The talking machine world (Jan-June 1928)

Each month W. Braid White will suggest methods of s t i mulating retail sales of high-class music Creating a Record Demand for Finest Music WITH a pride quite understandable in the circumstances, the Columbia Phonograph Co. is announcing its issuance of a new album of records, containing electrically recorded excerpts from the Wagnerian music dramas, Parsifal, Siegfried, Valkyrie and the Rhinegold. When, however, I say that a tone of pride is quite understandable in the circumstances, the emphasis is on the last word. For Licensed under Andrews-Hammond Patent Every Owner of a battery-operated radio set is a Prospect Containing no battery in any form, Balkite Electric "AB" converts any receiver into an AC set, without chargers, without "A" batteries, without "B" batteries, and operating only during reception. Instead of having been made obsolete by the demand for AC sets, it has been made more popular than ever before. The demand for AC reception is so enormous that the volume of business Balkite Electric "AB" will bring you is entirely a question of how thoroughly you go after the market. Every owner of a good battery set is a prospect. Get before him the story that Balkite Electric "AB" will make his set a modern, up-todate AC receiver, equal in performance to any receiver on the market. Work out a systematic method of getting in touch with set owners, and put into effect at once. It will produce sales and profits for you. Two models: #64.50 and #74.50. Ask your jobber. Fansteel Products Co., Inc., North Chicago, Illinois. F-HISteeL "I Balkite Vs^dioPawerUmts By W. Braid White the circumstances in which these records were made were in every way unprecedented. It is not merely that the recording was done electrically, for that is to-day become the regular method. It is not that they were taken from an actual performance, for that too has been done over and over again. It is, in the present case, the fact that the recording was actually done at the Wagner Theatre, in Bayreuth, during the 1927 Wagner festival and under the direct superintendence of Siegfried Wagner, the composer's only son and the present custodian of the Wagner tradition. The event thus becomes unique, a tribute as much to the courage and farsightedness of the Columbia Co. as to the open-mind edness of the Wagner family. Any man who can see that the phonograph business of the present and the future will stand or fall by the success or failure of the high-class record will find it worth his while to pay special attention to what I say here, for if only those who have on their hands the selling of high-class records will take the trouble to interest themselves in the knowledge necessary to their successful selling, all will be well. On the other hand, it is the merest insanity to decline to take the slightest interest in a highclass article which is given one to sell, and then to declare that it does not sell easily. Granted (hat a record of dance music or of a song which has been made popular overnight by Eddie Cantor is easier to sell, yet one low-priced record must 'be sold to many customers, many times over at the rate of one record per person, to match the profit on the sale of one album set of high-class music to one person. What is more, the buyer of one such set will tell his or her friends who are of like mind, will advertise the merits of the thing enthusiastically and so will bring around others who so far have been ignorant of the beauties of the modern phonograph. I wonder how many dealers are making the slightest effort to cultivate the very rich soil which is provided by the tens of thousands who make up that intelligent minority of music lovers, growing greater each year in point of numbers and still greater in point of taste and of willingness to gratify taste. I wonder how many dealers even know that this field for their talents exists. Until they do know and can honestly say that they have cultivated this field, they should not talk nonsense about the difficulty of selling highclass records. Most of the prospective buyers don't even know that the stuff is to be had! Back to Bayreuth But to go back to our Bayreuth. Let us first get a background. By far the most successful, powerful and thrilling operatic works ever composed by any man have been the operas and music dramas of Richard Wagner. The names of Tannhaeuser, Tristan, the Mastersingers, Lohengrin, The Ring and Parsifal are known all over the world. The operas have been performed in almost every corner of western civilization over and over again. No opera management would dream of a season without at least some Wagnerian performances. Such set pieces as the Overture to Tannhaeuser, the Magic Fire Scene and the Ride of the Valkyries from the third Opera of the Nibelung's Ring, the Overture, the Quintet from the third act and the Prize Song, from the Mastersingers, the Flower Maidens' Scene from Parsifal, etc., etc., have been performed separately in concert in Intelligent promotion of sales of good music means more substantial success for the retailer numerable times, and have been arranged, simply on their merits as sheer music without words or action, for every imaginable instrument or combination of instruments, from symphony orchestras down to piano and cornet duos. For all I know some one has arranged the Prize Song for the mouth organ with banjo accompaniment, and I am sure it has been done lor saxophone with piano on the side. Best Sellers If one examined the facts one would probably find that the music of Wagner's Operas and music dramas is in general more familiar than the music of any other man, classic or popular. It has been a standby for fifty years and as yet shows not the least sign of old age. To say that it will not sell is absurd. It does sell, and sell big. It has been selling big for fifty years, and is selling to-day as big as ever. Why should it not sell in the unique form of phonograph records, with all the power, the volume, the authority and the expression of the original performance? The answer simply is, that it will . . . and does ... to the right people! A Bit of History Richard Wagner had about given up hope of ever obtaining due recognition and support for his gigantic work of producing an entirely new, highly organized, and powerful conception and embodiment of music and drama in operatic combination, when he received a sudden and unexpected invitation from the King of Bavaria, to come to Munich, and to carry out his vast plans in peace, with money, leisure and authority at his command. This was in 1868,. The art-loving and eccentric King Ludwig had heard Wagner's music, had fallen in love with it and with the romantic ancient German legends which form the bases of the Operas, and had determined to provide the means to make the great treasure available to the world. Wagner accepted with joy. His benefactor soon found indeed that political and other intrigues against Wagner tended to become irritating, and he then consented to the composer's settling down in the little town of Bayreuth near Munich, where he might erect a theatre for himself, specially designed to carry out perfect performances of his works, and safely removed by distance from artistic, political or social jealousies. The Festspielhaus With the help of King Ludwig and through the generous aid of Wagner Societies which sprang up all over the continent of Europe, in Great Britain and in the United States, the great Festspielhaus (festival opera house) at the little village of Bayreuth was duly built, and was opened to the public for the first time forty-six years ago, with a performance of Parsifal (just completed) only a few months before Wagner's sudden death. Ever since then, each year has seen a repetition of the Wagner performances, before audiences coming from all over the world. The Wagner family has managed the business end of the great enterprise and Siegfried Wagner, the composer's only son, has been chief conductor for many years. Great artists from every country in the world have been happy to sing at Bayreuth for extremely moderate fees, knowing that the prestige of an appearance on that historic stage outweighs any matter of money. The standard of orchestra, chorus, rehearsal, scene painting and of every other accessory has been always extraordinarily (Continued on page 42) 40