzo, however, embodies not only his awesome recording, imparting a fiery passion to the episode of technical command, but evidences the temperament which astonishing power - whereas Godowsky’s control imparts a takes up a gauntlet thrown down, the dramatic flair to project chaste purity to the contours of the piece that, on its own terms, the inner life of the work beyond the mechanics of the loud- is hardly less compelling. Interestingly, his performance of the speaker and, finally, the lack of inhibition to realize the com- D-flat Nocturne, Op. 27 No.2, is rather less Classical in its poser’s emotional aspirations without the obsessive concern for reluctance to surrender to the sensuous potential of the tonal purely technical considerations. arabesques than, say, Rosenthal in his 1936 Victor version, or in Among Godowsky’s recordings there are, it is true, a good the mesmerizing clarity of Hofmann’s 1935 RCA account. It is many that reflect the lack of congeniality he felt for the a shame that Godowsky did not record the whole cycle, since, atmosphere of the recording studio. Equally, the repertoire given his ability to calibrate fluid polyphonic textures, his Godowsky recorded was, in the main, comprised of miniatures approach to the E-flat, Op. 55 No. 2, would have been of and there was no barnstorming display piece with which to nail considerable interest, especially alongside the performances of his colors to the mast, as with Rosenthal’s Carnaval de Vienne, Friedman or Cortot. Throughout this set of recordings, Barere’s Blumenfeld Etude, Rachmaninoff’s Liebesfreud however, Godowsky realizes his own particular poetic vision, transcription or Lhevinne’s Schulz-Evler Blue Danube . . . Even without the gestural extremes or eccentricities to which others his transcription of The Star Spangled Banner is not resorted, yet at the same time eerily effective in its rarefied ostentatiously presented, certainly in comparison with austerity. Horowitz’s Stars and Stripes. There are fireworks among his Beethoven’s “Les Adieux” Sonata had been part of recordings, though, for those prepared to listen, subtle ones, as Godowsky’s repertoire since the very earliest days - he had Gregor Benko once observed, and more spectacular than can be played it at the age of 14 for his audition at the Berlin heard in the recital halls of today. The world in which Hochschule - and, given his scarcely diminished suspicion and Godowsky lived can never be revisited, but through his general apprehensiveness of the recording process, one might recorded legacy we are afforded a glimpse of the “golden age” expect his account under the circumstances to sound in which he achieved a richly deserved eminence. The perfunctory, if not positively routine. True, the pregnant quotation from Confucius which prefaces the Fischer edition of opening motif is less portentous than in, say, Schnabel’s his Bach transcriptions perhaps most eloquently sums up reading, nor does what Schnabel refers to as the “warmth, Godowsky’s achievements and his deserved place of honor in pulsating life and passionate emotion” of the Allegro receive an the annals of pianism: “I am not concerned at not being known; especially vigorous treatment - Godowsky reacted to many of I seek to be worthy to be known.” Schnabel’s more studied observations about performance with a good deal of wry humour! Nevertheless, there is an “elevated”,

16 LEOPOLD GODOWSKY DISCOGRAPHY

This is a listing of all the known titles recorded by Godowsky for the gramophone, including unissued material of works that were not otherwise released by each company. Matrix numbers refer to the “takes” that were released - Godowsky did, however, record many alternative versions of each title at various times, but these were suppressed for artistic or technical reasons. Reissue details refer to CD format unless otherwise indicated.

COMPOSER/WORK DATE COMPANY REISSUE MATRIX Albeniz Tango in D, Op. 165 No. 2 24/12/20 Brunswick* APR 7011 4725 Albeniz (-Godowsky?) Tango in D, Op. 165 No. 2 5/10/22 Brunswick* Triana (Iberia No. 6) 10/9/26 Brunswick* Beethoven Sonata in E Flat “Les Adieux,” Op. 81a 31/5/29 Columbia L 2354/5 APR 7010; WAX 4985-2, Philips 456 805; WAX 4986-1, IPL 105 (LP) WAX 4987-1, WAX 4988-2 Bishop-Godowsky Home, sweet home 24/5/21 Brunswick* APR 7011 5667 Bohm-Godowsky Still wie die Nacht 28/5/20 Brunswick* Chaminade La Lisonjera, Op. 50 31/5/21 Brunswick 10053; 15001 5721; 5722§ 5/10/25 Brunswick 15112 La Lisonjera, Op. 50 (abr.) 3/9/26 Brunswick 50101 IPA 113 (LP) XE20028 Pas des Echarpes, Op. 37 3/9/26 Brunswick 50101 IPA 113 (LP) XE20028 Chopin Ballade in A flat, Op. 47 (abr.) 3/10/22 Brunswick 50042 X8786 Berceuse, Op. 57 10/4/13 Columbia A 5597 36700-1 10/4/13 Columbia A 5597 36700-2 10/4/13 Columbia A 5858 (US); Columbia L 1171 (UK) Opal 830 (LP) 36700-3 18/1/24 Brunswick* APR 7013; Veritas VM 103 (LP) X12316 Ecossaises, Op. 72 Nos. 3-5 25/1/16 Columbia* 48550 Etude in G flat, Op. 10 No. 5 19/5/22 Brunswick 15026 8078 10/9/26 Brunswick 15123 Opal 830 (LP); Philips 456 805 E20080 Etude in E flat, Op. 10 No. 11 6/10/22 Brunswick* Etude in A flat, Op. 25 No. 1 6/10/22 Brunswick* 6/2/24 Brunswick* APR 7011 X12469 6/2/24 Brunswick* APR 7013; Veritas VM 103 (LP) X12471 21/5/24 Brunswick* Etude in F minor, Op. 25 No. 2 21/5/24 Brunswick* 21/1/16 Columbia A6013 Opal 830 (LP) 48547-2 Etude in F. Op. 25 No. 3 6/2/24 Brunswick* APR 7011 X12469 6/2/24 Brunswick* APR 7013; Veritas VM 103 (LP) X12471 Etude in G flat, Op. 25 No. 9 19/5/22 Brunswick 15026 8078 10/9/26 Brunswick 15123 Opal 830 (LP); Philips 456 805 E20080 Fantaisie-Impromptu in C sharp minor, Op. 66 24/5/21 Brunswick 30017, 50008 X5670 24/5/21 Brunswick* APR 7011 X5671 18/8/25 Brunswick 50070 Opal 830 (LP) XE16165s Impromptu in A flat, Op. 29 3/6/21 Brunswick 30016, 50009 Opal 830 (LP) X5748 3/9/26 Brunswick 50094 XE20037 Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2165 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3807-4 Nocturne in E flat, Op. 9 No.2 10/4/13 Columbia A5485 Opal 830 (LP) 36701-2

17 COMPOSER/WORK DATE COMPANY REISSUE MATRIX 10/4/13 Columbia A4800 36701-4 23/6/28 Columbia L2164 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3808-6 Nocturne in F, Op. 15 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2169 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3811-4 Nocturne in F sharp, Op. 15 No. 2 23/6/28 Columbia L2169 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3812-4 Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2170 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 WAX 3813-4 Nocturne in D flat, Op. 27 No. 2 7/10/22 Brunswick 50042 Muza XL 157/60 (LP) X8859 23-26/6/28 Columbia L2171 APR 7010 WAX3830-3 Philips 456 805 & WAX3831-4 Nocturne in B, Op. 32 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2167 APR7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3814-6 Nocturne in G minor, Op. 37 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2168 APR7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3815-6 Nocturne in G, Op. 37 No. 2 20-23/6/28 Columbia L2166 APR7010; Philips 456 805 &WAX3810-6 Nocturne in F sharp minor, Op. 48 No. 2 22/6/28 Columbia L2170 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 or WAX3827-5 Nocturne in F minor, Op. 55 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2167 APR 7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3829-2 Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1 23/6/28 Columbia L2165 APR7010; Philips 456 805 WAX3828-3 Polonaise in C sharp minor, Op. 26 No. 1 (abr.) 19/1/24 Brunswick* APR7013 X12338 19/1/24 Brunswick* Veritas VM 103 (LP) X12339 Polonaise in A, Op. 40 No. 1 16/5/22 Brunswick 50015 Opal 830 (LP) X8053 Polonaise in A flat, Op. 53 (abr.) 10/4/13 Columbia L1150; A5550 36697 3/10/22 Brunswick 50024 X8787 2/10/25 Brunswick* 11/9/26 Brunswick 50078 XE20100 Prelude in D flat, Op. 28 No. 15 10/4/13 Columbia D 17722; L1095 36695 Prelude in B flat, Op. 28 No. 21 10/4/13 Columbia D 17713; L1088; A5484 36698-4 Prelude in F, Op. 28 No. 23 10/4/13 Columbia D 17713; L1088; A5485 36698-4 Scherzo in B flat minor, Op. 31 (abr.) 18/1/24 Brunswick* IPA117 (LP) X12311 Scherzo in E, Op. 54 17/6/30 Columbia* APR 7011 WAX5624-? Philips 456 805; & WAX 5625-1 Veritas VM 103 (LP) Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35 25/4/30 Columbia LX 124/126 APR 7010 WAX5549-2, Philips 456 805; 5550-1, 5551-2 IPA105 (LP) 5552-2, 5553-3 5554-2 Valse in E flat, Op. 18 19/5/22 Brunswick 50015 Opal 830(LP) X8081 Valse in A flat, Op. 34 No. 1 18/1/24 Brunswick* Veritas VM 103 (LP) X12301 18/1/24 Brunswick* APR7011 X12302 Valse in A flat, Op. 42 7/2/16 Columbia L 1069; A 5791 Opal 830 (LP) 48589 18/1/24 Brunswick* APR7011 X12329 Valse in C sharp minor, Op. 64 No. 2 10/4/13 Columbia D 17722; L1095 APR 7011 36699 24/12/20 Brunswick 10031; 15018 4727 3/9/26 Brunswick 15124 Opal 830 (LP) E20034 Valse in G flat, Op. 70 No. 1 4/3/14 Columbia A5597 36891 Valse in D flat, Op. 70 No. 3 28/7/20 Brunswick* Valse in E minor, Op. posth. 26/5/16 Columbia L 1171; A5858 48808

Chopin-Liszt Chant polonais No. 1, “Madchens Wunsch” 28/7/20 Brunswick* APR7011 4051 7/10/22 Brunswick 15042 8866 Chant polonais No. 5, “Meine Freuden” 7/10/22 Brunswick 15042 Opal 830 8865 12/23 Brunswick* APR7011; Veritas VM103(LP) X11860 Debussy Clair de Lune (Suite Bergamasque 12/8/25 Brunswick 50069 IPA113(LP) E16103 Golliwog’s Cakewalk (Children’s Corner) 12/8/25 Brunswick 15105 APR7011 E16099

18 COMPOSER/WORK DATE COMPANY REISSUE MATRIX Minstrels (Preludes, Bk. 1) 12/8/25 Brunswick 15105 APR7011 E16102 Reflets dans l’eau (Images, Bk.1) 12/8/25 Brunswick 50069 E16107 Dohnanyi Concert Etude in F minor “Capriccio”, Op. 28 No. 6 3/10/22 Brunswick 15049 APR7011 8789 Godowsky Alt Wien (Triakontameron No. 11) 3/9/26 Brunswick* Gardens of Buitenzorg (Java Suite) c.1935 Private recording* APR7011; Veritas VM103(LP) Humoresque (Miniatures) 2/6/20 Brunswick* APR7011 3877 Hunter’s Call and Military March (Miniatures) 7/4/21 Brunswick* APR7011 5240 Granados Spanish Dance, “Playera”, Op. 37 No. 5 5/2/24 Brunswick 15081 Muza XL, 157/160(LP) 12463 Spanish Dance, “Orientale”, Op. 37 No. 2 26/1/24 Brunswick* Grieg Ballade in G minor, Op. 24 27/5/29 Columbia LX 9/10; APR7010; Pearl 9933; WAX4963-2 67746/7D; LOX 16/7 Philips 456 805; 4964-3; 4965-3 IPL 105(LP) 4966-1 Henselt Wiegenlied in G flat, Op. 45 25/1/16 Columbia A5896 APR7011 48549-1 9/1/24 Brunswick* APR7011 12247 Etude in F Sharp, “Si oiseau jetais”, Op. 2 No. 6 7/2/16 Columbia L 1069; A5791 (7042-M) 48592 La Gondola, Op. 13 No. 2 7/2/16 Columbia L 1069; A5791 (7042-M) 48592 Kreisler-Godowsky Rondino on a theme by Beethoven 3/6/21 Brunswick* Lane The Crapshooters (American Suite) 25/8/25 Brunswick 15108 APR7011 Leschetizky Arabesque in A-Flat, Op. 45 No. 1 21/1/16 Columbia A6013 48547-2 Liadov The Musical Snuff-Box, Op. 32 26/1/24 Brunswick 15081 12394 Liszt Konzertetude No. 2, “Gnomenreigen” 4/3/14 Columbia L1150; A5550 APR7011 36890-1 1923? Brunswick* APR7011 01103? 18/1/24 Brunswick* APR7013 12323 Grandes Etudes de Paganini No. 3: “La Campanella” 10/4/13 Columbia D17712; A5484; L1087 36694-1 Etude de Concert No. 2 in F minor, “La leggierezza” 9/1/24 Brunswick* APR7011 X12244 9/1/24 Brunswick* APR7013 X12245 9/1/24 Brunswick* Veritas VM 103(LP) X12246 Liebestraum No. 3 in A flat 6/6/21 Brunswick 30019; 50024 X5679 25/3/24 Brunswick* Veritas VM103(LP) X12727 17/8/25 Brunswick 50070 APR7011 XE16168 Etude de Concert No. 3 in D flat, “Un sospiro” 7/2/16 Columbia L1150; A5800 48591 Tarantella (Venezia e Napoli) (abr.) 18/5/22 Brunswick 50016 X8070 Macdowell Hexentanz, Op. 17 No. 2 21/12/20 Brunswick 10027; 15017 4706 21/12/20 Brunswick 10022 4710 25/3/24 Brunswick* APR7011 12729 3/9/26 Brunswick 15125; 15134 E20030 & 20031§ Mendelssohn Andante & Rondo Capriccioso in E, Op. 14 4/9/26 Brunswick 50131; 50016 APR7011 XE20045 Lied ohne Worte No. 25 in G, Op. 62 No. 1 10/4/13 Columbia D 17713; L1088 APR7011 36693-1 Lied ohne Worte No. 30 in A, Op. 62 No. 6 “Spring Song” 10/2/22 Brunswick 15001 Muza XL 157/160 (LP) 7282

19 COMPOSER/WORK DATE COMPANY REISSUE MATRIX 5/10/25 Brunswick 15112 Lied ohne Worte No. 34 in C, Op. 67 No. 4 “Spinning Song” 10/4/13 Columbia D 17713; L 1088 APR7011 36693-1 Mendelssohn-Liszt Auf Flugeln des Gesanges 16/5/22 Brunswick 50016 X8051 Moszkowski Serenade in D, Op. 15 No. 1 26/5/16 Columbia L1171; A5858 48808 En automne, Op. 36 No. 4 21/1/16 Columbia* 48548 Paderewski Minuet in G, Op. 14 No. 1 7/10/22 Brunswick* Poldini Wienerisch in F, Op. 42 No 3. 7/2/16 Columbia A6013 48590 Raff La Fileuse, Op. 157 No. 2 6/6/21 Brunswick* Rachmaninoff Prelude in C sharp minor, Op. 3 No. 2 17/5/22 Brunswick 15026 Muza XL 157/160 (LP) 8057 5/10/25 Brunswick 15123 E20014 Rubinstein Melody in F, Op. 3 No. 1 5/6/16 Columbia* APR7011 48810-1 2/6/21 Brunswick 10050; 15018 5738 3/9/26 Brunswick 15124; 15137 IPA113 (LP) E20032; 20033§ Reve angelique (Kamenniy-ostrov), Op. 10 No.22 4/6/21 Brunswick 30025; 50009 Opal 830(LP) X5755 25/3/24 Brunswick* APR7011 X12736 4/9/26 Brunswick 50094 XE20043 Romance in E flat, Op. 44 No. 1 26/5/20 Brunswick* APR7011 3857 Serenade in D minor, Op. 93 No. 4 7/2/16 Columbia A6013 Opal830 (LP) 48590 Schubert Moment musical (in F minor, Op. 94 No. 3?) 21/1/16 Columbia* 48548 Schubert-Godowsky Das Wandern 25/4/30 Columbia* Die Forelle 25/4/30 Columbia* Gute Nacht 11/9/26 Brunswick 50133 Opal 830(LP); Philips 456 805 XE20095 Heidenroslein 24/4/30 Columbia* Morgengruss 11/9/26 Brunswick 50133 Opal 830(LP); Philips 456 805 XE20092 11/9/26 Brunswick* APR7011 XE20093 Wohin? 24/4/30 Columbia* Schubert-Liszt Standchen von Shakespeare: “Horch, Horch, die Lerch” 10/4/13 Columbia D17712; L1087; A5484 Opal 830(LP) 36696-1 Schubert-Tausig Marche militaire (abr.) 21/12/20 Brunswick 30004; 50008 X4708 14/5/24 Brunswick* APR7011 X13103 11/9/26 Brunswick 50078 Opal 830 XE20101 Schumann Carnaval, Op. 9 28-29/5/29 Columbia LX 32-34; APR7010 WAX4967-3; 67815-17; LOX 38-40; Philips 456 805 4968-2 J7819-2 IPL 105(LP) 4969-2; 4970-2; 4975-2; 4976-2 Romance (in F sharp, Op. 28 No. 2?) 26/5/16 Columbia* 48809 Schutt A la bien-aimee, Op. 59 No. 2 2/6/20 Brunswick* APR7011 3879 7/10/22 Brunswick 15049 8855 Etude mignonne, Op. 16 No. 1 24/12/20 Brunswick* APR7011 X4725

20 COMPOSER/WORK DATE COMPANY REISSUE MATRIX Sinding Fruhlingsrauschen, Op. 32 No. 3 28/7/20 Brunswick 10022;15017 4048 5/2/24 Brunswick* APR7011 12459 3/9/26 Brunswick 15125; 15134 IPA 113(LP) E20026; E20027§ Smith-Godowsky The Star-Spangled Banner 7/12/20 Brunswick* APR7011; Veritas VM 103(LP) 4653 O. Straus-Godowsky The Last Waltz 24/5/21 Brunswick* Tchaikovsky Barcarolle (The Seasons-June) 7/9/26 Brunswick 50101 IPA 113(LP) XE20060 Romance in F minor, Op. 5 11/9/26 Brunswick* Verdi-Liszt Rigoletto-Paraphrase (abr.) 5/6/16 Columbia A5896 48812 16/1/24 Brunswick* APR7013 X12296 16/1/24 Brunswick* Veritas VM 103(LP) X12297 4/9/26 Brunswick 50131; 50116 APR7011; Philips 456 805 XE20048 Wagner-Brassin Feuerzauber 6/6/21 Brunswick* Zeckwer In a Boat 17/8/25 Brunswick 15108; 15172 APR7011

