Life, 1910-12-01 · page 75 of 108
Life — December 1, 1910 — page 75: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is a **piano advertisement**, not political satire. The illustration depicts a formal concert scene where a pianist performs for an elegant audience in what appears to be a wealthy home or concert hall. The ad celebrates the 100th anniversary of composer Frédéric Chopin (1810-1910) by arguing that modern pianos—specifically Baldwin pianos—surpass the instruments available in Chopin's era. It claims that if Chopin had access to a Baldwin piano's superior tone and keyboard capabilities, he could have composed even greater works. The figure at the piano appears to be de Pachmann, identified as an "authoritative Chopin-Player," demonstrating how a Baldwin piano allows performers to achieve musical subtleties (soft *pianissimo* tones, overwhelming *forte* contrasts) impossible on 19th-century instruments. The ad targets "cultivated amateurs"—wealthy, educated consumers—positioning the Baldwin as the instrument of choice for serious musicians and music lovers.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
1810—A CENTURY OF CHOPIN—1910 Had Chopin composed for a modern concert- grand, where would inspiration not have led him! To know the “greater Chopin,” to realiz? how ingenuity may glorify genius, one must hear the Chopin of a Paldwinpieno Here are possibilities of tone-color such as only the composer of the “Ballads” could conjure. Immensity of tone, also, a pianissimo that is but a whisper, a forte overwhelming by contrast, so beautifully shaded are the gradations. With Baldwin-tone, de Pachmann, authoritative Chopin-Player, reaches heights denied by the limited keyboard of Chopin's day. Highly-developed qualities endearing the Baldwin to the tone-poets of the piano give it an equally royal place in the regard of cultivated amateurs. THE BOOK OF THE BALDWIN PIANO will be sent free upon request. Ghe Baldwin Company CINCINNATI Chicago New York_ St. Louis 262 Wabash Ave. SE. 34th Street 1111 Olive Street Indianapolis Louisville Denver 18 N. Penn'a Street 425 S. Fourth Ave. 1626 Californ'a Street San Francisco 310 Sutter Street