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BLÜTHNER LONDON GALLERIES
The Blüthner Pianoforte Galleries, Blüthner & Co.
This fact has been demonstrated timeand again, and it has become particulary evident in the case of foreign pianofortes, no matter how high may be their reputation or how great their merits and claims to attention. The succes that has attended with ever-increasing volume and emphasis the advent of the Blüthner Pianofortes in England is thus all the more noteworthy and decisive by reason of the many obstacles of establihed opinion it has overcome. Messrs. Blüthner Pianoforte Galleries in Wigmore Street, commenced to bring these celebrated high-class instruments before the notice of the musical public of the kingdom about eight years ago, and by their energy and untiring perseverance they have now won for themselves a position consistent with their eminent Continental repute, and thoroughly convinced people in this country of justice of the high recommandation accorded to the instruments in quarters of authority abroad. The success of the firm has, indeed, far exceeded their most sanguine expectations, and they now control what is doubtless the largst trade done in London i any one foreign pianoforte. Their premises in Wigmore Street have been recently rebuilt, and were lately extended by the annexation of No. 11. The three houses now constitute one of the finest pianoforte galleries in London. The Blüthner Pianofortes are the production of Mr. Julius Blüthner, of Leipsic; and a large, varied, and valuable stock is held at a wide range of prices. By noless distinguished an authority than the famed Leipsic Conservatorium of Music has Mr. Julius Blüthner been pronounced "whithout a rival" in the art of piano-making and also the "leading pianoforte maker of the world." This is indeed high praise, but its recipient has proved himself well worthy of it, has striven earnestly to justify its expression, and has accomplished greater things than ever under the influence of the encouragement it embodies. The Blüthner Pianofortes represent the ideal instrument of their kindthe acme of those combined excellences required by the musical world in a piano of the first class, and day by day their worth becomes more widely known and recognised. The firm's display in their Wigmore Street galleries is thoroughly characteristic of the instruments shown— impressive, sound, unostentatious, and speaking of intrinsic merit above and beyond all considerations of outward appearance. In the Blüthner Pianofortes the interior of the instrument is the part studied before everything by the manufacturer, and this portion of the work, comprising the whole soul of the structure and governing its entire interpretation of the musical genius it may be called upon to expound, is brought as nearly to perfection as the art of man in an age of transition can hope to attain. In the firm's exhibit of pianos we also notice that every case is a work of art in tasteful and graceful elegance of design, but there is an absolute lack of the gilt and tinsel of ornamentation that can never, even at its best, be more than the "guinea stamp" upon the gold. It is the precious metal, after all, that makes the coin a valid legal tender; and it is the pianoforte itself, not the case that contains it, which constitutes the musical instrument. It would be difficult to conceive anything more thoroughly satisfactory to the eye, the ear, or the touch of the true musician than the substantially meritorious pianofortes that have won for the name of "Blüthner" a world-wide fame. In their general system of construction, in the many and notable improvements they embody, in their marvellous richness and purity of tone-a tone that has a charm and beauty of its own, rarely if ever equalled in any modern piano-in their strength and solidity of structure, and in the refinement that marks every feature of their utterly unconventional case-designs, these instruments are worthy of all the renown they have achieved, and creditable to the great Leipsic establishment in which they are produced-the largest pianoforte manufactory in Europe. Dr. Oscar Paul, whose celebrated "History of the Pianoforte" is the standard work on the subject of which it treats, has said that the Blüthner Pianofortes maintain the "first position in the world"; and commendation like this, from such a source, carries with it a weight and influence that need no adding to, though it is none the less powerfully sustained and supported by the expressed opinion and personal favour of many of the most eminent musicians of the present age, among which are included men of such fame in the musical circles of England as Sir Julius Benedict, Mr. F. H. Cowen, Madame Sophie Menter, the Rev. Sir F. A. Gore-Ouseley, Bart., Mus. Doc., and by such scientists as Sir John Lubbock, Sir Morell Mackenzie, and Professor Sedley Taylor, author of "Sound and Music." Among the many other distinguished masters and artists who have recognised the supreme worth of the Blüthner Pianofortes we cannot omit mention of such names as those of Johannes Brahms, Madame Essipoff, Mr. Eaton Faning, Herr A. Friedheim, Raphael Joseffy, the late Abbé Liszt, Vladimir de Pachmann, Joachin Raff, Camille Saint-Saëns, Paolo Tosti, Richard Wagner, and Joseph Wieniawsky. These are but a few selections from a long list of eminent musicians and scientists who have sent the Blüthner Pianofortes forth to all the world backed by the strong support of their recommendation and approval. In the face of such circumstances and under such auspices as these it is not surprising that the instruments in question have achieved an extraordinary success; and it is in a high degree creditable to Messrs. Blüthner that their vigorous enterprise should have contributed so largely as it has done to the establishment of their pianofortes in a position of the greatest distinction in a nation that is fast recovering from the opprobrium of being "unmusical" and taking a place of prominence among the foremost in the exposition of Apollo's glorious art." Modern London: An Epitome of Results, Business Men and Commercial Interests, 1891, p. 106-107
BLÜTHNER
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