Notes * = unpublished § = both matrices used in production

Berlin, March 1, 1904 GODOWSKY My dear Mr. Hattstaedt, LEVY LETTERS Having just returned from Austria, I hasten to comply with your request in suggesting to you a leading pianist and teacher Acclaimed piano and harpsichord virtuoso and long-time for the American Conservatory. Of such as would be capable to IPQ contributor, Igor Kipnis, mines his family’s extensive accept the position and possess the ability to fill it with honor to archives and uncovers a revealing correspondence between his themselves, to your institution and to me, I know of none more suitable than Mr. Heniot Levy. Mr. Levy is a pianist of unusual maternal grandparents and Leopold Godowsky attainments and an exceedingly gifted composer and teacher. In 1904, the course catalogue of the American He enjoys an excellent reputation in Berlin and no less a man Conservatory of Music in Chicago announced: than Prof. Joseph Joachim gladly conducted his compositions in Berlin. He possesses a very large repertoire and would be a The engagement of Mr. Heniot Levy, the noted pianist and notable acquisition to the pianistic element of Chicago. composer of Berlin, as an instructor in the piano department. Mr. Levy’s musical training was acquired at the Royal High Trusting that you may succeed in bringing Mr. Levy to School [Koniglische Hochschule] of Music in Berlin under your city and wishing you every success, believe me, Profs. Oscar Raif and Heinrich Barth [who also taught Artur Very sincerely yours, Rubinstein] in pianoforte and under Prof. Freiherr von Leopold Godowsky Herzogenberg as well as Prof. Bargiel in composition. Later Mr. Levy took a special course in composition at the royal My maternal grandfather, Heniot Levy, (b. Warsaw, Poland, “Meisterschule” under the distinguished composer, Dr. Max 19 July 1879 - d. 16 June 1945), had first come to the United Bruch. For meritorious work he was twice awarded the Felix States in 1890 with his parents, Gustave and Maria, but Mendelssohn prize, and his Sonata for piano and violin took returned to study in Berlin. He made his debut there with the first prize at a competitive contest in Warsaw, Poland. Berlin Philharmonic in 1899, subsequently touring Germany and then, for a time living in Norway, he performed throughout Mr. Levy concertized extensively throughout Germany Scandinavia; his very successful London debut, at the Wigmore with pronounced success, attaining a prominent position in the Hall, was in 1922. musical world of Berlin as a pianist, composer, and teacher. That Mr. Levy is held in high esteem by leading artists of the His marriage to Ida Taterka1 of Breslau occurred in Berlin day is evidenced by the following letter, received by the in 1897, and the birth of his son, Hans, in 1900, not long after president of this institution from the distinguished pianist, which he moved with his family to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for a Leopold Godowsky: short period of time, performing the duties of organist at the Episcopal Cathedral in that city. Mildred, my mother, was born there in 1904 before the Levys, following the Godowsky 21 recommendation, moved to Chicago. By 1915, my grandfather had a well-established reputation as a pianist recitalist, composer and teacher, eventually becoming head of the piano department and co-director of the American Conservatory in 1930. Among his orchestral appearances are those with the Chicago2 and Minneapolis Symphonies, as well as chamber performances with the Kneisel Quartet. Although he never recorded any 78s, in the mid-1920s he made ten piano rolls for the American branch of Welte-Mignon. One of my favorite illustrations is an advertisement for that company that appeared in Etude magazine during this period, showing my grandfather seated in an armchair, hearing one of Ida and Heniot Levy (early 1940’s) his rolls being played by a reproducing piano. Photo Igor Kipnis Collection His reputation in Chicago was on the same level of musical Hotel Ansonia prominence as that of Rudolf Ganz (who was the head of the Broadway, Seventy-Third rival piano department of Chicago Musical College, now part of and Seventy-Fourth Streets Roosevelt University and from 1940 its Director), and the Levy New York home was often a gathering place for visiting international June 23, 1925 performers3 and the city’s musical establishment, even My dear Hans, including critics. Such gatherings were lovingly catered to by Your ears must have been ringing from morning to night - my grandmother, whose social sense was second to none. we spoke so often of you. I can well imagine what a sacrifice it Among these invitees, certainly, was Leopold Godowsky, who was for you to have your mother away from you for so many had become a family friend, as may be seen in the seven extant days, but what is one man’s loss is another’s gain. We enjoyed letters bequeathed to me by my mother. Their contents largely your mother’s company as much as you missed her’s. Can I have less to do with musical than family matters - that plus his say more? Your mother is a good and charming woman, travels. The majority were written to my grandmother, Ida, but deserving all the love and devotion you lavish upon her. In there is also one to my uncle, Hans, who was working in your case, one deserves the other. preparation for a 1925 piano recital in Chicago; Godowsky’s practice suggestions for the few days preceding that concert are I wish I could be present at your recital on July first. I may revealing. Equally entertaining are Godowsky’s 1929 remarks visit your beautiful city in the middle of July. I know you must to Hans about his visit to Majorca and reference to “that be working intensely on your recital program. I would advise dreadful woman, George Sand.” you to study each day less and not play at all one or two days before the event. Wishing you the greatest success possible, I My mother’s brother, Hans Levy Heniot, had studied with am. With heartiest greetings, his father and, probably to avoid the conflict of competition (possibly for semitic reasons as well), took Heniot as his own Most faithfully yours, last name early on. He had made his debut as a pianist in Berlin Leopold Godowsky in 1924, his London one occurring in 1931. As a composer, his Violin Sonata in G Minor, Op. 1, was published by Breitkopf and Hartel in 1924, and in 1928 he won top prize, $1000, in a Hotel Ansonia competition sponsored by the Paderewski Fund for American Broadway, Seventy-Third composers for his orchestral piece, A Mountain Legend. Hans and Seventy-Fourth Streets Heniot studied conducting at the Curtis Institute with Fritz New York Reiner, and during the next two decades conducted orchestras July 3, 1925 in Vienna, Berlin, Bratislava, Prague, Moscow, Havana and Buenos Aires. My dear Ida: Your letter received a real welcome. We were delighted to Starting in 1940, he was for five seasons the conductor of hear from you and glad you are all well and happy. I cannot the reconstituted Utah State Symphony Orchestra, prior to its thank enough for your two wonderful fly swatters, which I am becoming the Utah Symphony under Maurice Abravanel. going to use with temperament and a firm touch. Frieda5 is Following his stint as a bandmaster in the army during World getting stronger gradually, her neuritis being still painful, but it War II, he conducted in New York, Denver, Seattle, Chicago’s seems to me less unendurable. Frieda is reluctant in admitting Grant Park and in Evanston (where, until shortly before his it - she has to give three knocks on wood every time the subject death in 1960, he was the director of the Evanston Civic is mentioned. She still has bad nights, but somewhat less so Orchestra). Following the death of my grandfather, my uncle than before. Our girl left us today, we have to hunt for another took over his piano class at the American Conservatory in 1948. wild beast6. My health is in about the same state of mediocrity The Godowsky-Levy letters are not many, but they do as it had been since my last visit to Chicago. Abdominal dis- reveal a warm personal relationship with the Levy family4, comfort, short breath, fast pulse and palpitations of the heart are especially to the mater familias and a son whose talent was among the things that make my life interesting. I intend to already burgeoning. They also expose a very human side to the come to your city in about a fortnight, to consult my “leibarzt,”7 pianist, as well as a remarkable command of English. Indeed, Dr. Gruskin and see my friends, among whom you and your they show a handwriting whose penmanship presents no prob- family occupy a leading place. I hope your husband and Hans lems of legibility, even surprisingly so in those months that have regained their equilibrium since your return. Give my followed his severe, incapacitating stroke of 17 June 1930, love to them and keep a good share of it for yourself. while in the midst of an exhausting London recording session. Your friend Leopold.

22 [postscript on top of letterhead:} Sanatorium Groedel Did Hans play on the 1st of July? If so, how did it go? Bad Nauheim, [Germany] Please write me fully. I was from Sunday to Thursday in October 13th 1930 Meriden [Connecticut] and Boston. I recorded fourteen pieces My dear, good Ida: and played twenty-five times.8 Hard work! I have not written to you earlier12 because writing is for me a great [postcard, Bad Gastein, Austria. Hotel Kaiserdorf] effort. I am better than at July 12 - 1926 “Mon Repos”, but still far Dear Ida! from well. All my doctors assure me that I will Many thanks for your dear sweet letter. I am here with recover completely, and I Peter and Mariechen L. You know how I love being with them. assume that I have to I feel tired after my Carslbad cure. The weather here is just believe them, although my awful[,] nothing but rain and very cold. I never hear from improvement is almost 9 Vanita or Dagmar . I think they don’t care much - Affectionate- imperceptible. ly, Frieda and Dagmar are Your Leopold Godowsky taking also the Nauheim Love to Heniot cure. We all expect to stay [postscript, written upside down in available space]: Write till the 31st of this month, me soon again when the Sanatorium closes for the Winter. We expect impatiently Leo13, who arrives on the Columbus, in Bremen, on Thursday next, Hans Levy Heniot Hotel Royal and will at once come Photo Igor Kipnis Collection Nice here. He just signed a April 12th 1929 contract with Eastman Kodak Company. His My dear Hans: position he assumes already in November, so he must return in I hope that you and your parents received my postcards a few weeks. Frieda and I want to sail with him. Why don’t from Mallorca. I sent you one from the monastery of you wait and sail with us at the same time? Please decide and Valldemosa, where Chopin and that dreadful woman, George write us about it? It would be so much fun. Sand, lived a number of weeks in 1839. The monastery is most beautifully situated. It was very interesting to me. I went there We all send you best love. a few times. The island of Mallorca is one of the most beautiful Devotedly spots in the world. Palma, which is the capital of the Balearic Leopold Isles, is a delightfully picturesque town of 90,000 souls. The people of the island are very honest, clean and hospitable. The scenic magnificence surpassed most other famous sights. Although I had no piano during the almost four weeks of our stay at Palma, I have succeeded in finishing a Rococo Sanatorium Groedel Suite,10 which I have composed for the left hand alone. The Bad Nauheim, [Germany] Suite consists of eight numbers, three of which I have written at October 13, 1930 Palma. The eight pieces are: Allemande, Courante, Gavotte with Musette, Sarabande, Bourree with Musette, Sicilienne, Dear friends: Menuet and Gigue. Before your departure for Amerika [sic], I wish to say “bon I consider the entire suite as being one of my best efforts, voyage” and good luck to you both, and congratulate you most 14 whatever that may mean. I have finished in all twenty heartily once more upon the advent of such a beautiful son . I compositions for the left hand alone; three I have started. There only hope and wish that the darling boy will be like his will be in all thirty numbers. I know that you will like some of grandfather and his father in character and talent. If it were a them! How are your creative efforts progressing? I am really girl, I could not wish her anything better than to follow in the proud that you won the Paderewski prize. footsteps of your beloved and clever mother and charming self. It is still difficult for me to write, and although I have been ill I have been quite ill, but I feel now [sic] much better. four month [sic], I am now far from well. There was a time when I believed that my days were counted. Mrs. G and Daggy11 had the grippe at the same time, so you can I hope that I will be able to see you this winter in America. imagine how jolly we were. We expect to remain on the Riv- With love, iera about ten days longer. We will return to Paris either from Your devoted here, or - we may surprise ourselves and our friends by making Godowsky an excursion of about six days to - well, you will get a postcard from this mysterious place. We all send our love to you and your dear parents - and Mr. and Mrs. Kipnis. Your devoted old friend L Godowsky

23 Hotel “Der Furstenhof” 4. Godowsky’s arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Berlin W.9 unaccompanied Violin Partita in B Minor, “very freely tran- am Potsdamer Platz scribed and adapted for pianoforte,” was composed during a Far March 14th 1931 East trip at the end of 1922 and the early months of 1923. The My dear friend Ida: dedication in some editions was to Heniot Levy, in others to Sergei Rachmaninoff. His 15 October 1926, transcription of Allow me to thank you for your sweet letter and cable. Schubert’s Love’s Message (Liebesbotschaft) was dedicated to You never forget my birthday and you never miss any occasion Hans Heniot. to show me or Frieda your devotion. 5. Frieda Saxe Godowsky, who died in 1933, married We stayed with Mrs. Landeker much longer than we ever Leopold Godowsky in 1891. anticipated. The poor woman feels so lonely that we hadn’t the 6. Presumably a household servant. heart to leave her, though the whole atmosphere at her house is 7. Physician, internist. gloomy to the extreme and saddens our already sad enough 8. In 1925 Godowsky signed a contract with Artrio- disposition. We had to promise her to remain with her till the Angelus, whose studios were in Meriden, Connecticut, to last dinner she will give this season, on the occasion of the last record a series of piano rolls, notable of his own compositions Bruno Walter concert at the Philharmonie. The dinner will take and transcriptions; it is not known whether any of the educa- place on the 23rd, and on the 24th Frieda and I will go for one tionally-intended series of 46 four-hand Miniatures (42 of week to Vienna and then straight to Paris. Frieda and Dagmar which were completed) were actually released [Nicholas, Jere- will stay in Paris, while I go to America at the end of April, to my: Godowsky - The Pianists’ Pianist. Northumberland, Great remain there two or three months. I then intend to return to Britain: APR, 1989, p. 211]. Paris for the Summer, or part thereof. Paris will have a most 9. Vanita (1892-1961) was the eldest daughter of Leopold wonderful colonial exposition. It will be a universal colonial Godowsky and the wife of David Saperton, pianist and a exhibition, more interesting than a general exhibition. It will teacher at the Curtis Institute. The younger daughter, Dagmar have our special interest, having travelled all over the world and (1898-1976), reminisced entertainingly about her father, her therefore being more apt to enjoy the peculiarities of the natives own colorful life as a Hollywood silent screen vamp, her notable affairs (Rubinstein, Charlie Chaplin, and Igor Stravin- and their arts. sky among others), and socialite activities in her autobiography, I will go for a thorough examination to the Mayos, at First Person Plural - The Lives of Dagmar Godowsky [New Rochester, Minn. On the occasion I will come to Chicago and York: The Viking Press, 1958]. stay there for some time. I am looking forward to seeing you 10. The Suite for Left Hand Alone was published in 1930 and your family. I am sorry to have to leave Berlin before the by G. Schirmer and dedicated to Isidor Philipp. arrival of Mildred, Mr. Kipnis, and their baby. 11. Dagmar. We go to concerts which we believe would interest us, but 12. written four months after his June 17, 1930 stroke. most of the time we are sorely disappointed. Occasionally we Godowsky had previously been sent to recuperate at the Swiss go to a talkie’ seldom to a legitimate theatre, as Mrs. Landeker sanatorium, “Mon Repos”, in Mont Pelerin. does not care to go out and resents when we go without her. 13. Godowsky’s older son, Leo (1900-1983), studied vio- She does not understand English hospitality, where the guests lin with, among others, Franz Kneisel in New York, and at one are left alone and allowed to act as they feel. time played in the first violin section of the San Francisco Sym- phony. He was co-inventor along with Leopold Mannes of the I am gradually, though at a snail’s pace or slower, getting Kodachrome process. His son, Leopold III, is a composer and better. I have a long and tedious road to travel to reach the state pianist, as well as the nephew of George Gershwin. of health. 14. Written to Mildred Kipnis in Berlin, following the We all wish you, Heniot, and Hans, as well as the Kipnises, Sept. 27, 1930 birth of the couple’s son, Igor. perfect health and happiness. Your “old” and devoted friend, Leopold Celebrated the world over for his unrivalled Footnotes ability to effortlessly disentangle music of 1. Breslau-born Ida Taterka, who died in 1944, studied hair-raising polyphonic complexity, Canadian violin as a child and at one point was taken to Berlin to audition for Joseph Joachim. The family story has it that the renowned piano wizard, Marc-Andre Hamelin, recently violinist responded, “Better, young lady, you should marry.” conquered that summit of pianistic derring- 2. The archives of the Chicago Symphony indicate that Heniot Levy performed Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto on 10 do, the Chopin-Godowsky Studies, and and 11 March 1911, with Frederick Stock conducting the thankfully lived to tell the tale, in Theodore Thomas Orchestra. conversation with Donald Manildi 3. It was at one of the Levy soirees in 1924 that Ida intro- duced her daughter, Mildred, to a guest who was to become my father. Alexander Kipnis at that time was a principal bass-bari- CONQUERING EVEREST tone with Chicago’s Civic Opera (between 1923-32) and an eli- DM: Can you recall when you first encountered the gible bachelor of thirty-three. Early in 1925, Ida’s sister, Regi- published scores to the Chopin-Godowsky Studies? What was na, was taken to the new Chicago production of Debussy’s Pel- leas et Melisande with Mary Garden as Melisande and my your reaction? father as the ancient King Arkel, complete with long beard. MAH: I was actually a very young kid - this would have “Well, he certainly has a beautiful voice,” she remarked, “but been around 1969, when I was eight years old. My father had isn’t he a little old for Mildred?” long been fascinated by hearing about this music, and he had

24 ordered the Lienau reprint of MAH: Basically I find my own fingerings first, and if I all five volumes. I remember encounter a problem where the passage doesn’t feel right I’ll sitting with him, just turning then look at his. I do think that since Godowsky devoted so the pages, and being much attention to fingerings, we owe it to him to at least absolutely dumbfounded and consider his ideas. Very often I discovered that my fingerings delightfully surprised by what did coincide with his - sometimes because there was no other we saw. Even at that age I choice! One should remember, however, that Godowsky’s was already familiar with the fingerings were made by someone with a small hand, and they original Chopin Etudes, so I do not always fit a large hand which may offer more did have something to base possibilities. Still, his fingerings are often innovative and even my wonderment on. revolutionary. DM: How long did it take DM: During the years you’ve been working on the before you began delving into Studies, have you found particular ones that were especially the Studies at the piano? stubborn to conquer? MAH: I don’t think I dared MAH: Sure - especially the ones I learned last! Several of to attempt them before I the left-hand ones, like Nos. 30 and 40, are very awkward reached my late teens. I’m indeed. In No. 46, one of the very last that I learned, the not sure I would have question of articulation becomes horribly complex, since one been allowed to do them! I hand carries several different voices, all of which have to be Marc-Andre Hamelin probably felt it was more articulated differently. Photo Simon Perry/Hyperion important to work on more DM: You mention in your booklet notes the frequent basic repertoire first, partly misconception that Godowsky was supposedly trying to because of my teachers. But once I started to learn them, the “improve” on the original Chopin Etudes. What is your initial fascination never, never went away. response to this sort of misguided criticism? DM: These Studies have acquired a near-legendary repu- MAH: I’ve found that these are some of the same people tation for their difficulty, yet they certainly could not be called who would never attack Rachmaninoff, for instance, for his set flashy display pieces. What is the exact nature of their chal- of Variations, Op. 22, on Chopin’s C minor Prelude. To me, lenges, both technical and musical? there is no real difference between the Rachmaninoff Variations and Godowsky’s Studies, because each of the studies is actually MAH: I think that on the technical level - technique a variation on the original, altering one or more of its meaning, of course, not just mechanics but everything it takes parameters. I also see no difference between what he did and to realize your art - above everything else these pieces are great Beethoven’s 33 Variations on Diabelli’s Waltz. Then there’s the mental challenges. They require the performer to have as nim- case of Brahms, who transcribed Chopin’s Op. 25 No. 2 into ble a musical brain as possible. That entails, among other double notes. Was he ever criticized for that? I don’t think so. things, a complete colouristic understanding of the instrument But Brahms is a great composer and so is Rachmaninoff, while as well as absolute independence of the fingers. They also the critics still treat Godowsky as a minor figure, which in a demand great agility and a total geographical knowledge of the sense I don’t think is right. keyboard. From the musical standpoint it should be clear to anyone looking at the scores that Godowsky had only the lofti- DM: On your recital programmes you’ve never offered est musical aims in mind. I see no reason why these studies more than six or seven of the Studies at a time, and you suggest should not have the same musical value as their models - the to listeners to the CDs that it is not really advisable to try to hear too many at once. Why is that? Chopin originals. In fact I think it’s the pianist’s duty to strive to recreate the spirit of the original Etudes as much as possible, MAH: Because they’re very rich in texture and they and in the vast majority of cases that goal is attainable. require quite active listening, I think, if one is to fully appreciate their beauties. As far as my own recital DM: Can you comment on Godowsky’s obsessive interest performances go, I’d rather play a few of them well then many in the left hand, since twenty-two of the Studies are written for of them not so well. I also don’t want to give the impression of the left hand alone? a marathon, and prefer to put the studies in the context of other MAH: I think that’s probably a reflection of the fact that areas of the repertoire - I think they are served better in that piano literature in general, and certainly the original Chopin way. This is not to denigrate those players who have given Etude, are very much right-hand oriented. I sense that complete recitals of the Studies - if it works for certain people Godowsky felt a certain pedagogical duty in educating the left that’s fine; it just doesn’t’ happen to be my way. hand, so he gave that hand a very prominent role in the Studies DM: Its’ known that beyond the grand total of fifty-four - and not just in those for left hand alone, I might add. In many published Studies, Godowsky also wrote or at least planned a of the two-handed studies, the respective roles of the two hands number of others, including a combination of all three A minor are inverted. I should point out that these are not simply Chopin Etudes into one piece. What do you think actually mechanical or academic inversions. Godowsky was much more happened with these intriguing but never-seen additional interested in creating viable musical experience, just as Studies? Chopin’s originals are. He had a very precise, very refined MAH: I personally have no idea, and the bottom line is knowledge of harmony and part-writing, where everything that nobody really knows for sure. We do know that several melds into a harmonious whole. more were announced, since we find mention of them on the DM: Godowsky has marked his scores in meticulous back covers of the early editions. Godowsky may have had his detail, especially with regard to fingerings. Do you find his own reasons - certainly in the period between 1914 [when the fingerings a worthwhile model, or do you often depart from his last Study appeared] and his death in 1938, he could have suggestions? published more if he wished.

