Victor Talking Machine Company

“ And today humanity responds more universally, perhaps, to the appeal of “the good old hymns” than to any other one type of music.
No one will seriously deny that music is a necessary element in our lives when it can produce in the same listener the highest spiritual exaltation as well as the most frivolous gaiety. The inspiration to strive for an ideal—the will to be better than we really are—these things come to us most readily through music and afford an adequate refuge from the world, the flesh and the devil—the triad which gives battle in every heart. ”

“ Making up a Victrola program for the entertainment of friends calls for just the same variety and emotional balance as the professional musician strives to introduce into his own programs, but in this, you as your own concert manager, enjoy a degree of latitude wholly beyond the reach of any single artist and any manager, for every branch of music, every type of music and every medium of musical expression may be brought into play by the simple expedient of having a sufficiently large and sufficiently varied collection of records. ”

“ We believe, utterly, that no matter with what delight you may have anticipated the possession of a Victrola, you will still have fallen far short of complete realization of its possibilities—of the extent to which through the whole scale of human emotions its music may become woven into the fabric of your spiritual life and your physical well-being. ”

“ One thing is very certain, that the concert song, like the violin solo, is a complete musical composition in itself. One needs to know no “context” for there is none, and so none of its effect is lost. However that may be, opera and the symphony are available to only those who live in the big cities or near enough so that frequent visits are possible, and so it happens that for the majority of us a concert is about the biggest musical experience we can attain. For that reason, if for no other, concert songs mean more to the great majority than does any other form of music. ”

“ The small boy deaf to any other musical appeal, races down the street at the first blare of a band. In some measure we are all children to the last, and so it is that the music of the band sets our hearts and feet to beating out its gallant measures. Moreover such music produces definite measurable effects on the body, and it is well known that men march further and with less fatigue to the music of a band than they can without it. ”

“ Piano Music The piano is a solo instrument that provides accompaniment for other instruments and for itself, and it is so exceedingly successful in this respect that it must be regarded as the basis of things musical. To the composer, the chorus master, the vocal teacher, as well as to the pianist, the modern piano is a necessity, because it is the one instrument on which all the harmony parts can be elaborated with comparative ease. ”

“ Personal taste varies more perhaps in music than in any other art, but in a general way it follows much the same broad channels, and in any case the Victor Record Catalogue, since it actually does contain almost all the music of the world by the world’s greatest exponents of musical art, is a treasure house of untold satisfaction and gives the widest possible scope for personal selection. ”

“ The symphony orchestra as it is constituted today is the most ambitious and the most perfect musical “instrument” in the world. It combines all the existing types of instruments and so can readily achieve all the possible varieties and shades of tone colors. The analogy between the organist and the symphony orchestra conductor is fairly close, and to think of a symphony orchestra, consisting of a hundred or so of the most skillful players obtainable, as a single instrument, is quite permissible. ”

“ There are those who will tell you that the highest achievement of vocal art is the concert song, and much may be said in justification of such a statement. Certainly, on the concert stage, art is shorn of accessories. There are no borrowed effects and no borrowed interests. The composer, the accompanist and the soloist stand alone at the bar of public opinion and it would seem quite reasonable to suppose that only a consistent excellence on the part of all three would be sufficient to win the world’s acclaim. ”

“ The keenest enjoyment of Grand Opera music, or for that matter, any other kind of music, comes to those who listen to it with some sort of definite conception as to what it is all about and the methods employed by the composer and the artists in telling the story.
Grand Opera is drama done in music instead of spoken words. In a novel the author makes his characters do their own talking ”

“ Apart from its use as an accompanying instrument, the piano is one of the most satisfactory of solo instruments. It is a complete orchestra in itself. A greater volume of solo music has been composed expressly for the piano than for any other instrument. Schumann, Liszt and especially Chopin, for instance, wrote music for the piano which sounds as well on no other instrument and so it is with great pleasure that we offer truly worthy piano records, thus opening up a vast field of new musical delight. ”

“ Thousands of honest souls despising cant in any form are continually asking, “How am I to listen to music in order to get the utmost out of it?” and since the symphony orchestra is the highest instrumental development of music, and consequently the most complex, it is in listening to the symphony orchestra that this need is most acute.
When all the splendid pageantry of opera is spread before one’s eyes, there are plenty of clues, and the emotional struggles of even fictitious humans can never be entirely beyond our ken. ”

“ The Lesser Instruments
Human nature is a moody thing—breaking out unexpectedly in unexpected ways, and in an evening’s program it is quite likely that special interest may center on an oboe solo or some other such musical hors d’oeuvre. There are times when one may respond quite vividly to a concertina.
This side of music is also taken care of in the Victor Catalogue. There is, we believe, not one instrument in general use anywhere in the Western world which may not be heard by means of the Victrola, in solos or in small combinations. ”

“ The Symphony Orchestra If you limited the number of colors that a painter might use on his palette, he might, if he were a great painter, produce masterpieces of art; but give him unlimited scope in the choosing of his pigments and you might reasonably expect the highest possible achievements. ”