25 DM: Perhaps he felt that after completing fifty-four Sonate (on Hyperion CDA66794) was because the music, at pieces, he had gone as far as he was able with this particular last, was articulate; the speed itself was almost irrelevant, kind of project? though it was also astonishing. So it proves with Hamelin’s MAH: That’s probably true. Remember also that recording of Godowsky’s 53 Studies on Chopin’s Etudes: of course it is exciting - only a fool would deny the thrill of such Godowsky was the victim of much criticism for these works, commanding prestidigitation - but the excitement increases and that may have discouraged him. once you have listened past the hair-raising difficulties DM: Could we talk about some of the relatively few Godowsky throws in front of his pianist and pianists who preceded you as advocates for the Studies? For concentrate on what the music is doing. The true virtuosity instance, David Saperton, who was Godowsky’s son-in-law, and comes in the minimizing of any sense of effort, in projecting Jorge Bolet? individual melodic lines in a polyphonic texture of startling MAH: Both have done really admirable things with the richness and complexity. Studies. In the case of Bolet, I might wish for more drive, more An extensive quote from Godowsky cited in the substantial involvement, although his piano tone is always gorgeous - that booklet - an introductory essay by Jeremy Nicholas is followed was really one of his hallmarks. As for Saperton, his achieve- by a detailed commentary from Hamelin himself - reveals how ment both pianistically and musically is very impressive but his work with the Chopin Etudes began. Godowsky had waxed sometimes I sense a certain anger or aggression - even anxiety - so lyrical about the World’s Fair in Chicago that his brother-in- in his playing. I hasten to add, though, that my own take on law and financee decided to visit it - but on the way there the these Studies is not the only one by any means, and I certainly couple was killed in a railway disaster. Godowsky, who had welcome other interpretations. been practicing Chopin Op. 25, No. 6, at the time, sat down at the piano and began to experiment, just to take his mind off the DM: Looking beyond the fifty-four Studies, how would you terrible news. Having devised a new fingering, he transposed assess Godowsky’s position among composers for the piano? the study to the left hand and found it fitted perfectly. Further With more recordings and more frequent performances of his experiments with left-hand transpositions (22 of these 53 music, can we now say that Godowsky’s time has come? studies are for left-hand alone) led to differing versions, MAH: When you consider that the 20th century was so combinations, alternative combinations, in an astonishingly rich full of towering figures - Scriabin, Bartok, Prokofiev, Messiaen, exploration of the further musicological endeavors I respect and so forth - Godowsky’s production does somewhat pale in enormously and whose efforts over the years deserve deep comparison. But if we take his works for what they are, they gratitude for their enrichment of the world we live in. But can be extremely fulfilling. One might wish that Godowsky Spada qua pianist is someone whose choice of repertoire I had not espoused the salon genre quite as much as he did - it admire more than the way he plays it - his performances are would have been nice to have more works like the Sonata in E reliable rather than insightful, the technique being enough to cope with the hurdles but not to transcend them. As a result, the Minor come out of his pen. Even though the Sonata is not a rhythms in these Bach transcriptions plod and the sense of line completely successful work in my opinion, it at least points to is sacrificed to the small-town concerns of getting the notes what he might have done with the form. But certainly the better right; the drama of individual keyboard moments is lost, as is recordings have done much to further out appreciation of the dramaturgy, the wider ebb and flow, of each piece as a Godowsky, and I hope that the long-standing project of the whole. It’s not inadequate or careless playing, but it’s publisher Carl Fischer to reprint most of his works finally unimaginative. comes to fruition. This would mean, for instance, that works as diverse as the Passacaglia and the Miniatures for four hands If Spada hasn’t done his composite composer the best of favors, he in turn has been ill served by his recording engineers: would become much more accessible to pianists. the piano tone is shallow and brittle, with no sense of aural perspective - nor does it sound as if he is playing the best instrument in the world. That’s not the fault of arts, the German label which has released these two CDs: the recordings were made in Rome in 1988 and initially published on the Frequenz CD REVIEW label, which Arts have taken over in part. We can clear up here a spot of potential confusion in the Godowsky Studies on Chopin’s Etudes. numbering of the chorale preludes, occasioned by the fact that Busoni’s transcription were published before BWV numbers Marc-Andre Hamelin (pf). (from Wolfgang Schmieder’s Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis, 1950) Hyperion Full price CDA67411/2 were applied to his music. Spada’s packaging lists the first (two disc: 153 minutes: DDD). chorale prelude transcribed by Busoni, Komm, Gott, Schopfer, heiliger Geist, as BWV631; in fact, it’s BWV667 (BWV631 is I have to be careful not to develop the habit of greeting an early and shorter version of the same piece). And though the every Marc-Andre Hamelin release two standard biographies of Busoni in English (E.J. Dent’s with the same Ferruccio Busoni, OUP, 1933, and Antony Beaumont’s Busoni excited adjectives - although Hamelin the Composer, Faber, 1985) list ten chorale preludes, you’ll see hardly makes it easy for reviewers to only nine listed above. That’s because Busoni treated two remain calm. The virtuosity is breath- versions of Durch Adams Fall, BWV637 and 705, but num- taking, of course, but that is not the bered them 7a and 7b; they are performed here without a break. point: it is that Hamelin reaches way And to cap it all, BWV705 is now held to be of doubtful beyond the difficulties erected by the authenticity. notes themselves to attend to the A curate’s egg, then - it’s good to have all Busoni’s Bach shaping of the music itself. The jolt transcriptions in one place, but they deserved better than this. of excitement I felt with the first bars of his recording of the Alkan Grande Martin Anderson

26 THE PIANO AND ITS ANTECEDENTS - Julius Wilcox - Harper’s New Monthly Magazine,Harper and Brothers, New York Volume 58, Number 348, May 1879

“The social importance of the piano,” said Thalberg, in his unwilling practice at boarding school or at home until marriage; remarks to the musical jury of the London Exhibition of 1851, then housekeeping closes the piano lid. Judged by any artistic “is, beyond all question, far greater than that of any other standard, or by the hard rule of worldly sense, the waste in all instrument of music. One of the most marked changes in the this is enormous; yet pleasure and culture are relative, and out habits of society, as civilization advances, is with respect to the of “Bonnie Doon,” “Money Musk, “the “Virginia Reel,” and character of its amusements. Formerly nearly all such other of “mother’s tunes,” people who can not distinguish a amusements were away from home and in public’ now, with the tuned from an untuned instrument may perhaps derive a more educated portion of society, the greatest part is at home satisfaction, unlike that of the ambitious manna who is the and within the family circle, music on the piano constituting the business support of the piano-maker, which makes the greatest portion of it. In the most fashionable circles of cities investment profitable. private concerts increase year by year, and in them the piano is The four largest cities of the United States have about 125 the principal feature. Many a man engaged in commercial and piano-makers, and the aggregate number of pianos annually other active pursuits finds the chief charm of his drawing room produced is about 30,000; their price to the public ranges from in the intellectual enjoyment afforded by the piano. In many $150 to $1500 each, aggregating, perhaps, ten or twelve parts of Europe this instrument is the greatest solace of the millions of dollars. In 1852 the 180 English makers were studious and the solitary. Even steam and sailing vessels for producing 1500 grands, 1500 squares, and 20,000 uprights; but passengers on long voyages are now obliged, by the fixed the English prices are lower than the American, the best grands, habits of society, to be furnished with pianofortes, thus transfer- costing $750, the squares $175 to $250, the ordinary uprights ring to the ocean itself something of the character of home $225 to $350. These prices are less than one-half of those of enjoyments. By the use of the piano many who never visit the first-class American instruments; but the American piano is heavier and more thorough in construction, better able to resist climatic changes, and is the best in the world. What becomes of all the pianos? Strangely enough, the makers all appear to thrive: failures among them are rare, and it is not uncommon for them in the dullest of times to report themselves unable to keep up with their orders. Every concert hall and steam-ship must have a piano; every hotel at least one; every public school must have several; the young ladies’ “institute” of the day jingles with them, sometimes using as many as thirty; and the piano has come to be so established an article of furniture in private parlors that the lack of it attracts notice, and often elicits apology as well. The melodious life of the instrument is, perhaps, five to twenty years, according to quality and usage. Its sounding life may be twice that time, the piano of today greatly surpassing in tenacity its predecessor of twenty years ago. From the first downward step, when it becomes “second-hand,” it begins the secondary The piano on the frontier - officers’ quarters on the upper Missouri. existence of going out on hire, the number constantly thus “out” in New York City alone being three or four thousand. Thus opera or the concerts become thoroughly acquainted with the used, played tenderly by those whom hard poverty restricts to choicest dramatic and orchestral compositions. This influence this imperfect gratification of their musical desires, or cruelly of the piano is not confined to them, but extends to all classes; thumped by others whose earthy souls have no music in them, and while considerable towns have often no orchestra, families no vivid imagination is needed to see the unhappy wandering possess the best possible substitute, making them familiar with instrument - a victim to players, owners, and cartmen - the finest composition. The study of such compositions, and bemoaning the memory of its earlier and more artistic days. the application necessary for their proper execution, may be and Old pianos can not disappear in crevices, as pins and needles ought to be made the means of greatly improving the general do; their natural destination is the lumber-room and garret, education, habits, and tastes of piano students, and thus exerting where dust and cobwebs and memories gather upon them, and an elevating influence in addition to that refined and elegant dreamy children steal to them and softly play imaginary pleasure which it directly dispenses.” melodies. Possibly the time may come when the rage for the antique, now expending itself upon pottery, will bring out the This just tribute to the piano may be set against the torture old pianos and give them market value, their unlikeness to the inflicted by soulless thrumming upon it by girls whose parents instruments then in use being sufficient to give them novelty - have selected it as what they shall “take,” in obedience to that for novelty is not newness but unfamiliarity. dictum of fashion that no female child must reach the age of matrimony without possessing an “accomplishment” wherewith The germ of the piano, as of all other stringed instruments, to exhibit to the casual visitor. Accomplished executants are was the first use of a stretched string to produce a sonorous few; those who play “a little,” but have expression and touch, vibration, and all that essentially distinguishes one from another are fewer; while the thrummers are a host. The usual course is the members of the family of stringed instruments is the method of setting the string in vibration. One legend relates that the 27 Squire of Lowe Degre" - a romannt of the fifteenth century - we are told that "There was' myrth and melody, With harp, getron, and saultry,

n,lANCUVlII; W"R"S. t~rt~:~~~~,t~Ut~[W:lJ~~tcT~~.\'Pc:~~~~I({~~ml'~)r.~~l~' r~;~l,. [~:~i:t;1::;rJ":-:~~~' With rote, ribible, and clokarde, J. With pypes, organs, and bumbarde, With other minstrels them amonge, With sytolphe and with sentry songe, With fydle, recorde, and dowcemere, With trompette, and with clarion clere, With dulcet pypes of many cordes." Next came the class of keyboard instruments which preceded the piano. The elavicitherium, or keyed eithara, , .... dllOllj .I"OXH$ OP llr.yl'1'I .....'1 IlAJ:n (ltf)~ILLIIU).. appearing about the year 1300, was a box with a cover. It had l.ttd 3. 'PItrn\ble Harpe ror ..mll~ QM. t, Orcllrdr..l lbrp. 4. Yrl)m palatiD' at Tbcl.lcs, oa ~b 01 RAmnc:1 111..

30 whoever is curious to study the mechanism must visit a factory, make even five fewer vibrations per second than it ought. Of or else examine the action when withdrawn from the case. course this result, during even a few months’ time, can be Essentially the instrument consists of a steel wire stretched attained only approximately, but the statement shows what an between two pegs above a sounding board; a long wooden lever exacting task of nicety and strength piano-making is. Hence all called a key; another called a hammer, which is thrown up wood must be thoroughly seasoned, first for several years in the against the wire by a third lever actuated directly by the key, open air, and finally by artificial heat. Under the sounding and called a jack; and a fourth lever, called a damper, whose board is the “bottom.” A solid mass of timber, and around the felt-covered head rests on the wire, except when the key is whole is the case. All this wood may be said to be not only pressed. But although simple in the number of its working solid, but solidified, for gluing, well done, surpasses the natural parts, the piano is complex in the number of pieces which adhesion of the grain in solidity and tenacity. Every piece of compose those parts. Tap the string with a knife blade or a bit wood is sawed with a view to strength in the place where it is to of wood, and it will be evident that neither of those will do, and go, and the case is “built up” of successive layers or veneers, that some peculiar implement is needed. The hammer the word “veneer,” in the piano-makers’ vocabulary, including represents more than a century’s experimenting. Its head is of any wood not thicker than about three-sixteenths of an inch. wood, covered with felt varying from about one-sixteenth to The subject of warping has been thoroughly studied: why one inch in thickness, the thickest part being on the end. To wood warps, how and for how long each kind warps, and how make hammer heads, a long strip of wood is taken, as thick as one warp may be made to neutralize another warp; consequent- the head is to be, and as wide as the head is to be long; the edge ly the several layers - with the direction of the grain so disposed of this is laid in the middle of a long strip of felt, which is that although each layer may warp, the result of all the warping shaved to the proper thickness; then a powerful press forces the shall be no warp at all - are hot-glued together under heavy edges of the felt strip against the wood, and glues them fast; pressure. No piece of wood is put in its place at random, but then the finished strip is sawn across into hammer heads. As the kinds are selected and disposed, and their grain laid in the the hammers diminish in size and in the thickness of covering precise direction which experience has proved to be the best. from the left to the right of the keyboard, of course one strip The product of a large factory employing, say, five hundred makes only duplicates of one hammer head. Dampers are made men, and every advantage of steam power and machinery, may in a similar way; and, all through the American rule of be about fifty or sixty instruments a week. A single one could manufacturing is followed, to wit, to make large quantities of be made alone in about four months, which is about the time of each particular part as exactly alike as possible, and then the regular course. The polishing alone occupies nearly that complete the work of putting the parts together. time, and in a large factory five hundred or mores cases are Originally the joint of the hammer was a mere strip of constantly under that process. The first coats of varnish, laid on leather; but this would not answer, for the key must work not the sand-papered wood, are taken off again with scrapers and only noiselessly, but always the same, as rapidly as the finger sand-paper, leaving only what has sunk into the wood; then can move without missing a stroke, and must respond with come many successive coats of varnish, at considerable delicacy to both the force and the manner of the finger stroke. intervals; and lastly, polishing by the hand. So each hammer has its own joint of wire, with a set screw to For materials used the whole earth is ransacked, as will be pinch the joint to the proper tightness; every joint in hammer understood from the following English list, although some of and damper, every pin on which the keys work, and nearly the materials differ from those employed in this country: every place where one thing rubs another, is “bushed,” or covered with felting or leather; then the working parts are all “oiled” with that wonderful substance, plumbago, which is Woods Where used extraordinarily smooth, but dry, and never clogs. Oak, from Riga ...... Framing, various parts. The sounding board is thin, clear spruce, seasoned to the Deal, from Norway ...... Wood-bracing, etc. extreme of dryness. The piano must endure the American climate, which unceasingly fluctuates in moisture and Fir, from Switzerland...... Sounding board. temperature, the latter sometimes changing five to thirty Pine, from America ...... Parts of framing. degrees within twenty-four hours; it must also endure the Mahogany, from Honduras ...... Cases and action. furnace and the stove; not only must it neither warp nor crack, but it must not “give,” or it is worthless. The steel wire has to Beech, from England...... Wrest-plank, etc. stretch a little in order to sound. Tie a long piece of string fast, Birch, from Canada ...... Belly-rail in framing. pull on the other end, and snap it with the fingernail; thus you Beef-wood, from Brazil...... Tongues in beam. will see how a string vibrates, and that every time it passes to one side of a straight line it elongates a trifle, but is Cedar, from America ...... Hammer shanks. immediately pulled back by its own elasticity. If the piano wire Lime, from England ...... Keys. were rigid, only a dull thud could be produced by striking it, but as it stretches a little when it vibrates, it also gradually “runs Pear ...... Damper heads. down” in pitch by this stretching, whether used or not. The Sycamore...... Hoppers and veneers. lower strings, being strained loosest, stand longest; the middle Spanish mahogany, from Cuba ...... Decorative. ones, being most used - that is stretched the most by being made to vibrate - yield their pitch the soonest. To stand in tune, Rose-wood, from Rio ...... Decorative. therefore, means that the slipping of the tuning pegs, the Satin-wood, from East Indies ...... Decorative. stretching of the wires, and the yielding of the framework, all White holly, from England ...... Decorative. combined - whether the air, which alternately slackens and tightens the strings a little as it grows warm or cold, be one way Zebra wood, from Brazil ...... Decorative. or another - shall not let any one of the hundred and sixty wires Other fancy woods ...... Decorative.

31 Woolen Fabrics Where used front board whatever name the dealer orders. Sometimes, as Baize ...... Cushions, dampers, above stated, the name used is that of some well-known maker, whose reputation has been bought and is scrupulously etc. maintained by honest workmanship. The quality must Cloths ...... Action, etc. correspond to the method. It is easy to make a piano that costs Felt...... Hammer covering. $500; and it is easy to make another, at a casual glance just like the first, for a quarter of that. Nor are the differences always perceptible at first by the average buyer; for while there is Leather Where used nobody who can not instantly see and appreciate differences in Buffalo and saddle...... Hammers. price, many can not judge quality. The cheap piano - roundly Basil, calf, doeskin, seal, declared to be as good an instrument as can be made any where - unquestionably has legs, cover, keys, strings, hammers, etc., sheep, morocco ...... Action. and it will “go.” What more can any have? Quality. Still, to Sole ...... Rings for pedal wires. the average buyer, any thing which has legs and a case is a piano. Metals Where used If the cheap piano would only remain as good as at first, it Iron, steel, brass, gun-metal ...... Bracing, screws, might answer quite well the needs of its purchaser, who can judge nothing but the price. Unhappily, however, it soon breaks springs, etc. through the disguise of varnish and veneer, and shows itself a Steel wire...... Strings. miserable rattle-box, to the grief of the owner. Steel spun wire ...... Wrapped strings. A good piano is carefully built of the best materials, and Covered copper wire ...... Lowest strings. formed into a solid and harmonious whole, the problem of durability being the exact and complex one already shown. Of course an instrument made up of parts constructed without Various Where used regard to anything but cheapness, and disposed of by persons Ivory ...... White keys. who have no interest in it after it is once sold, will soon yield to Plumbago...... Lubrication. strain and climate, becoming loose and weak in action, bad and weak in tone, and utterly incapable of remaining in tune. The Glue ...... Wood-work throughout. difference is wonderful between the six-octave, octagon-leg Beeswax, emery, sand-paper, piano of 1848 and its successor of 1878; and yet some of those French polish, oil, spirits, etc...... Cleaning and polishing. little old pianos, feeble and tinkling as they were, have shown an honorable durability, for they were faithfully made, In the sale of pianos there are fierce competition, large according to the state of the art at the time. They are really expenses, and a great deal of humbug. Awards are no test, worth more today than the imitation piano is in its best estate, although they may attract customers; and it would be a daring although it boasts all round corners and extra mouldings. act to attempt deciding which one of half a dozen makers did Probably good pianos cost more than they should, but bad ones receive “96 out of a possible 100” at the Centennial. On the are dear at any price, and the music-lover who has little money faith of testimony, all had it, all have received the first prizes, would do better to watch his opportunity for a good instrument and all have the endorsement of the most eminent musicians. at second-hand than to buy disappointment together with some The truth is that although there are preferences and room for shameless grand. preferences, the pianos of the half dozen best makers are of One of the most important parts of the piano is the pedal. such uniform and substantial excellence that whoever buys one, In the grand and upright pianos the “soft” pedal takes off one with or without seeing it, is certain to make no mistake. wire of the trichord; in squares it practically though badly Beyond this circle of established names and quality are much thickens the hammer covering; in the latter form it is nearly misunderstanding, disappointment, and positive deception. worthless. The forte pedal is always the effective thing. The Several firms are obliged to be constantly putting down piano is really a harp with dampers which stop the string as unprincipled persons who appropriate their names, generally soon as the key is released; the pedal simply raises all the with slightly changed spelling. The cheap dealer avers that no dampers from the strings, allowing the struck ones to continue piano costs over $200 to make, and that it is folly to pay a large sounding, their tone being increased by the sympathetic price for a name; but the “name” is only another word for vibrations of the rest. If, with the dampers raised, the frame be proved quality. One enterprising man advertises from a small struck, even with the hand, the murmurs of the wires show how village remote from centres of population that he will send a sensitive and sonorous the whole mechanism is. Now the pedal superb “extra grand square,” which he describes in the most is not a “loud” pedal at all. If not used, the instrument is lavish manner, the “regular catalogue price $900,” for only smothered and feeble, ineffective under the most skillful $260. It is perfectly safe to say that he has no factory, and that handling; if used wrongly, it produces a mere jumble of sound; his piano would really be dear at the price, and cost originally if used properly, it converts the short sound of the touch into a about one-half what he asks for it. How do the cheap pianos prolonged one, furnishing background and accompaniment to originate? There are about fifty different trades in the piano. It melody, and making the piano another instrument. By judicious is one business to make action, another to make cases, another use of it comes the “singing” characteristic so much lauded by to make keys, and so on. The cheap piano - its parts gathered manufacturers. up from the small shops of persons who have small capital, no All sound, musical or not, is a mathematical matter of so reputation to sustain, and are under constant pressure to lower many pulsations or waves of air per second. Beyond a certain the price of their work a notch more - is put together by point these waves become inaudible by their rapidity or their somebody who calls himself a manufacturer, and stencils on the slowness, and perhaps it is not too fanciful to consider “the

32 music of the spheres” a deep bass too slow for our ears to catch. the number as high as seventy-two. G sharp is not quite the Sonorous vibrations are estimated to be from 16 to 38,000 per same as A flat; but all keyboard instruments, except a few with second; the modern seven-octave piano extends from about 27 “split black keys, make them so. The violin, however, and the to 4200 per second. Upon the mathematic rule of vibrations is human voice can sound them differently. Starting with any key, constructed the theoretical scale, the following being the if the successive ones were tuned exactly to the theoretical “vibration fractions” of a single octave: scale, the end of the octave would be widely astray; hence each octave is tuned perfect, and the discordance so distributed over CD E F GABC the twelve notes that it is not especially observable anywhere. Unhappily, also, the so-called “concert” pitch has been 1/1 9/8 5/4 4/3 3/2 5/3 15/8 2/1 gradually rising; the tuning-fork A - the fifth A from the bottom in a seven-octave piano - has risen from 405 vibrations per The meaning of this is that D makes nine vibrations while second in Paris, in 1700, to about 450. The effect of this C makes eight; E makes five to four of C; and so on, the octave change upon the human throat is deplorably injurious. always having twice the speed of the eighth note below. Taking C at 240, the vibrations per second will be thus: In popularizing music the piano has had the chief share, notwithstanding its large cost and some defects. It has no CDE F GABC power of sustained full tone, its note being always a diminuendo; its intervals are less exact than those of the violin, 240 270 300 320 360 400 450 480 and it has no place in orchestras. Yet, next to the pipe organ, no single instrument equals it in rendering orchestral music or in The fraction of the minor third is 6/5, and its vibration its range of adaptability. Probably more than two hundred thou- number 288; the peculiar characteristic of the minor key - a sand compositions for the piano have been published in this characteristic so peculiar that even the most unmusical of country, and it may be practicable hereafter to make the people instantly recognize it, although barely able to distinguish instrument more widely attainable by decreasing its cost, one tune from another - thus mainly depends upon a difference although improvement of its scope and quality seems to have of only twelve vibrations per second. little left to do. But no thoroughly new musical instrument has The scale, both keyboard and vocal, is theoretically been invented in the last five thousand years; probably none imperfect. In order to play perfectly in tune in both major and exists to be invented. Come what may, the piano will minor modes of the seven “signatures,” twenty-nine instead of permanently keep its leading place as the instrument of the twelve keys in the octave are required, and some authorities put household. Watch Fobs Collection of Mr. John Winkel of Santa Barbara

Dear Robin, I was recently talking to a client of ours about collecting, etc. and he mentioned that he had a rather large collection of watch fobs. These were quite popular when many folks used pocket watches, and were used as an advertising medium. I asked whether he might have any fobs in his collection advertising pianos or player pianos, and he was kind enough to photograph some for me . . . it was an interesting juxtaposition between our two hobbies! Fondest regards, Jay Albert and Brian Meeder

33 Duo-Art Accordion Pneumatics Functional Aspects and Adjustment Criteria By David L. Saul From May/June 1993 AMICA Bulletin Selected by Tech Editor Jeffrey Morgan

The Duo-Art reproducing piano’s dynamic response results into compliance. Such fanciful extrapolations are, in depends to a large extent on performance characteristics (or fact, on very shaky ground from a technical point of view. idiosyncrasies, if you will) of its expression regulators. The (Evidence suggests that theme and accompaniment regulator less-than-ideal capacity of these venerable components to springs were the items more likely to have been factory-select- maintain set levels of pneumatic tension under conditions of ed for matching the characteristics of individual pianos, changing demands was lovingly accommodated by Aeolian accounting at least in part for today’s plethora of subtly differ- music roll editors, who simply adjusted the expression coding ent regulator springs.) until the music came out right. In practical terms, this meant increasing theme and/or accompaniment power as needed to Regarding the accordion pneumatics, all editions of the maintain a desired loudness level when larger numbers of notes Duo-Art service manual clearly state the following: were struck, and lowering power levels as needed when fewer 1. The four respective sections collapse 1/16”, 1/8”, notes were played. A Duo-Art piano’s dynamic response 1/4” and 1/2”, and further depends on interaction of theme and accompaniment regulators with the expression box spill, residual leakage, pedal 2. Factory settings should not be changed. operation, and many other system factors. To assure uniformi- ty, Aeolian produced test rolls (several different editions of which are extant) in which dynamic response was quantified in In his 1929 Duo-Art treatise published in The Tuner’s terms of note counts, pedal operation, and power levels applied. Journal, Wilberton Gould reiterates the ubiquitous caveat about When all factory instructions are carefully followed, the test leaving the factory settings undisturbed, and then goes on to roll serves as an indispensable tool for achieving musically declare that accordion pneumatics “...should be adjusted only satisfying results from a Duo-Art piano. If accordion by a set of accurate gauge blocks that are made for that pneumatics are not adjusted to factory specifications, however, purpose.” The times and circumstances of that treatise strongly test roll results may become misleading and possibly fail to suggest that Mr. Gould was describing the method of yield an accurate appraisal of a Duo-Art’s playing condition. adjustment preferred and used by Aeolian. Reasons for this will become clear as this article’s contents are The factory’s use of precision gauge blocks for adjusting read and understood. accordion pneumatics would have made sense in many ways. All expression components must function perfectly and Gauge block adjustments in general tend to be accurate and work together as a whole if the highest artistic potential of the consistent. Such a method would always result in identical Duo-Art is to be realized. This article deals specifically with travel for each pneumatic section at all three adjusting screw the accordion pneumatics, and how their adjustment (or locations, an important consideration in eliminating wobbles misadjustment) affects dynamic response. Hopefully the and unsteady motion during operation. The adjusting procedure information presented here will help to clarify topics that tend would have been quick and easy to learn, and skill requirements by nature to be somewhat obscure. Careful study confirms that would have been minimal. Factors such as these would be a sound technical basis exists for always keeping accordion especially significant in a production situation. travel exactly as specified in service publications. The accordion pneumatics for both theme and Aeolian’s explicitly stated and often repeated numbers for accompaniment regulation are constructed identically. The accordion travel remained unchanged in service publications same operating principles apply to both. Each has four throughout the Duo-Art’s production lifetime. In spite of this, collapsible sections of unequal size, corresponding to the 1, 2, advice touting “improved” accordion adjustment for alleged 4, and 8 power levels of the tracks that activate them. Taken as performance optimization (usually by forcing test roll results a unit (ignoring connecting linkages for now), each accordion during chord tests) continues to be propagated within today’s pneumatic is designed to produce linear motion (i.e., motion in Duo-Art community. Factory instructions (in contrast to more a straight line), the extent of which can be varied by collapsing recent publications) offer no suggestion that accordion travel its respective sections in various combinations. This linear might at some point have been customized to accommodate motion is additive, which means that total travel is the sum of individual piano characteristics, or that accordion adjustments the combined travel of the individual collapsed sections. The were fair game for “polishing” performance or coaxing test roll values of 1, 2, 4, and 8 assigned to each set of dynamic coding

34 tracks are recognizable as powers of two, with each number Accordion settings can be altered to force a change in double the one before. They can be written as 20 =1, 21 =2, dynamic response at a particular power level, but this tends to 22 =4, and 23 =8, respectively. Note that accordion motion cause problems at other power levels and distort the overall occurs in increments directly proportional to powers of two. shape of the buildup curve. Power levels adversely impacted These increments are measured in multiples of a sixteenth of an often turn out to be those not explicitly checked by the test roll. • inch. With each section traveling exactly double the one How out-of-spec adjustments can lead to insidious irregularities ~ before, properly adjusted accordion pneumatics move in direct can be appreciated by considering the following: When you proportion to the powers-of-two weighting (i.e., 1-2-4-8) of elect to change the travel of anyone of an accordion pneumat­ their respective dynamic tracks. The Duo-Art implementation ics four sections, you are changing not just one power level, but comprises basic elements of a binary-coded digital system, up eight of them. Each of an accordions sections reaches a to the mechanical interface with the respective theme collapsed state in exactly half of the total of 16 possible and accompaniment regulators (which are, of course, combinations, and remains open in the other half. These, as analog devices). well as the correct travel adjustments, are documented on page 6 of the 1925 Duo-Art service manual in the "Pressure Accordion pneumatics perform the critical function of Chart Showing Graduation Adjustments for Correct Settings". translating the music rolls coded theme and accompaniment levels into mechanical motion, which, in turn positions the There is a similar chart on page 16 of the 1927 Duo-Art knife valve heels of the respective regulators. Sixteen discrete service manual. positions (including the zero position) can be reached by each Graphic plots are useful for revealing exactly what happens of the accordions, with total travel extending to 15/16". (Note over the full range of travel when an accordions adjustments are that in-between positions are passed through "on the fly", and changed. The first plot presented here was done with the examples can be found in music roll coding in which factory recommended settings. This is followed by examples in in-between positions are accessed for subtle expressions which selected pneumatic sections were set to values deviating purposes; the sixteen positions, however, provide repeatable from factory recommendations. Settings were selected as might reference levels at closely spaced intervals.) Duo-Art service result from attempts to bring a test roll's chord tests into literature variously refers to the sixteen positions as loudness degrees, loudness gradations or dynamic gradations, and these compliance. To make these plots, an accordion pneumatics are enumerated from °through 15. They are also less formally travel behavior was modeled in Microsoft Excel, which is able referred to as power levels or loudness steps. to produce a new plot automatically each time an adjustment is changed. When this application is running on a computer, Motion applied by each accordion pneumatic to its results for all sixteen positions are instantly displayed whenever associated knife valve heel undergoes non-linear mechanical a data entry (representing an adjustment change) is revised in transformation in the connecting linkage. Beyond that point, the "ADJUSTED TO" column. The numbers in the column further system non-linearity influences pneumatic tension and labeled "TOTAL TRAVEL" indicate linear displacement at the loudness of struck notes. Clearly, however, under con- each of the loudness gradations. These become ordinate values ~rolled test conditions, loudness should build up evenly, as in the corresponding plots. The STEP SIZE column shows opposed to having abruptly large jumps between some steps, incremental changes between adjacent levels or gradations. and little or no change (or change in the wrong direction) between others. Readers may notice that certain decimal fractions shown All Duo-Art test roll editions contain chord tests to check with these plots display a greater number of significant places dynamic buildup for both theme and accompaniment. The than practical conditions might suggest. .This is a result of chord tests utilize "play" followed by "no-play" (or play very converting proper fractions (as given in Aeolian service softly) sequences of chords as quantitative checks of dynamic literature) to decimal form without rounding off, and is not buildup at power levels 0, 1, 2, and 4. This places them in the intended as a measure of accuracy or adjustment precision. dynamic scale's lower region, where interactions between note Figure 1 plots the behavior of a normal accordion counts and power levels are most critical. Level 3, however, is pneumatic, with travel of all four sections set to factory not explicitly checked, possibly because it is reached by specified values. Note that the resulting plot is smooth and lin­ collapsing 1 and 2 together, and each of those is checked ear. Each incremental step is the same size as all the others. separately. (The logic of implicity checking level 3 in this manner, as will be shown, is jeopardized if the intended This is the wayan accordion pneumatic should work. powers-of-two travel relationship is not preserved.) (See Figure 1) Note counts and pedaling vary somewhat for chord tests SECTION ADJUSTED TO: DEGREE DISPLACEMENT STEP SIZE found in various test roll o o editions, but they all work DUO-ART ACCORDION 1 0.0625 0.0625 basically the same way. Further TRAVEL 2 0.125 0.0625 0.0625 3 0.1875 0.0625 test roll sequences strike chords 4 0.25 0.0625 that repeat at several ascending 5 0.3125 0.0625 power levels, but these can 2 0.125 6 0.375 0.0625 7 0.4375 0.0625 accomplish little beyond 8 0.5 0.0625 confirming that each successive 4 0.25 9 0.5625 0.0625 chord sounds louder than the one 10 0.625 0.0625 11 0.6875 0.0625 " ."before. 8 0.5 12 0.75 0.0625 ~ 13 0.8125 0.0625 14 0.875 0.0625 Figure 1 15 0.9375 0.0625 Nonnal Duo-Art NOTE: All distances are TOTAL DISPLACEMENT: 0.9375 in inches. Factory value: 0.9375 35 SECTION ADJUSTED TO: DEGREE DISPLACEMENT STEP SIZE o o Figure 2 DUO-ART ACCORDION 1 0.0625 0.0625 TRAVEL 2 0.093 0.0305 Section Two Shortened 0.0625 3 0.1555 0.0625 1 4 0.25 0.0945 Notice that loudness degree' ~ 0.9 5 0.3125 0.0625 2 0.093 0.8 6 0.343 0.0305 4 is lower than 3, and 12 is 7 0.4055 0.0625 "2 0.7 lower than 11. In the middle := 0.6 8 0.5 0.0945 9 0.5625 0.0625 part of the loudness range, a 4 0.25 ..g 0.5 10 0.593 0.0305 .i 0.4 11 0.6555 0.0625 large jump upward occurs c 0.3 0.5 12 0.75 0.0945 between 7 and 8. If this particu­ 8 0.2 13 0.8125 0.0625 0.1 14 0.843 0.0305 lar adjustment had been done to o 15 0.9055 0.0625 o N -.:t co CD ~ ~ :! fake out a chord test at power 4,

NOTE: All distances are Loudness Degree TOTAL DISPLACEMENT: 0.9055 it would leave power 3 (which, in inches. Factory value: 0.9375 as mentioned earlier, is not Now let's create a hypothetical situation. Assume that the explicitly checked by the test test roll is running a play, no-play chord test at power lever 2 roll) in a too-high condition likely to wreak selective havoc (this could be either accompaniment or theme), and both sets of with musical performances. Sadly, that condition would remain chords, play and no-play, are playing distinctly. To counter this, forever undetected by the test roll, as would also the disturbing we reduce the travel of the power 2 (second) accordion section leap in power from 7 to 8, and the 11 to 12 intensity drop. by 1132". That's one full turn of each adjusting screw. Figure 2 shows the result. Although the test roll result now suggests that Another side effect of tampering with accordion adjustment chords are behaving as desired at power 2, the overall response is changing the total extent of travel, which is nominally 15/16" curve has taken on a serpentine shape. (Any resemblance to the with all sections collapsed. This is a factor in determining critter that sank its fangs into our music rolls is purely achievable dynamic range. Caution: don't try decreasing travel coincidental!) Serpent or no, notice that power level 4 remains in one pneumatic section to offset increasing in another, or vice unaffected by the adjustment performed thus far. versa. This only worsens the response curve's irregularities. (See Figure 2) Changes from factory recommended settings also tend to Moving ahead to the next chord test at power level 4, it's as disrupt the relationship of theme to accompaniment (i.e., theme likely as not that we'll again hear both sets of chords playing always one degree above accompaniment). With distinctly when the second should be a no-play. To appease the accompaniment following one sinuous buildup curve and theme test roll at this point, we trim the accordions power 4 section by another, the two will be prevented from maintaining a r--- 16%, or 0.040", thereby reducing that section's travel from consistent relationship over the full dynamic range. 0.250" to 0.210". This takes about one-and-a-quarter turns of each power 4 adjusting screw. Once again, the test roll is From a listener's point of view, effects of tampering with successfully faked out. Two of the four accordion sections are accordion adjustments are usually more subtle than dramatic, now mis-adjusted, and figure 3 shows the overall result. but they are very pernicious nevertheless. The Duo-Art's dynamic levels are many in number and closely spaced, and (See Figure 3) musical dynamics undergo continual and often complex There's an obvious hump in the curve, and one step has changes. As a result, uneven buildup may not be directly become excessively large. The level change from 7 to 8 is noticed as such during play. The human ear is more likely to more than four times as large as the step from 5 to 6. Dynamic respond to uneven dynamic buildup by interpreting musical buildup has acquired some serious irregularities, although test performances as mechanical sounding, poorly edited or roll results appear again to have improved. Why? Simply performed, or otherwise lacking in artistic quality. Dynamic because the test roll doesn't check for conditions caused by anomalies often affect certain rolls more than others, and it's cheating! It's much like fiddling with a bathroom scale's zero adjustment when you're weighing yourself. You can trim off or anyone's guess how many artists and music roll editors have add pounds as you like, but you can believe the indicated result been erroneously blamed for problems caused by "customized" at your own risk! accordion adjustments.