“ Those who are unskilled in languages usually experience some difficulty in pronouncing the names of composers, artists, operas and opera characters, and there is an undeniable satisfaction in being able to pronounce such words correctly. This is really much simpler than it seems and the list of such names furnished at the back of the Victor Record Catalogue together with the additional pronunciations given in the Victrola Book of the Opera and given also from time to time in the monthly supplements to the Victor Catalogue will be sufficient for most purposes. ”

“ But he invariably contrives to give due prominence to his chief themes, and half the joy of listening to a symphony lies in recognizing the principal themes as they emerge from the mass of sound, clothed perhaps in new harmonies, or new instrumental effects.
As to “color”—we are told that all the colors we see are mere vibration. We realize easily enough that music is vibration, and it doesn’t require any very great stretch of the imagination to see the difference in (tone) color between the violin and the piccolo. ”

“ A permanent point can be permanent only because it is too hard to wear—in which case it must inevitably wear the records. The Victor system of changeable needles permits you to replace a worn stylus or change a needle instantly with the result that perfect reproduction can be secured at all times without serious wear on your records. The changeable needle system does more than that, for it enables you to use the same discretion in playing records as the artist who made the record would himself use if he knew in just what kind of room he would be required to play. ”

“ One instrument or voice plays or sings the air while the others play or sing harmony parts, and in the smaller groups of instruments, where there are only three or four “parts,” it is easier to follow the work of each instrument and consequently it is easier to get the musical “pattern” of the selection.
The basis of chamber music is the string quartette, comprising two violins, viola and ’cello. These instruments are, of course, alike in character, but each has its own peculiar quality of tone. Other effective combinations are violin, ’cello and piano; flute, violin, ’cello and piano ”

“ Another factor of Victor popular music is that you can get the latest song or dance while it is all the vogue. Each month, each week, each day a vast amount of “popular” music is published which will never become popular, but is thrust willy-nilly on a patient public. Out of this mass the Victor Company selects only the best. ”

“ The fact of the matter is that popular music is usually built up on one of a few well-recognized formulæ. It does what you expect it to do. Not consciously, but by association, we have learned to accept certain “patterns” in music as we have learned to expect certain patterns in clothes. Since there is nothing essentially different in any of them, they are easy to learn and so—easy to get tired of. ”

“ The operation of a Victrola is exceedingly simple, but the few prescribed rules should be followed literally until they become a fixed habit.
In starting a record, release the brake and allow the turntable to make several revolutions to attain its full maximum speed. Then take the circumference of the soundbox between the thumb and two first fingers of the right hand and lower gently until the reproducing point comes, gently, into contact with the smooth, shiny rim at the circumference of the record. That is the right way and the only right way to start a record. ”

“ In giving operatic programs or in playing operatic records for your own satisfaction the Victrola Book of the Opera will be an added source of pleasure and satisfaction, for it affords a clear, concise understanding of all the well-known operas, both as to music, plot and dramatic action. ”

“ There are solos by voices of all kinds, but there are also solos by violins, ’cellos, trombones, cornets, flutes, saxophones, harps, xylophones, chimes—in fact, as we have said, solos by every known instrument and other numbers by all the known combinations of instruments are available to the Victrola owner.
With the Victor Catalogue to draw on, one might easily give a more or less formal concert program every night for years without exhausting the possibilities and without any sense of sameness.
CHOICE OF RECORDS The final choice of records must always be left to the individual buyer. ”

“ In composition the band is not far removed from the orchestra, except that woodwind instruments, such as flutes and clarinets, take the place of strings, but the result is that the band in its own field of music more particularly stimulates activities of the body where the symphony orchestra makes a stronger appeal to mental activity. ”

“ Each movement is complete in itself, but sympathetically related to the others. The great thing in listening to a symphony movement is to listen for repetitions of the chief themes or melodies. These themes are often greatly changed in various ways in the course of a movement, as it is part of the composer’s task to get variety of treatment with unity of idea. ”

“ Definite, measurable, physical effects may be produced by music, and the gist of the matter is that one should become familiar enough with music to understand and enjoy it, but never familiar enough to induce the loss of its effect. ”

“ The tones played by the piano are produced by a hammer striking a string. They therefore develop their greatest volume at the moment the strings are struck, and immediately begin to diminish. They can be sustained to some slight extent only—as compared with instruments that are played with a bow. ”

“ We have already pointed out that personal taste differs widely in music, but with the idea of giving you all the assistance possible in a general way, we have compiled a few special lists. The nearest Victor dealer will be glad to give you every assistance in building up your own library of records, and play any records you may wish to hear without obligation. ”

“ The performance is good or bad, depending upon how well or ill it meets much the same requirements that you would impose upon the “reader” of the recitation. It is easier in the case of the poem, because we all get a good deal of practical experience in the delivery of words, whereas most of us have had no experience in the delivery of musical tones. ”

“ They depend on the size and shape of the room, the height of the ceilings and the character of the furnishings, but the Victor system of changeable needles and tone modifying doors afford all the necessary latitude needed to produce the most satisfactory results in any home. ”

“ We have, however, just recently produced records of complete symphony orchestras, which represent one of the most far-reaching achievements in many years, and as time goes on we shall continue to produce more. ”