Further mis-adjustment can SECTION ADJUSTED TO: DEGREE DISPLACEMENT STEP SIZE actually cause changes in the 0 0 DUO-ART ACCORDION 1 0.0625 0.0625 wrong direction, with power TRAVEL 2 0.093 0.0305 decreasing on advancing steps. 1 0.0625 3 0.1555 0.0625 Figure 4 shows the result of 0.9 4 0.21 0.0545 0.8 5 0.2725 0.0625 2 0.093 6 0.303 0.0305 shortening the power 4 0.7 pneumatic sections travel by ~ 7 0.3655 0.0625 0.6 8 0.5 0.1345 30%, with the other three 4 0.21 i 0.5 9 0.5625 0.0625 normal. 10 0.593 0.0305 I ~:~ 11 0.6555 0.0625 (Figure 4) 8 0.5 0.2 12 0.71 0.0545 lr 13 0.7725 0.1 0.0625 14 0.803 0.0305 0 15 Figure 3 I 0 N ... to co 0.8655 0.0625 Sections Two and Four Shortened ~ ~ ~ NOTE: All distances are Loudness Degree TOTAL DISPLACEMENT: 0.8655 . in inches. FaClOry value: 0.9375 36 SECTION ADJUSTEO TO: DEGREE DISPLACEMENT STEP SIZE o o Figure 4 DUO-ART ACCORDION 1 0.0625 0.0625 Section Four Shortened by 30% TRAVEL 2 0.125 0.0625 0.0625 3 0.1875 0.0625 0.9 4 0.175 ·0.0125 time in the past, change or loss 0.8 5 0.2375 0.0625 2 0.125 6 0.3 0.0625 of elasticity for any reason, or 0.7 7 0.3625 0.0625 even degradation caused by elec­ lO.6 8 0.5 0.1375 4 0.175 ~ 0.5 9 0.5625 0.0625 troplating during restoration. lij 0.4 10 0.625 0.0625 (Some plating processes tend to ~ 0.3 11 0.6875 0.0625 8 0.5 0.2 12 0.675 -0.0125 ruin springs.) If one of the 0.1 13 0.7375 0.0625 springs is made of thicker wire 14 0.8 0.0625 o 15 0.8625 0.0625 or is stronger than the other, o N "'" CD co ~ ~ :! NOTE: All distances are Loudness Degree TOTAL DISPLACEMENT: 0.8625 make sure the stronger one is in inches. Factory value: 0.9375 installed on the theme side. What should one do, then, if one's Duo-Art stubbornly fails Regulator springs can be a seri­ chord tests when its accordion pneumatics are set to factory ous problem for Duo-Arts. If replacements are needed, the best recommended travel? First of all, make sure the tempo is set procedure in this day and age seems to be to try to find a pair of accurately, and follow the test roll instructions carefully. A originals that work well in your piano. If that isn't visual check of accordion operation may be helpful. Get under practical, you may be able to borrow a good pair and have the piano with a good light, and watch the accordions in a spring shop duplicate them for you. operation to make sure they do exactly what they are supposed In grand Duo-Arts, re-positioning the linkage that to do. Having an assistant at the controls to repeat desired transfers motion from each accordion pneumatic to its sections of the test roll can be very helpful at this point. Does respective knife valve arm can change the mechanical transfer each pneumatic section respond independently of the others? characteristic to the knife valve heel, and this may help in Do one or more sections respond slowly, possibly indicating obtaining a better dynamic buildup. This technique has been leakage or valve problems? Do both accordions consistently mentioned by Chester Kuharski in at least one technicalities return to their respective zero positions when released from article, and by this writer at the 1972 AMICA Convention in various states of collapse? Does the spill valve actuating lever Los Angeles. impede accordion travel to a noticeable extent? Does the manual control linkage interfere during normal Duo-Art Other factors, such as residual leakage (a proper amount of ~operatio~? Are both accordions able to complete their full which is expected in a normally operating Duo-Art), condition travel ummpeded? A useful technique for further checking is to of components, correct pump speed, possible binding of manual stop the roll with blank paper on the tracker bar and pull off control linkage, tension on the accordion pneumatic return tracker bar tubes at the accordion valve box. (Be sure to label springs, and many, many more such items can influence results these in advance if you remove more than one tube at a time!) obtained. Check all of these things to the best of your ability. You can step an accordion through its full count by removing But to insure top results, set all accordion adjustments correctly, and replacing tubes in various combinations. Be objective. If if they aren't already, and once they are right, leave them alone, something is wrong at this level, the piano is never going to as the Service manual instructs. play well until the problem is fixed. For the sake of completeness, readers should be aware that If the piano action is well regulated, Duo-Art components accordion travel can be reduced or increased without loss of are problem free, and theme and accompaniment zero levels linearity if the powers-of-two relationship is strictly maintained, can be set to maintain their state of adjustment without undue i.e., each section's travel after the smallest must be exactly difficulty, one available avenue would be to try a small change double its predecessor. For example, settings of .05", .1", .2", of theme and/or regulator spring tension. The service manual and .4" would yield a linear build up curve, but total travel allows this, within prudent limits, and it can make a difference. would be only .750". This would perhaps be less harmful to a Tightening up a regulator spring just a bit and subsequently Duo-Art's response than certain other pitfall-ridden schemes resetting the zero level causes the knife valve to seek a new that have found their way into practice, but dynamic range zero position, from which the buildup characteristics may be would be curtailed. Greater than standard travel should be more favorable. Remember, too, that chord test instructions avoided because of the possibility of exceeding the normal indicate that certain sequences should "not play or barely play". operating range of the knife valve and its connecting linkage. Overzealous individuals sometimes ignore the second part of Abiding by documented factory settings remains the best and that instruction. Read the instructions carefully. Hearing some safest course to follow, and is the recommended course of notes play very softly does not necessarily signify test failure! action. Hearing all of them play at mezzo forte, of course, is another Perfect accordion pneumatics will, of course, never make a ~atter. Soft and loud are subjective, but why not? Music itself Duo-Art outshine it's peers as long as other parts remain in ':-,.../:is subjective, as are Duo-Art loudness degrees. Try to use need of attention. But the accordions are critically important, 'reasonable and prudent judgment. and results made possible by putting them in good working One or both expression regulator springs may need order and keeping them in proper adjustment will be an replacement because of stretching beyond elastic limits at some important step toward a better Duo-Art.

37 Ode to the piano Three hundred years after its invention, the piano remains a dream machine of pleasure, power and domestic harmony. Just the thing for the start of a little girl’s music education.

By Robert Everett-Green, Music Critic Reprinted with permission from “The Globe and Mail” • July 22, 2000, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Sent in by Ray Parkinson

The piano emerged from the van strings in a reinforced case could, swaddled in blankets like an old unlike the plucking mechanism of a invalid, and teetered up the walk harpsichord, be played louder or on a small battered dolly. I had softer with more or less force (hence expected the movers to bring a steel the name, which means soft-loud). ramp to bridge the steps in front of His achievement and its effects are our house. Instead, they bent over being marked by a spate of books and and heaved at the upright with all museum exhibitions, including a their might, while I waited in horror lavish year-long display at for their backs to explode. The piano the Smithsonian Institution in wobbled, then rose, and in a few Washington, and an illuminating minutes was rolling across the floor 461-page doorstop called Piano into its pre-ordained niche in the roles: Three Hundred Years of Life dining room. With the Piano. “She’s a heavy one,” gasped the As the book makes clear, older of the pair. “Eight or nine Cristofori’s contemporaries didn’t hundred pounds easy.” I tipped them quite know what to do with the piano. 20 bucks, the minimum my It took a later generation to recognize middle-class guilt would allow. the instrument’s character, and its capacity to express a robust romantic After they left, my wife and I spirit. surveyed our new acquisition, which I had bought at an auction on the “The piano began its true career hunch that our six-year-old daughter as the instrument of men and women might like piano lessons. It was who lived in the age of Napoleonic old but well preserved, and its imperialism,” writes novelist Antho- imposing bulk was softened by ny Burgess, who was also a keen hand-carved leafy ornaments. Its pianist. “If the harpsichord is the dark, reddish-brown exterior Alexander Pope of music, the piano matched the high baseboards of our Marvis at the keyboard of her family’s upright piano, is its Lord Byron.” made by the Bell Organ and Piano Co. of 1908 house perfectly. It made the Guelph, Ont., in 1901 room feel instantly more like home, Like a Bryonic hero, the piano in particular the kind of cozy Victorian home idealized in the stormed through the European novels of Charles Dickens. continent during the 19th century, bolstering the new cult of individualism and helping to expand the social world of the That’s when I began to realize that we hadn’t just bought middle class. A pianist, Franz Liszt, invented the solo concert an instrument, but a dream machine. Without yet making a recital, and touring virtuosi like him were the precursors of sound, our piano had already begun to work on our today’s pop stars. Before Liszt, high-class instrumentalists had imaginations, reviving some deep inherited faith that a piano in mostly been lackeys attached to royal courts. By the middle of the parlour means harmony in the household. the century, the exploits of freelance star pianists were being described like heroic, often sexual conquests. I’ve been thinking about pianos a lot since that day last winter, especially about the piano’s ability to play on our minds. “[Liszt] is an amiable fiend who treats his mistress - the Its elaborate innards, made from 10,000 parts or more, are piano - now tenderly, now tyrannically, devours her with kisses, designed to promote the illusion that hammers bouncing off lacerates her with lustful bites,” wrote one commentator, who metal strings can sing as smoothly as a voice or violin. But could almost have been writing about rockabilly star Jerry Lee some of the instrument’s most potent illusions are not primarily Lewis. Liszt’s macho dominance was enhanced by the fragility musical. In its 300-year career, the piano has also helped us of the pianos of his time, which often broke under the pianist’s display our need to be seen as powerful, respectable, or sexy. assault. Makers rushed to toughen and enlarge the instruments, ultimately by installing iron frames that could withstand heavier The pianoforte was invented in 1700 by a Florentine strings and greater tension. As it grew stronger, the piano named Bartolomeo Cristofori, who realized that hammered followed imperial armies into colonial territories, where trees

38 were often felled and elephants yield to its synthetic cousins. According to Michael Remenyi, a killed to provide wood and leading Toronto instrument retailer, piano sales have held their ivory for more pianos. own against electronic keyboards, even though a new mid- range upright costs $5,000 to $8,000, and a grand up to The piano reached Canada $20,000. People still want the touch, the tone, and the fantasy in the 1780s, when only the value of a real piano. wealthiest could afford the shipping. Those costs, and “It’s such a beautiful sound,” said Erika de Vasconcelos, a tariffs at the American border, Toronto novelist whose daughter takes lessons at the same helped create a robust piano studio as Mavis. “It’s a sound that fills you up instantly. Canadian industry. One of the It’s also very satisfying for kids, because it sounds great right leading makers was the Bell away. With a violin, it’s much harder.” Organ and Piano Co., which Like us, de Vasconcelos has bonded with her piano as an made our upright piano at its object. The old piano makers often began as furniture makers - Guelph, Ontario, factory in a sequence followed in the 1980s by the Italian company 1901. The industry was then Fazioli, which recently made a grand for Canadian soloist approaching its zenith - a Angela Hewitt - but unlike a table or chair, a piano is furniture decade later, 30,000 pianos a with soul. year were made in Canada. “Even if [my daughter] stopped playing, I wouldn’t get rid Those instruments followed of it,” said de Vasconcelos. “It’s like part of the family.” the new national railway across the country, their sales That’s why there’s something peculiarly sad about a piano fuelled by touring virtuosi (the that has run its course. I felt that at the auction viewing, as I piano industry virtually invent- tested keyboards and peered into the guts of some 20 or 30 ed the celebrity endorsement) instruments. Many were savage old relics, dead to all musical and slogans such as A Piano in purposes, like corpses already shut in their coffins. Every Parlour and Music in the A piano technician came to our house last week, and con- Home. Like a radio in the firmed the relative good health of our instrument. A new 1920s or a TV in the 1950s, a Steinway would sound smoother and richer, but aside from the piano in Victorian Canada was expense factor, I like owning an old piano. I enjoy knowing also a sign that you had made that Canadian artisans put it together, at a time when the piano it. was an all-round mediator of pleasure, power and cultural Once in the parlour, the ambition. Like the pianos in several recent films - Titanic or piano was the domain of The Piano - our old instrument has become a nostalgic link with young middle-class women, a vanished order, even while it opens a portal into a wider who were expected to entertain world. the household and attract suitors with their playing, just Key Facts like the fictional heroines of • Tension exerted by the strings of an average piano, in Jane Austen and William tonnes: 20 Thackery. “No young lady was spared the lessons • Thrust required to lift a jet off the ground, in tonnes: 20 necessary to acquiring a basic skill in the rendition of dance • Range of the oldest known piano, a Cristofori made for and parlor pieces,” according the Medicis: 4 1/2 octaves to the Encyclopedia of Music • Range of a modern Steinway “D” concert grand: in Canada. 7 1/3 octaves We don’t have those expec- • Canadians employed in the manufacture of pianos in tations of Mavis, our 1925: 5,000 six-year-old. I also wouldn’t wish for her the life of a • Percentage of new pianos sold in Canada that are professional musician, which imported: 100 Illustrations from Piano was my life before I began by David Crombie, GPI Books writing articles like this one. • Pianos built annually by Italian manufacturer Fazioli, (1995) Our interest in her music which does everything by hand: 60 education has more to do with • Number built annually by Yamaha, which uses robots: her own pleasure in singing, and the notion that the discipline 130,000 and imagination involved in making music may serve her well in other things. We settled on the piano because it seems so all- • Number of player pianos produced in the U.S. in 1925: encompassing, and in a way, so unavoidable. 169,000 Many other parents have made the same decision. • Number of conventional pianos produced in the U.S. in Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music will administer about that year: 137,000 80,000 piano examinations this year, twice as many as in all other instruments, including voice. And while Canadian piano • Market debut of the first electric piano, made by factories like Bell or the Fictional Wyatt Company in Timothy Bechstein: 1930 Findley’s novel The Piano Man’s Daughter have all disappeared, the piano has survived predictions that it would * Various sources 39 PEOPLE

Gaylord Carter Theater Organist, Master Composer for Silent Classics By Myrna Oliver TIMES STAFF WRITER From Los Angeles Times, December 4, 2000 Sent in by Bill Blair

Gaylord Carter, who In 1994, when Carter’s playing gave sound to silent had been curtailed movies as his fingers somewhat by stroke, the Con- danced over the multiple servancy hired another organist keyboards of massive but made Carter its guest of theater pipe organs honor for a showing of “Ben imitating everything from Hur,” a film and score he knew a gong to a glockenspiel, by heart. When it opened in has died. He was 95. 1926, the film lasted six straight months at the Million Dollar Carter, one of the Theater on Broadway, and country’s best-known Carter was at the console every theater organists for single night. eight decades, died Nov. 20 in his Richard “I was bowled over by it . . . a Neutra-designed home on Gaylord Carter, in mid 1990’s photo, played for L.A. Conservancy’s phenomenal score,” he told The a San Pedro bluff “Last Seats on Broadway” screenings. Times in 1994. “The music for overlooking the ocean. He the gallery slave scene is had suffered a stroke in 1993 and also had Parkinson’s disease. tremendous.”

Performing from the age of 10 until about five years ago, Carter composed much of the music he played to Carter played in churches, in cavernous movie palaces, on accompany films, and drew heavily onclassical pieces. Film radio, on television, and again in the theaters as silents enjoyed reels were distributed, he said, with thematic cue sheets for the a resurgence. He left, as he put it, “a little legacy” in the 1980s organist or pianist, indicating whether the picture was a when Paramount asked him to score a dozen silent film clas- comedy or drama or cowboy picture, and including a few bars sics for home video. of suggested music for major scenes.

Carter, who played across the United States, Europe and “The first time through, I’d have to wing it,” he said. “But Australia, was named organist of the year by the American if there was a bugle call or a steamboat whistle, at least I’d Theatre Organ Society and inducted into its Hall of Fame in know it was coming.” 1975. Bringing the musical pipes of Southern California to In recent years, the white-haired musical sprite delighted lyrical life, Carter accompanied the 1927 “The Student Prince” the thousands of Los Angeles area movie and architecture buffs among others at the Orpheum and the 1925 “The Phantom of who trekked downtown annually for the Los Angeles the Opera” at the First Congregational Church in Long Beach Conservancy’s “Last Seats on Broadway” series screening of and the Avalon Theater on Santa Catalina Island. He played silent film favorites. Forest Lawn’s Wurlitzer for the Burbank Symphony Orchestra and played other fabled organs in San Pedro’s Warner Grand The late Times columnist Jack Smith, observing Carter at Theater, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, the San Gabriel Civic the Orpheum’s organ during the series’ onset in 1987, wrote: Auditorium, the Seeley G. Mudd Theater in Claremont and the “Like the organ itself, Carter is a national treasure and ought to Crystal Cathedral in Orange Grove. be designated a historical monument.”

40 Gaylord Carter continued Theater Organist, Master Composer for Silent Classics

MASTER OF SPECIAL EFFECTS

Carter also taught younger people to play, warning they Hired in 1926 for $110 a week, the 21-year-old Carter had little chance of making a living as theater organists. dropped out of pre-law studies at UCLA to play the organ full During the silent era, about 7,000 of the gigantic organs were time. Asked by a UCLA counselor if his reasons for leaving built, he often lamented, but only about 100 survive and many were financial, Carter said: “Yes, I’m making too much of those are relegated to restaurants and pizza parlors. money.” He put a brother and sister through college, but he himself never graduated. The keyboard was Carter’s life-long playground, and he used it as a whole special effects studio for silent films - Lloyd often kibitzed with Carter about the music for his thunderous music for battles, ominous chords for villains, trick comedies, telling him, “Gaylord, when they’re laughing, play sounds for punch lines. softly. It’s when they’re not laughing that I need you.”

“At its best, the music if felt but not noticed,” he once told When Carter swung into “Time on My Hands” during The Times. “When it’s right, you should lose yourself in the Lloyd’s classic scene dangling from a skyscraper clock in picture.” “Safety Last,” Lloyd drolly told the organist: “Gaylord, I’ll do the jokes.” Born in Weisbaden, Germany, August 3, 1905, Carter immigrated to Wichita, Kansas, where his father became a As sound pictures developed during the late 1920s, Carter church organist and his mother taught piano. kept his steady job at the Million Dollar and later at the Paramount playing for intermissions and for audience “I got my training by absorption when I was a child,” he sing-a-longs. once told The Times, adding that he did take six months of piano lessons and six months of organ lessons. But by 1935, he moved into radio, with his own “Prelude to Midnight” program on Los Angeles’ KHJ and At age 10, young Carter was playing the organ in accompanying several network shows. Most memorably, for Wichita’s Congregational Church, and at 14, he played for seven years he played “The Perfect Song” to introduce the children’s matinees in a theater there. popular show “Amos ‘n’Andy.”

In 1922, when Carter was 16, the family moved to Los During World War II, Carter was a Naval motion picture Angeles. Then a student at Lincoln High School in Lincoln officer in the Aleutians, joking that he was “the Louis B. Heights, the teenager got into theater accompaniment for silent Mayer of Alaska.” films for lack of a dime. Returning to Los Angeles, he played for radio’s “The Unable to afford a ticket to see a movie at his Whistler,” “Suspense” and a show called “Bride and Groom” neighborhood theater, he asked if he could play the music for and later for television’s “Pinky Lee Show” and others. He it. He was hired and watched many movies as he played. also had his own local show, “Everybody Sing with Gaylord” on KCOP Channel 13. Later, at the Seville Theater in Inglewood, Carter was accompanying “The Kid,” a comedy starring Harold Lloyd, In the late 1950s, Carter formed a production company, when the star himself came in to see how the film was doing. “Flicker Fingers,” that helped prod the revival movement of Lloyd was so impressed with Carter’s playing that he made silent films, which put him back in the old theaters he loved. him his personal organist and recommended him for a position at the prestigious Million Dollar Theater at Third Street and Services for the lifelong bachelor were December 12, Broadway. 2000 at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach, 241 Cedar Avenue, Long Beach, California.

41 members talked to each other or went on a tour of Richard’s Victorian home. Richard spent most of his time talking and cooking. By 11:00 p.m. most members started to leave. Another great Christmas Party for the Founding Chapter of News AMICA in San Francisco, California. From The Chapters

FOUNDING CHAPTER Reporter: Thomas J. McWay III President: Bing Gibbs - 408-253-1866

Our December Christmas meeting was held again at Richard Reutlinger’s home in San Francisco on December 9, 2000. Our get together lasted from 7:30 to 11:00 p.m. Richard’s Victorian home has been featured in several magazines for outstanding Victorian furnishings and he has received many awards for Victorian Home Restoration. The first hour members relaxed and had eggnog and light snacks. About 30 members showed up tonight for our year-end meeting. There was constant Christmas music from the player piano in the living room which was very enjoyable for everyone. Most of these rolls were made in the 1920’s. There was no formal meeting tonight, everyone just relaxed and had a good time together. About 8:30 p.m. downstairs where Richard has about eight player piano of all kinds, we saw and old silent movie about “The Great Train Robbery” made in 1911. While the movie was being shown, a player piano with lots of sound effects provided great special effects. They don’t show movies like this anymore. Great to see this again. After the movie, many people stayed and listened to other player pianos in this big room. Dinner was served about 9:00 p.m. and was very good as usual, with Richard’s home cooking. During this time

42 43 SIERRA-NEVADA CHAPTER Reporters: Doug and Vickie Mahr President: John Motto-Ros (209) 763-9252

The annual holiday gathering of the Sierra-Nevada Chapter took place on December 10, 2000, at the Orangevale, California home of Doug and Vickie Mahr. Seventeen chapter members came dressed in their holiday best (Rudolph ties, Santa hats, musical ties, and red and green everything). Each brought a gift for the annual gift exchange, and each was encouraged to bring their favorite Christmas roll, tell why it was their favorite, and then play the roll on the appropriate Ampico, Duo-Art, Wurlitzer, 88-note or Seeburg piano, or Victor I gramophone. Even the holiday AMICA meeting had a business meeting to elect the local chapter officers for the next two years and plan the program of work.

44 A beautiful piano quilt made by Marilyn Moodie of Belmont, California, adorns the Mahr collection. President, John Motto-Ros; Vice president, Sonja Lemon; Secretary/Treasurer- Doug and Vickie Mahr; Reporter-Nadine Motto-Ros. A major focus of the Sierra- Nevada Chapter for the year Tom Hawthorn and John Motto-Ros talking about 2001 is to expand exposure Tom’s Christmas musical piano tie. to automatic instruments and AMICA by placing instruments in high traffic venues such as local museums. Chapter members will play the instruments and provide personalized information on the weekends. The gift exchange was entertaining and lively, but not as aggressive as in previous years. Even though each member had an opportunity to “take” another’s gift, it rarely happened on this day. The finale of the day’s activity was a catered dinner featuring ham, garlic potatoes, carrots, salad, breads, filo bread, spinach dish and desserts. It has been a most successful and gratifying year for George Cunningham, Doug Mahr, Tom and Virginia Hawthorn the Sierra-Nevada AMICA Chapter and its members. The listening to the 20 3/4” Regina. challenges and opportunities for 2001 will be met with enthusiasm and persistence.

John Motto- Ros and guest, Dave Moreno, talking “Santa Claus.” Nadine Motto-Ros, Sonja Lemon, and Sharyn Cunningham are preparing for the arrival of the hors d’oeuvres.

Fred Deal pushes on the sound effects pedals of the Wurlitzer G “Take a number for the gift exchange, George.” photoplayer while Sonja Lemon sees if they work.

45 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHAPTER Reporter: Shirley Nix President: James Westcott

August Meeting Well, I had one of those “senior moments” when we left for the meeting, (I seem to have them a lot lately!) and I forgot one little detail . . . my camera. I need to thank Bill Whitney, who came to my rescue and the pictures you see here are all from him. Los Angeles has been having a heat wave for weeks now, and temperatures in the Valleys have been over 100 along with some unusual (for us) humidity. With that in mind, our meet- ing on August 12 and 13 was a welcome respite from all that. The AMICAns eating - we do that so well! We had a weekend meeting, starting at the home of Jay Albert and Brian Meeder on Saturday. This was a great way down the noise. (Jim was sure this kid probably drives around to start off the weekend. Jay and Brian have two excellent with rap music rattling the every window on every block for a reproducing pianos and a collection of rolls for both pianos half-mile radius, but that’s another story.) Jim assured him that that is amazing. Whether you prefer Ampico or Duo-Art, the he was where he was assigned and wasn’t moving until “the music was there to enjoy. Both pianos were in good voice, and man in charge” moved him. what an enjoyable way to spend a few hours. The next visitor was a Security Guard, who told Jim he Along with the music, they had set out a couple of photo- had to move . . . Again, Jim told him he was there at the direc- graph albums which were just fascinating. One was dated tion of “the man in charge”. from the time Southern California received its’ charter. This A little later, the State Police drove up and asked Jim if it was a real historical doc- were true that he refused to move????? Jim assured him that ument for our chapter, no, he was just waiting for “the man in charge” to tell him to and got a lot of attention. move. As they talked, someone mentioned that about six feet The other was from the away was Federal property and “if” he were assigned to be Southern California Con- there no one could do anything about it. vention in Pasadena. A Well, this wasn’t “the man in charge,” but Jim figured it lot of familiar faces, was the next best thing, and he really wasn’t into the idea of a some still around, some ride in a State Police car, so he moved to the Federal property, gone to other areas or and pointed the organ right toward the bicycle shop and played passed along. the rest of the time that way. We never did find out exactly From there we went to who “the man in charge” was! find lunch along the way That pretty well closed our business meeting - how do you to the Westcott’s home in follow a story like that? So back to the instruments. Brian Meeder and Jay Albert relaxing Lompoc. Those of us at dinner after their open house. who had been there When it got close to six, we all drove to a nearby park for before were eager to see a catered BBQ dinner. There was food galore, and it was deli- the place again. Jim and Caroyl have the nicest view I have cious. Everyone ate until they couldn’t eat any more, and then seen anywhere. The house perches on a hill, and stretched out back to the Westcott’s for a concert on their newest acquisition below is the Lompoc area, including some flower fields with - an Allen electronic home organ. the mountains in the background. beautiful. Every window of What an instrument! This organ doesn’t take up a whole the house gives true meaning to the term “picture window”. lot of room as many organs do, but it plays like a small theater Jim and Caroyl have some marvelous instruments, includ- organ. Jim had a whole range of music to play for us, and ing a Dutch Street Organ, a Bruder, a De Cap, and the Veronica everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly. The organ really Dutch Organ. All of them were playing beautifully, and we fills the room when it plays, and we felt we could spend a made a very appreciative audience in the music room. whole day out there enjoying it. It’s a For those who preferred to stay outside, the Pell Organ pleasing, uplifting mounted on a golf cart decked out to be a miniature fire truck sound. played. This is the organ Jim brings to our organ rallies, and it’s a good one!!! The next morning we got up bright and We had a short business meeting, and who could have early and went to the guessed this would be so entertaining! home of Doug and At the end of the meeting, Jim entertained us with the tale Audrey Mussell in of his adventure at the Train Museum in Sacramento. He was set up and playing his Pell organ when a young man from the Douglas and Audrey bicycle shop came over and told him he had to move or turn Mussell

46 Our next meeting will be October 27 at the Riverside home of Reese and Terry Banister. A little prior to that, our annual band organ rally in Fullerton for the Arborfest will be October 13-14. Both these events promise to be very enter- taining. This will probably be our last organ rally of the year. The December meeting is not really set yet, but will probably be a repeat of last year, with dinner at the Sagebrush Cantina and the meeting at the Nix home nearby.

October Meeting October 22nd found the Southern California Chapter head- ing for Riverside for a meeting at the wonderful Victorian home of Reese and Terry Banister. It was a beautiful, breezy day with the sun shining, and the weather was warm and The Westcott’s newest toy - the Allen electronic balmy. A lovely Southern California Day. home organ Santa Maria. Doug and Audrey have a great music room filled Reese and Terry have restored the home, and it is wonder- with all sorts of instruments. They have a reproducing piano, a ful, with carpet, wallpaper, moldings, and all the extras done to Mills Violano, a Seeburg K, a Wurlitzer D, a Western Electric perfection to make a home that is a treat to see. There were Selectric, and others. Enough to make a lot of music, and semi-tours run through the house, and we were free to wander enough to keep up happy. on our own. Doug and Audrey are wonderful hosts, Audrey kept the The Banisters are well known, extremely fine piano restor- food flowing. She is such a lot of fun to talk to that many of us ers, and they put on a program in the music room demonstrat- stayed outside on the patio where we could enjoy the music ing the different types of reproducing piano systems. This was and Audrey at the same time. an interesting and enjoyable program. They started off with the Artrio-Angelus, played on a 1924 Hallet Davis, 5’8”. Next From the Mussell’s home, most of us drove over to was a 1920 A.B. Chase upright, playing an added Recordo Solvang to visit the antique center and wander the town. Solvang is a tourist area, with lots of antique stores. One of particular interest is the store owned by Ron and Julie Palladino. This one specializes in clocks and music boxes, along with other fine antiques. It’s always a treat just to wan- der through the aisles soaking up the atmosphere.

The camera shy guy is Jim Newman, in the center is Allan Lifson and their friend Corey. “C”, followed by a late Ampico A with Artecho added to a 1920 Knabe 6’4”. For the Duo-Art system, a 1928 Steinway, AR 7’ displayed its power and style. Last, but certainly not least, a 1924 Baldwin 6’3” played Welte-Mignon Licensee rolls.

Bill Blair and Jean Hurley admiring the view from the Westcott’s patio.

Richard Rigg, a long-time member of the Southern Cali- fornia Chapter, is now working for Ron and lives in nearby Buellton. We were fortunate to find him in the store, so we got to have a good visit. The Southern California Chapter misses Dick, but we are all glad to find him so happy in his new sur- roundings. After our visit to Solvang, we had to wend our merry way home to the extreme heat. The whole weekend had seen just nice weather, with a little breeze, and perfect temperatures. Boy, does our president know how to plan a meeting or what??? Our hosts Terry and Reese Banister with our President, Jim Westcott in the middle. 47 Mary and Weldon Clegg and Diane Reidy. Sonja Bartsch, Roy Beltz, and Mary and Ben Lilien. Everyone was saddened by the sudden death of Millie Rigg, mother of Richard Rigg. Millie has been a fixture for a First and foremost, all the pianos were performing at their long time at the meetings, although since she and Richard peak, being properly regulated, restored and voiced. The play- moved north to Buellton, we haven’t seen so much of her. er mechanisms had been correctly restored and regulated to the pianos. It was a treat to hear all these pianos in peak condition When Frank and I joined AMICA, Millie was the one who in one room. took us in hand at our first meeting, taking us around and mak- The music was, I’m sure, chosen to highlight each differ- ing sure we met people before she left us. That’s the way she ent system. It was well chosen and very pleasant to hear. This was - a super lady. program took a lot of time to put together, and was extremely We are starting to look toward dues collection, and this well done. was brought up at the meeting. We’d like to see all the dues The Banisters have our thanks for their hospitality and the paid before the end of the year. If you are going to dream, quality of the program. People came long distances to this dream big, right? meeting and the good turnout showed the respect and apprecia- tion for this type of workshop. We had another organ rally in Fullerton at the Arborfest this year. They really enjoy having us, and have great feed- A special thanks, too, to Jim Westcott, our esteemed presi- dent who has been lining up some super programs for our back from the public. It’s a lot of fun for us, too, with an meetings this past year. appreciative audience each year. When the program was over, Ron Sanchez sat down at the This year, Frank had just had his hip done, so we couldn’t Aeolian Orchestrelle and played a wide assortment of music. really participate, but we did manage to get out and walk It’s always nice to have such a good turnout, and to see around. It’s the first time we have had time to actually sit and some faces who haven’t been around much lately. Our chapter listen to the instruments, and we enjoyed that. Thanks to has been hit with a rash of various operations and illnesses everyone who brought their instruments. I didn’t get any pic- lately, with Lloyd Osmundson and Frank Nix having new tures this year, and I apologize for that, but I’ll make up for it hips installed. (Caroyl Westcott is next - she’s having hers next year. done in January.) At this rate, we may have to rename our The city of Orange has asked us to do a small rally again chapter to “The Bionic Automatic Music Collectors Club” or in February. That will be fun, although a lot of us will be in “Bam” for short. Australia, and that’s just too far to commute. Our Vice-president, Jackie Porter, had some serious surgery, but seems to be on the mend - she’s hard to keep down!

Ruth and Steve Walker, and our youngest AMICA The Music Room. aficionado-Jennifer. 48 The rallies have brought us some new members, and a lot of interest. We always try to encourage interested parties to join. Let’s fact it, we really need new members if the organization is to flour- ish. Our next meeting will be our Christmas meet- ing at the home of Frank and Shirley Nix, with dinner at the Cantina Restaurant. We will, as always, The Weber Unika decorated for the holidays. invite MBSI to join us, journeyed out to the and it’s always a lot of Music House for the fun. rest of the evening, and it takes that long to fin- The wonderful Victorian fireplace in the house. ish out the meeting. What a pleasant group December Meeting to spend the time with We keep reading about all the bad weather back east, but - we are all so lucky in we don’t allow that out here. Our December/Christmas meet- our friends who have ing on December 16th found a pleasant, sunny day for our fes- the same interests and tivities, as usual. enjoy sharing their We had dinner at the Sagebrush Cantina early, with our time with us. host Bob McCord and his crew again feeding us like royalty, Out in the Music and entertaining us with a Verbeeck Monkey Organ. In fact, I House, our newest think a lot of members thought they could work off the calories acquisition, an Imhof- from the dinner by cranking the organ - sure! Mukle Tribute, com- It was a lot of fun, and the organ furnished us with music plete with erupting to din by, plus Bob brought some other fun items in for our volcano, was waiting amusement and appreciation. to entertain the group. It was in good voice, After dinner we all proceeded over to the Nix house. We and got played a lot. It had decorated for the holidays, of course, and I had my Christ- has the European mas Village out, which got a lot of attention. It’s another one Mike The Imhof-Mukle sound, and - the newest member of the Nix family. of those things that started small and just grows and grows. Argain had done his Frank says we are going to lose the whole living room to it in usual magic job of restoring it. When we bought it, there was a time. This from one collector to another????? LOT of work to do, both on the cabinet and the organ itself. In the house our guests were treated to the sounds of the There are a few other things in the Music House as well, Weber Unika, which was new since last year. It was sent over including the ever-popular Duwyn Café Organ, the Carl Frei from Germany, and is a favorite of ours. It is a beautiful addi- Dutch Street Organ, a wide range of violanos (There is a story tion to the living room, and the music is wonderful without to that, but oh, well it’s too long for this article.), a Wurlitzer being overbearing. BX, a Cremona Midget, the Mortier 80-key Dance Organ, the If the guests got bored with that there was always the Ramey Banjo-Orchestra, a wonderful very large organ music Steinway Duo-Art Grand. Lowell Boehland took charge of box, and a few other things thrown in for good measure. All in playing that, and did a all, there seemed to be something for everyone. good job of selecting Our meeting found Bill Blair, our nominating chair, ready nice music. There with his slate of prospective officers, which was unanimously were also various accepted and voted in. Actually, there were no surprises, since assorted bird cages, all the officers agreed to stay one more year. really nice music boxes, and dessert and Frank Nix announced that there will be a monkey organ coffee to enjoy. rally in Orange Circle on February 17 and 18. This has been a fun area in which to have rallies in the past. Anyone out there From the house, we who has a monkey organ and wants to join us, let us know. The merchants really appreciate our coming down. New members Fred and Our Treasurer assured us that we are solvent - paying all Deanna Roth enjoying the bills and holding our own. the dancing reindeer.

49 After the meeting came the gift exchange, and there was a marvelous assortment of gifts. It seems like every year the selection is better than the year before. We had reindeer dancing with noses which lighted up (red, of course), reindeer singing about Grandma getting run over by a reindeer, birds in cages which lit up when they sang, and gorgeous china pianos. The range was wide, and it is always great fun to see all the clever presents. We are not having a meeting in February, since the Con- vention is that month, and many of us will be off to Australia and New Zealand. The monkey organ rally will have to do for this time. Those of us who are going to Australia were talking about the upcoming trip. It is getting exciting. We decided it will be a wonderful trip, and none of us can believe how fast it came around. Bill Blair and his gift - a Kathy Lawrence and Diane Reidy light-up singing birdcage. enjoying the moment.

Bill and Barbara Whitney deep in discussion with Roy Beltz, who was celebrating his birthday - 29 again Roy? Jay Albert and Brian Meeder waiting for dinner

Herb Mercer, Weldon Clegg, and Jim Westcott Frank Nix shows Allan Lifson the Carl Frei. check out the Verbeeck Organ. We have had some members ill lately - Our V.P. Jackie Porter had cancer surgery (she is doing well), Pat Cohen had surgery for an abscess, and Bob Lloyd tried to help a friend put a patio roof on but found the fastest way down - painfully! He broke his leg (They had to replace a lot of the bone with metal.) and shattered his elbow, which is now held together with all kinds of wires and things. Caroyl Westcott is having a hip replaced in January. Good thing we’re a resilient bunch. It’s also a good thing they have all these metal parts to replace the ones we wear out or break up. Other than the illnesses and accidents, it has been a good year for our chapter, and look forward to 2001 with the hope of a busy and healthy time for all of us. See you “Down Under”.

Here’s a group of AMICAns listening to the Weber Styria. Good to see Ben and Mary Lilien. 50 A.B. Chase organ up for auction, but the current owners hope to bring one back to the home in the near future. Lake Erie was not far away from our next visit, the home of Mark Reddaway in Huron. His street ends at a small park with a gazebo, where we could catch a fine view (albeit cold!) of the lake. A new member of AMICA and our chapter, he was host- ing his first gathering and everyone enjoyed his newly restored Aeolian Duo-Art. He also has quite a collection of art and MIDWEST CHAPTER memorabilia from all over the world. Reporter: Christy Counterman We discussed our upcoming meetings and have tentatively President: Judy Chisnell scheduled a trip to Columbus, Ohio in March hosted by Shawn Fox, and a trip north of the border to Ken Vinen’s in Stratford, Ontario, Canada in May. Our annual Holiday Gathering began on Saturday, Decem- ber 3rd as the snow stopped long enough for over 40 members Our chapter members would like to thank all of our hosts of our chapter to travel to Northwest Ohio. The afternoon for the holiday weekend for an enjoyable, informative and began at Robin Pratt’s shop, where we met to enjoy refresh- entertaining time. ments and play rolls while we waited for everyone to arrive. The highlight of the afternoon was a special concert featuring Robin on a newly restored 1880s Estey Victoria Harmonium owned by Shawn Fox. He was accompanied on the Bagatelles, Opus 47 by Antonin Dvorak by The Aeolian Strings - two vio- linists, (Alice Weiss and Janice Brewer) and a cellist (Theresa Perez) - a fine performance. After the music, we headed south to the home of Beverly Brabb and Jeff Brabb in Norwalk. We sampled appetizers in the century home’s dining room before departing for dinner at the historic Homestead Inn. The Inn is a large Victorian house built in 1883 and decorated with memorabilia from the area, including some Edison items from nearby Milan, Ohio, where his former home still stands. Many of us enjoyed the local spe- cialty of Lake Erie Perch in one of the second floor’s many A costume party is portrayed on this fan advertising period dining rooms. the Schulz Player Piano owned by Bill Ackman. Then it was back to the Brabb’s in Norwalk for more music. A former favorite at holiday meetings came back for an encore, soprano Carol Icsman. She performed several selec- tions as well as a welcome addition to our evening, Donald Earle, who sang some of his family’s favorite Christmas songs. As always, we had a holiday gift exchange, but instead of giv- ing piano rolls, this year the gifts could be anything musical. That led to some entertaining as well as practical giving. The Weber Duo-Art and the Premier Welte Grand were in fine form, playing many selections throughout the evening. And Bev’s pig collection greeted us from every room in the house! Several doors down from the Brabb’s is Berry’s Restaurant, where we met for breakfast on Sunday morning. It is the last remaining part of the St. Charles Hotel, built in 1867 after the Civil War. The stained glass windows inside were created in 1887 for the Gardiner Music Hall which stood nearby. Many AMICA members may have instruments built by the A.B. Chase Company, and across the street from the Brabb’s is the home of Leander Dowd, the company’s treasurer and comp- troller, who built it for his family in 1882. It has wonderful cherry woodwork throughout, and was one of the first houses in Norwalk to have indoor plumbing. It also had a third floor ball- Clark Counterman tests the original ivory keys of the Harmonium. room for entertaining and was owned by the family until 1965. Unfortunately, the third owner of the house put the original

51 Dinner at the Homestead Inn - the Torers, Merchants, Sylvia Chappell looks over the action of her Carol, Robin and the Wulfehuhls. soon-to-be-completed piano.

Signs welcoming us to the Brabb’s warn of Bev’s pig collection inside.

Do you have all of the necessary parts to rebuild the Carola inner-piano on this chart?

Bev Brabb plays Mrs. Santa, distributing the gifts. Charlene Torer, Donna Counterman, Liz Barnhart and Donna Estry discuss plans for their upcoming trip to Australia.

Judy and Rollie Chisnell make their gift choices. Robin and “The Aeolian Strings”

52 Jim Fleissner and Mike Stephens test- ing Brabb’s Welte.

Charlene and Norb Torer check out the “Swinging Santa.”

Stuart Grigg opens his The view of present s Robin Pratt Lake Erie from looks on. Mark Reddaway’s home.

Judy Chisnell, Shawn Fox, Robin Pratt and Mike Stephens in downtown Norwalk.

Baritone soloist Don Earle sang selections Judy Chisnell conducts from three centuries. the meeting at Berry’s Restaurant - the original hotel clock is in the background, Bennet Leedy is in front.

Host Mark Reddaway poses with part of our group: the Torers, Jim Fleissner, Judy Beaver, Shawn Fox, Donna Counterman, Ken Vinen and Rol Chisnell

53 The 1882 house was built by the comptroller There is a fireplace in every room. The elegant cherry wood stairway. of the A. B. Chase Piano Company, Leander Dowd.

The gas light entry lamp of ruby beveled glass was converted to electricity. One of the leaded glass Donna Estry and Mike windows in the house. Stephens are reflected in a mirror once displayed at the A.B. Chase exhibit at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

Judy Wulfekuhl checks out the butler’s sink hidden June Fox and son Shawn under the stairs. in the parlor.

54 BOSTON AREA CHAPTER Reporter: Don Brown Karl Ellison chats about President: Ken Volk his concert in Hopkinton

The November meeting of the Boston Area was once again at the home of Bill and Beverly Koenigsberg in Concord. The invitation to our meeting listed a new slate of officers and a ballot, which asked members to mail it to our secretary if not attending the meeting. Our president is Ken Volk; Vice President Dorothy Bromage; Secretary Ginger Christiansen; and Treasurer Karl Ellison. These officers were duly elected without any “Florida” problems. We drifted around the house with conversations around two snack tables, the living room Steinway Duo-Art, and the cellar collection that featured a 1929 Mason & Hamlin 6’11” Ampico B. That piano is now not only playing beautifully and loudly, but has case and piano insides restored to factory condition. The case is now a darker mahogany than the honey maple finish it once had. We heard that our Karl Ellison performed a History Althea Patt, Ed Patt, Ginger Christiansen, Lois Brown lecture and Demonstration at the Piano Museum in Hopkinton, and Pat Lavacchia Massachusetts in October. Ken Volk opened our business meeting with the possible player piano restoration or replacement for the Charles River Museum. The one they now have is in poor condition, and a replacement could be worked on and restored elsewhere before installation in the museum. Local “Want Advertiser” publication has about two pumper players listed per week, and one could be worked on and left in process in Dorothy’s barn. Our chapter would donate the labor and the museum would pay a nominal sum for the piano. We would secure a commitment from the museum before proceeding, and the target is finish in late 2001. We will do only player restorations, not piano restoration. The existing player has a plexi front for all to see all internal works. It is electrified, as auto re-roll is a must. Jack Breen is working on a listing of 3200 Rollography of Violano Rolls. There is a gap between numbers 1000 and 1800. We expect to obtain three old catalogs in January 2001. Jack Bill Koenigsberg explains a detail on his ‘29 Mason and Hamlin has received his Violano case and hopes to have it working by Christmas. There are typically five songs per roll. From #1700 on, the rolls are listed as “Hand-played.” Karl Ellison brought a 1K core memory cube from an old computer. It now seems very labor intensive to link all those cores with windings to achieve 1K memory. Karl told us about Charlie Jackson’s Piano Museum in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, with rare pianos. We could visit there in 2001. There are 35 pianos in the collection, and 20 in the workshop. Karl brought two rolls for us to hear, one old and one new: Morning, Noon & Night from La Gioconda Opera, and a Pete Wendling non-Duo-Art “Whoos Izzy Izzy?” There is a bit of “Palestina” included in it. Our next meeting is tentatively scheduled for February 4 in Lexington. There is a Wurlitzer 153 Band Organ and a 35-mm movie theater there. We plan a warm weather meeting in Salem at two different places. Jack Breen checks an Ampico drawer

55 * Show & Tell: Allan Jayne brought two Mr. Christmas musical boxes. Both had automated characters that moved with the music. Ken Goldman brought an animated musical watch crafted by Henry Capt. * Next meeting - April 29 at Charlie the Tuner’s (Charlie Jackson) in Hopkinton, MA.

Respectfully submitted by Ginger Christiansen, secretary, Boston Chapter - AMICA

Karl Ellison, Chris Christiansen, Bill Koenigsberg, and Jack Breen and the ‘29 Mason and Hamlin

HEART OF AMERICA CHAPTER Reporter: Joyce Brite President: Ron Bopp - 918-786-4988

Heart of America chapter held its annual Christmas meeting in Grandview, Missouri hosted by Mike and Sandy Schoeppner. Despite the chilly December weather, members enjoyed a warm gathering. A digital performance! The weekend commenced with a planning meeting for the 2002 AMICA convention in Springdale, followed by open February 4, 2001 houses at the homes of Galen and Linda Bird and the * The meeting was hosted by Beni and Matt Jaro in Schoeppners. Lexington, MA. 26 people attended. The group then met at a local church for a fine dinner * The minutes were read and accepted. catered by a local restaurant. The dinner was punctuated with * The treasurer’s report was read. The only expense was assorted cheers and jeers from certain partisan members who for copies and postage. We now have balance of watched the Big 12 Football Championship game on television $1036.19 as they enjoyed their meal. (And you thought we were only interested in mechanical music!) * Old Business: The search is still on for a replacement piano for the Charles River Museum of Technology. Karl The live halftime show performance was by Santa and his Ellison wrote to the museum curator re: their written reindeer. Santa had released his hoofed animals from their guarantee to pay $500 for a piano restored by our club. harnesses that evening and they showed their glee by singing No word has been heard as of this date. Several pianos and dancing for us. have been found but were either too costly or too far The next morning, chapter away. All agreed that refinishing a piano would be no members met at the problem at all. Schoeppners’ house for break- * New Business: Karl Ellison received plenty of AMICA fast followed by the business brochures to increase our chapter’s membership. meeting. Upcoming meetings were discussed and officers for * Phil Konop and Ed & Jean Everett volunteered to host the next term were approved. a future meeting. The morning concluded with a * Sandy Libman suffered another stroke in January and is boisterous gift exchange at the Woodbriar in Wilmington, MA. A get well card between members. was passed around for everyone to sign. Many thanks to the * Matt Jaro spoke about his collection, which began with Schoeppners for doing an records from all eras, an extensive film collection (he has excellent job of hosting a full movie theater on the third floor of his home), and the meeting. We really his mechanical musical instruments. He showed his appreciated it Mike and Sandy! beautiful band organ, which was painted by Don Rand from ME. Kay Bode with her street organ.

56 Tom McAuley says, “I’m gonna stay right here and wait for Santa to come down the chimney!” Ron Connor, Cynthia Craig and Carol Griffith

Santa checks his bag for reindeer presents Reindeer Kay Bode, Dee Tyler, Robbie Tubbs, Linda Bird and Katie Hellstein with Santa Sandy Schoeppner

New member Jim Fletcher checks Ron Bopp’s spelling. (Psst, it’s spelled A-M-I...) Gerald Koehler, Gary Craig, Ron Bopp, Mike Schoeppner, and Mary Jo Bopp with Mike’s old fire truck. (Hey Ron, you’re supposed to have both hands on the steering wheel!)

Ron Bopp’s colorful new Jaeger & Brommer organ with a clear lucite case. Too bad the photo’s not in color!

57 information from sheet music to the roll. In his left hand, Bob LADY LIBERTY CHAPTER holds a sliding vertical straightedge that has markings on it and serves as a reference for the scaling of the Wurlitzer’s tracker Reporter: Bill Maguire bar. Equally spaced vertical lines on the paper are a guide for President: Bill Maguire - 516-261-6799 timing. He cuts the perforations on the ends with a hand punch and connects the two punched holes using an “exacto” knife. I have one question for Bob. If you attempted punching a hole August Meeting and you wind up with a “hanging chad” or worse yet, a “pregnant chad”, should that note count? Forgive me Bob, Bob Stumer was our host for our August get together. The given the current events at the time of this writing, I couldn’t meeting took place in Garden City Park, New York. My cam- resist adding that. era malfunctioned that day so here are some pictures taken a few months afterward. Bob earns his livelihood as a graphic artist. Bob does not rely on the computer, rather he does most December Meeting of his work by magic marker, and the results are stunning. Bob’s “prized possession” is this Wurlitzer 103 Band Organ. Bob did all the restoration work himself, both inside and out. Marty (Buzz) Rosa selects the next roll to be played. Surprisingly, rolls for this machine are more available than one might think. We appreciate Gail and Dee Clark for opening their home In case availability of in Watchung, New Jersey to us for our December 10th party. On display in the music room were these two matching Wurlitzer 165 band organs. The collection also includes a Violano Virtuoso, a Link Nickelodeon, a Western Electric Nickelodeon, a calliope and a Haines Ampico.

rolls was a problem, Bob can create and cut his own master rolls. Bob sends the master roll out to Mike Grant in Indiana. Mike sends Bob back the finished product. Bob’s process for making rolls is very teachable. Buzz Rosa played us his first The award for most unusual item in this collection would band organ roll which Bob helped him create and the results have to go to The Monkey Band and mechanical clown. These were great for a “first timer”. figures have very life-like movements as they perform their many songs. Paul Manganaro (behind the calliope) is not, in Bob Stumer, pictured here, is at work making his rolls. He fact, a member of The Monkey Band but he does help Dee “lets me in” Clark in the on how he restoration and does it. To maintenance of the right is this large and a spool of impressive paper, which collection. he feeds through the Our hosts horizontal Gail and Dee straight edge give Dale Rowe guides. Bob encouragement transfers his as he repairs the

58 Street organ. Dale finds that the main bellow is binding on the case and that the spill valve spring has fallen off. The Clarks NORTHERN LIGHTS CHAPTER are babysitting the organ for friends of theirs. Reporter: Dorothy Olds President: Dave Kemmer

Saturday, August 19th, 2000, saw some chapter members arriving at Oronoco, Minnesota, for the Annual Gold Rush Days Celebration. The weather was ideal - partly cloudy with a good breeze blowing. Oronoco Gold Rush Days began in the summer of 1973. Local antique dealers, Earl and May Lou Berg, decided to have a “flea market” on a vacant lot that they owned across Minnesota Avenue from their antique shop. That summer there were 35 exhibitors and hardly anyone in the Mid- west knew what a “flea market’ was. From that modest begin- ning the event has grown to become the nation’s largest antique show and flea market. Nowadays the event fills the entire town Gail Clark’s grandfather worked at the Lauter Piano of Oronoco AND the entire 50-acre site of the Olmsted County Factory in nearby Newark. Gail showed us 50 pictures taken at Fairgrounds in Rochester. There are nearly 2,000 exhibitors in the Lauter factory between 1910-1930. These pictures pretty Oronoco and over 2,000 more at the Fairgrounds with the mid- much covered every step in the manufacturing of Lauter player way and every available arena and building filled to capacity. uprights (very interesting stuff). Walter Kehoe and friends People and exhibitors come from all 50 states. admiring one of the Lauter Factory pictures while most of the Almost since the beginning, the event is always held on the rest of us “gawk” at other pictures near the kitchen table. 3rd weekend of August with exhibitors setting up on Thursday and Friday and open to the public from sunrise-to-sunset on Saturday and Sunday. The 3rd weekend of August was chosen for a rather interesting reason: The founders contacted the United States Weather Bureau to find out which weekend of the summer had, statistically, the best weather and after the Bureau did some research, they determined it to be the 3rd weekend in August. It truly takes two-to-three days to see all of the exhibits. Others of us didn’t arrive until Sunday morning, parking our cars in the reserved space in our host’s magnificent yard, under the shade trees. (You see, others attending the celebration had to pay for premium parking.) But, we were at Dave Kem- mer’s. He lives in an 1875 Schoolhouse. Since we were there early, we walked a few blocks to where the vendors were set up. One would need to spend a full day meandering and observing all of the displays and still not see everything. Plus a few miles The Steinway Duo-Art XR plays all of our favorite holiday down the road was an extension of the same, in Rochester. songs. Returning to Dave’s home, echoes of organ music resound- ed throughout the school building. Dave was playing his Allen Theater organ. Other musical vibrations were heard from some of his other pianos which include A.B. Chase grand pianos, the 9 foot concert grand has a Pianocorder Vorsetzer set up to play from a cassette or computer. Among the other interesting music related items were a Rosewood Steinway Synque (sink) and bar combination. “Wonderful.” A Rosewood Square grand has been converted to a wonderful serving piece. These two unique pieces were once thriving musical instruments, but somewhere along the way they lost the keys, strings, etc., and Dave decided that conversion was the answer to preservation of the cases. Of course, we all “suffered” through a great potluck lunch with a couple of homemade pies, which Bill Baird made from scratch. A brief meeting followed with proposals for sites and entertainment for future meetings. The meeting adjourned and those coming from a distance departed for the long journey home.

59 The final chapter meeting of 2000 will be on December 9th at the home of Bev and Wes Spore, in Kenmore, Washington (at the north end of Lake Washington). They have a large pipe organ in their home which operates from several player sys- tems. The traditional white elephant holiday gift exchange will be a featured attraction.

PACIFIC CAN-AM CHAPTER Reporter: Dan Brown President: Mark Smithberg - 206-763-9468

The Chapter’s fall meeting was held Sunday, October 8th at the home of Fran and Maury Willyard in Silverdale, Wash- ington. We were greeted with the song “Teddy Bears Picnic” piped outside near five carved bear figures enjoying a marsh- Carl Kehret shows his innovative mallow roast. The Willyards have a comprehensive collection transformation of an organ pipe of player and reproducing pianos including Ampico, Duo-Art, into a birdhouse. Welte-Licensee, Recordo, and Tel-Electric, music boxes and clocks, and Lincoln automobiles. The mart included an unusu- ally large array of player rolls and other treasures. The chapter now includes 62 individual members. We welcomed new mem- bers Chris and Nathan Bello of Oregon. Nathan wowed us at the Sacramento Convention and at this meeting, by entertaining members with classical, popular, and ragtime selections, includ- Hosts Fran and Maury ing some of his own compositions. Willyard at the Teddy Bears Picnic. Although still only 14 years old, Nathan has shown interest in player and reproducing pianos for several years and is learn- ing to restore them on his own. He is an accomplished pianist and is being taught (performance and piano technician skills) by his father. The techniques revealed by reproducing rolls are of his particular interests and he is able to re-perform from view- ing the playing of reproducing pianos. Maury Willyard presented a demonstration of player stack valve rebuilding and all the fine details which make this part of restoration challenging. Each of the Willyard’s pianos and other instruments performed beautifully. The Lincolns were mostly up and running, too. Carl Kehret agreed to serve as chapter reporter, much to the relief of Dan Brown, who has been “interim reporter” for a couple years. Mark Smithberg reported on the dedication of the Steinway grand piano which had been owned by Max Kortlander’s late nephew Walt Jones, a member of the chap- ter. The newly reconditioned instrument is now in St. Luke’s Presbyterian Church in Sequim, Washington, and will be used for concerts as well as church services. The chapter is still considering hosting the 2003 Conven- tion, and a planning meeting was held for interested members. Possible sites are being investigated and Carl Dodrill is coordi- nating efforts. The plans are moving forward for a band organ rally to be held Labor Day weekend 2001 in Ocean Shores, Washington, September 1-2. Norm Gibson is heading the effort and the Ocean Shores Convention Center has been booked for those dates. A number of organs have already been committed and an indoor display of other automatic mechanical music machines is planned. Several hotels are available for those attending with a wide range of costs. Ocean Shores is a resort community and Labor Day weekend is historically one of Wes Spore demonstrates an innovative way of playing Welte the most pleasant weatherwise. rolls on the Radle Recordo.

60 Members seem delighted with mart items. Nathan Bello at the artcase Weber Duo-Art.

Maury plays the 58-65 Aeolian Pianola for Nathan and Norm Gibson provides details of the proposed Chris Bello and Ray Parkinson. band organ rally for August 2001.

SOWNY CHAPTER Reporter: Frank Warbis President: Anne Lemon - 905-295-4228 President Mark Smithberg and Maury and the chapter welcoming sign. Summer Meeting An invitation to the home of Howard and Lori Root is always a feast for the eyes as well as a culinary delight. Their garden which covers two large city lots has hundreds of vari- eties of flowers and plants including a bountiful vegetable dis- play. All the gardening work is accomplished by Lori herself who digs, plants, rearranges, cultivates and nurses each plant into full bloom. The highlight of the garden is the large bub- bling pond complete with lily pads and goldfish. A complete surprise to our meeting was the presentation of a birthday cake and a rather large card to Muriel Hodgkins by our hostess Lori Root. While John Cairns looked on, Muriel made sure that each person had inscribed their names for this Nathan admiring the 1959 Lincoln Continental. momentous occasion.

61 Gary Lemon (center) makes a point to John Cairns, Our President Anne makes a point while John, Wayne, just prior to the business meeting. and Harold look on.

Muriel Hodgkins checks each name while John Cairns looks on.

Lori Root presents a large birthday cake while Joan Warbis looks on.

Led by Holly Walter and Diane and John Thompson the Fun business meeting comes to a close. House, garden and pond.

62 FOR SALE ADVERTISING MUST SELL!!! Personal Collection of AMICA Honorary GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT Emmett Ford — 1921 J. & C. Fischer Ampico Grand, restored, ALL ADVERTISING IN THE AMICA BULLETIN includes bench and 15 rolls - $8,500.; 1922 George Steck All advertising should be directed to: Duo-Art, restored, includes bench and 15 rolls - $8,500. Robin Pratt Contact Emmett Ford - (316) 683-2508 (1-01) 630 East Monroe Street 1972 MASON-HAMLIN Style A #76183, medium walnut, factory Sandusky, Ohio 44870-3708 fitted Pianocorder, modified with MC1 to record and play tapes and Phone (419) 626-1903 floppy disks. Huge tape and disk library. $16,000 delivered. e-mail: [email protected] Tel. (U.K.code) + 1624 813358; E-mail: [email protected] Ad copy must contain text directly related to the product/service (1-01) being offered. Extraneous text will be deleted at the Publisher’s discretion. All advertising must be accompanied by payment in LAUTER Recordo Grand, 4’10” mahogany single leg (Spade); U.S. funds. No telephone ads or written ads without payment will 4’10” DUO-ART Grand, walnut case. Both complete but need be accepted. This policy was established by a unanimous vote of full restoration. $1250.00 each or $2,000.00 for both. the AMICA Board at the 1991 Board Meeting and reaffirmed at NJ (732) 870-2238 Bryan. (1-01) the 1992 meeting. AMICA reserves the right to edit or to MASON & HAMLIN, Red Welte upright. Exceptionally clean, reject any ad deemed inappropriate or not in keeping with AMICA’s objectives. operating original. Matching bench and 140-roll library - $7900.00. Paul Ciancia, 437 Sicomac Ave., Wyckoff, NJ 07481; days: The BULLETIN accepts advertising without endorsement, 201-569-8255, eves: 201-891-6842. (3-01) implied or otherwise, of the products or services being offered. Publication of business advertising in no way implies AMICA’s 1923 CHICKERING Ampico Centennial Grand Player Piano, endorsement of any commercial operation. 5’4”. Ampico is completely restored including all valve parts, plays and sounds beautifully. The case is original mahogany, AMICA PUBLICATIONS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO hammers, dampers, etc., are in good condition. Located in ACCEPT, REJECT, OR EDIT ANY AND ALL SUBMIT- Philadelphia, PA. Price $8,000. 215-629-1673, TED ARTICLES AND ADVERTISING. [email protected]. (1-01) All items for publication must be submitted directly to the MASON & HAMLIN Ampico B. Dave 775-448-9656 (3-01) Publisher for consideration. 1922 KNABE Ampico A Grand Reproducer. Excellent unrestored CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: $.20 per word, $5.00 minimum condition. $4850 including 36 rolls. Reproducer mechanism not for AMICA members. Non-members may advertise double the operating, but has not been tampered with. Ivories, piano action, member rates ($10.00 minimum). Because of the low cost of soundboard, bridges excellent. Mahogany cabinet 5’6”, is checked advertising, we are unable to provide proof copies or “tear sheets”. but free from gouges which would show as flaws when refinished. DISPLAY ADVERTISING In family since new. Serial No. 92991. Phone: 858-518-4394 and Full Page — 71/2 " x 10" ...... $150.00 858-279-8155 San Diego, CA (1-01) 1 3 Half Page — 7 /2 " x 4 /4" ...... $ 80.00 WHITNEY & BECKWITH upright players. Aeolian 5’2” Duo- Quarter Page —35/8 " x 43/4" ...... $ 45.00 1 Art, Beckwith 5’Ampico, Chickering upright Ampico. For more Business Card — 3 /2 " x 2" ...... $ 30.00 information: [email protected] 304-645-6579, Non-member rates are double for all advertising. Fax: 304-645-5872. (1-01) Special 6 for 5 Ad Offer - Place any ad, with no changes, for a full year (6 issues), and pay for only 5 issues. Payable in advance. Beautiful 5’8” 1919 CHICKERING AMPICO #130428, piano completely rebuilt approx. 20 years ago. New strings and new Photographs or halftones $15.00 each hammers. Exquisite hand-rubbed lacquer finish on case has been Loose Sheet or Insert Advertising: Inquire returned to the original brown mahogany color. This Stoddard We recommend that display advertisers supply camera-ready Ampico is the “universal” Ampico: it plays all Ampico rolls copy. Copy that is oversized or undersized will be changed to beautifully with ease from the earliest Stoddard rolls to the late ‘B’ correct size at your cost. We can prepare advertisements from rolls. Includes matching bench and thirty-five Ampico rolls. Asking your suggested layout at cost. $15,000. David Wallis 708-366-3103 (Chicago area). (1-01) PAYMENT: U.S. funds must accompany ad order. Make check payable to AMICA INTERNATIONAL. Typesetting and NEW PIANO ROLL BOXES - Large and Small available. Small layout size alterations charges will be billed. boxes (2 x 2) are covered with White Litho (bottom), and either Black Leather or Brown Leather paper (top). Large boxes (3 x 3) DEADLINES: Submissions must be received no later than the first of the odd months (January, March, May, July, September, are covered with Black Leather paper (bottom), and Black Alligator November). The Bulletin will be mailed the first week of the paper (top). Prices are: $1.20 each (small), $2.50 each (large), plus even months. shipping. A 20% discount will be given for orders over $100. (Rev. 6-98) Many other repair supplies available (leaders, tabs, tubes, flanges, repair tape). New QRS Rolls 20% off catalog price on orders over $100, 5% on orders less than $100. Refurbished 88-note rolls (new leader, tab, labels and box), $6.00 each. Hundreds of used rolls “ The ultimate measure of a man is starting at $3.00 each (guaranteed playable). California Player Roll not where he stands in moments of Co., www.calroll.com, (760) 244-ROLL (7655) (6-01) comfort, but where he stands at times AMPICO B stack for 5’8” Mason & Hamlin $1,000 / offers considered. Mel Septon (847) 679-3455. (2-01) of challenge and controversy.” AMPICO, DUO-ART & WELTE Rolls, great selection of popular, classical and medleys. Also, 88-Note Piano Rolls, hundreds of used rolls, - $3.00 each plus shipping. Also New Old Martin Luther King Jr. Stock QRS Rolls, $5.00 each. Will furnish lists on request. Dave Caldwell, 400 Lincoln Lake Road NE, Lowell, Michigan 49331; (616) 897-5609 (6-01) 63 WELTE-MIGNON RECUTS!!! 32 titles in our current cata- logue. THRILLING CLASSICAL and HOT LATE POPULAR selections! Rolls are limited in quantity so order now! Robin Pratt, [email protected], ARTISTS’ CHOICE MUSIC ROLLS, 419- John Wrasse 626-1903, http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/pratt.htm CD’s and Tapes of the San Francisco Starlight Orchestra. Piano Moving Recordings available are: Charleston Is The Best Dance (tape only), Doin The Raccoon (tape and CD), Cheerful Little Earful Specializing in: (tape and CD), Rose Colored Glasses (CD only). CD’s are $18 Player Grands, Nickelodeons, & Orchestrions each, tapes are $12 each which includes shipping and handling. Payment is by personal check or money order - no credit card sales. Anywhere in Continental US & Canada Orders/Inquiries: San Francisco Starlight Orchestra (SFSO), ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ c/o Jim Brennan, 442 Skylark Street, Windsor, CA 95492; 25 years experience phone 707-973-6107 (1-01) Knowledgeable Rebuilder and Collector MUSIC BOXES: Bell Box, Drum, 4 Bells, Castanet, 8 tune, Well-known ¥ References Available completely restored $5,000.00. Nicole Freres: 8 tune, 76 teeth, 11” cylinder, completely restored $3500.00. Insured View at www.puls-inc.com, Roger Puls, 1521 Parkhaven Dr., ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ ¥ Parma, Ohio 44134, 440-845-5000. (1-01-G) Your instrument is wrapped, padded and Eleven unrestored player pianos. Located Blue Ridge Summit, secured for transport in an insulated and Pennsylvania. Make an offer. 717-794-5155. (1-01-G) clean custom-built heavy-duty trailer. 3 Mills Violano rolls: $95 each. Several player piano chests and Professional and personal service. spoolboxes, $25 each. Phone 262-965-2627. (1-01-G) 1924 MARSHALL & WENDALL Ampico, professionally John P.Wrasse restored 1989, with 150 rolls, $5,000.00. Located in Michigan, Phone: 319-872-3495 - Cell: 630-542-4298 248-559-5495. (1-01-G) E-mail: [email protected] RED WELTE Rolls coming in Spring 2001. Place your name on 31449 216th St., Bellevue, IA 52031 mailing list by e-mail at [email protected] or calling (6-01) 562-731-0131, evenings. (1-01-G) WIDDICOMB Phonograph, good condition, partially restored, $190. Bob Huser, 201-907-0232, Teaneck, New Jersey, E-mail: [email protected] (1-01-G)

WANTED All kinds of disc & cylinder music boxes and rare ones as well. Orchestrions of German origin. Organs of German origin. Related A pneumatic restoration service for reproducing instruments. Small to medium collections welcome. Offers to: H.P. Kyburz, Jubilaumsweg 10, CH-5036 Oberentfelden/Switzerland. pianos, nickelodeons and player pianos. Factory (6-01) new restoration techniques will insure many years 88-note roll: Bouncing Balls, A.G.O. Rolls. of trouble free operation. UPS shipping cartons [email protected], 304-645-6579, furnished for any style action. Fax 304-645-5872. (1-01) Duo-Art player for Aeolian PIPE-ORGAN (176 note). Ideally a 464 Dugan Rd. • Richfield Springs, NY 13439 remote cabinet, but whole console considered, also parts. I would 315-858-2164 (6-01) also like to correspond with other owners of Aeolian Pipe-Organs. Thank you. P. Morris, 27 Blackall Road, Exeter England 44 1392 681810. (1-01) ARTRIO-ANGELUS reproducing rolls and catalogs wanted. Magic Melodies David Krall, 4218 Torrence Ave., Hammond, IN 46327, 360 LAWLESS ROAD - JAMESTOWN, KY 42629 219-932-2322. (1-01) We buy all types of standard pianos - “concert grand to miniature Reproducing and 88 Note Rolls grand” - we sell wholesale to the trade. We exchange pianos for Program Rolls Collectibles what you are looking for! Jay Mart Wholesale, “The Piano Store AUCTIONS AND FIXED PRICE SALES! for Piano Stores”, 800-411-2363; 216-382-7600. (4-01) ALL ROLLS IN PERFECT PLAYING CONDITION 10-roll changer for Welte Philharmonic Organ (150 note). WITH GOOD BOXES Klaus Peuler, phone +49236412941 (Germany) (1-01-G) Piano roll and written music for “Bluey, Bluey” by Edythe For Periodic Lists Write or Call Baker. John E. Myers, P.O. Box 1255, Wheeling, WV 26003. Tel. 270-343-2061 (1-01-G) Laura Shelby (5-01)

64 ;d,_r,_ DUES N"OTICE '-.' Have you sent your dues check or credit cardpaymentyet?

AMICA Melllberships U.S. Bulk - $37; U. S. First Class - $52; Canada - $43; Overseas Air Mail- $63; Overseas Surface $43

Ifnot, forward to: Bill Chapman 2150 Hastings Court Santa Rosa, CA 95405-8377 As a courtesy to aJl2000 members, each member will receive the JanuarylFebruary 2001 AMICA Bulletin. How­ ever, it could be your last issue if you have overlooked your renewal notice. The Bulletin continues to receive very positive praise for its content. Some of the interesting articles in the future will be - Articles on the Welte-Mignon; Green Paper Welte Service Manual Translation; A Series on Rebuilders' Shops; Rare Reprints for your collections, and more. Ifpaying by credit card, you may contact Bill Chapman by phone (707) 570-2258, or email [email protected] Do not send credit card numbers in a single email message. -r . - f

Always in the market for better quality disc and cylinder music boxes, musical clocks, singing birds, band organs, player organs, monkey organs, Wurlitzer 78 rpm jukeboxes, slot machines. Any condition. WIARTIN ROENIGK 75 Prospect Avenue /:- Eureka Springs, AR 72632 (800) 671-6333 • (501) 253-0405

~L www.mechantiques.com·[email protected] (6-99) LI _

65 66 AMICA ITEMS FOR SALE

Get the Whole Story ! Shipped Immediately ! In Stock Now The AMICA Bulletin remains the single source of complete information about the technical and social aspects of our hobby. No home library would be complete without a FULL SET of the AMICA Bulletins, bound into sets by year. In addition, technical articles published in the bulletin have been extracted and published as invaluable reference volumes. More than 30 years of knowledge, discovery and revelation can be found in the TECHNICALITIES, a complete set of which takes less than 30 inches of shelf space! ORDER TODAY! In stock for immediate shipping via United Parcel Service or US Mail. AMICA Technicalities The AMICA Bulletin Since 1969, AMICA has been publishing into bound vol- umes, collections of technical articles written and con- 1971 through 1999 bound annuals tributed by its members for publication in The AMICA Bulletin. They may be purchased as follows: of the AMICA Bulletins Vol 1 - 1969 to 1971 ...... $10.00 $24.00 (U.S. Dollars) per year postage paid Vol 2 - 1972 to 1974 ...... 8.00 Vol 3 - 1975 to 1977 ...... 9.00 Make checks payable to: AMICA International Vol 4 - 1978 to 1980 ...... 7.00 Send Orders to: Stuart Grigg Vol 5 - 1981 to 1988 ...... 20.00 Vol 6 - 1989 to 1993 ...... 20.00 Grigg Graphic Services, Inc. Postage Paid 20982 Bridge Street Please note: Supplies of the earlier volumes may be Southfield, MI 48034 temporarily unavailable as stock is depleted. Fax: (248) 356-5636 Overseas orders may take longer than domestic shipments. e-mail: [email protected]

Attention Chapters!

AMICA AMICA Brochure Holders STATIONERY are now available and for $3.00 each. ENVELOPES They are clear plastic This is a reduced with AMICA Logo imprinted sample of the small letterheads on a gold label. which can be purchased. Included will be as many AMICA New Member Info Brochures as you wish at no charge. Make checks payable to AMICA International. AMICA STATIONERY & ENVELOPES For Quantities and Pricing contact: Order from: Stuart Grigg Grigg Graphic Services, Inc. Robin Pratt 20982 Bridge Street AMICA Publications Southfield, MI 48034 630 East Monroe Street Fax: (248) 356-5636 Sandusky, OH 44870-3708 e-mail: [email protected] [email protected]

67 REPLACEMENT LEADERS These 11 1/4" x 17" reprints, not trimmed and without tabs, are excellent replicas of the more popular types of reproducing piano roll leaders. While intended for roll repairs, they may also be used for decorative purposes. To splice, overlay new leader on old roll, lay a straightedge on an angle, cut through both papers with a sharp knife, discard scrap, and butt-join with magic mending tape on top surface.

A. Brown on buff B. Black on ivory C. Black on ivory D. Black on ivory (For early red label boxes) (Area for reusable (Most common) (Very late rolls by combined aI1ist photo) Aeolian!American)

Note: Early Welte's with blue leaders may be repaired with this brown leader. Many of these when reissued had brown leaders.

E. Green on ivory F. Green on ivory G. Welte (Most common) (Favorite Fifty & Brown on buff Selected Roll Service) (Most common)

Please make checks payable to Checks or money Price: $ 1.00 each Style Quantity AMICA INTERNATIONAL, orders from for­ Minimum Order: $10.00 A And send to: eign countries B must be drawn C BRIAN K. MEEDER on U.S. bank. D 904A West Victoria Street Postage and Handling $ 5.50 Santa Barbara, CA 93101-4745 E Roll Order $ _ F e-mail address for orders: G [email protected] Total Amount (U.S. $) $ _ Total Quantity _

68

----:rJi

~hair "GJeere I am ,. 'vt:>- and yet I am in that epiano"

~C7V1'ILD INTEREST-then rapt attention-then wonder and amazement­ c..=:/ 0L registered in the face of Heniot Levy, of the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, as he listened for the first time to a WELTE-MIGNON* reproduction of his playing of one of his own compositions. "Impossible,"

he said, "for here I am sitting in this chair-and yet I am in that Piano. JJ Most great pianists-skeptical of all reproducing pianos-express equal wonder and amazement at the "magical" fidelity of the WELTE·MIGNON' reproducing action-rhythm, tone, color, quality, time, individuality. One hundred and three leading American piano manufacrurers have selecred WELTE-MIGNON' as the only reproducing action for their pianos. Therefore, when you select a reproducing piano, select one equipped with WELTE-MIGNON'. ®elt~"illiBnon

rt-- _._-~ _-_

THE MASTER'S FINGERS ON7;~.YOUR_._.0.·PIANO_

*Licensed under IhilJriginal Welle-Mignon palenl1 ...... :. Send for our most interesting Booklet" Why Welte-Mignon* ir SlIpreme" Free on request, .J Auto·Pneuma,ic Action Co., 653 West 51st S"eet. New Yo,k , t ~.