Illustrated Link to the ARTCRAFT Newsletter #2 - June 18, 2000

H. G. Wells: The 65-Note Pianola ... and Love!

    The comic novel Tono-Bungay appeared in 1909, and it was written by Wells' vivid memory of earlier days, when ambitious shop clerks, titled but fading aristocratic people and the end of the Victorian Period were all intertwined. As with Dickens' texts, it's a slow narritive to commence, by today's standards, but Tono-Bungay is worth the effort, since many of the descriptions are vivid and some were — as one might guess — amazingly propethic. The author's detailed descriptions of mechanisms are fascinating, especially to a Player-Piano enthusiast, since The Aeolian Company's external piano-player — The Pianola — figures into the story ... first as part of the décor for the Nouveau Riche ... and finally as the catalyst for a strange love affair which floated in and out of the saga which spanned several decades.

    Since there was a reference to the Metrostyle Pianola (see http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/mephisto.htm) it is conceivable that author Wells owned one of these early 20th Century instruments, or was at least familiar with the concept of a waving red line which guided the Pianolist's use of the tempo control, but which was also part of the accenting system, involving the roll speed and the foot pedals. (Note: the illustration on the link shows the only roll "metrostyled" for the Duo-Art expression player, so the line has fixed settings, being an electrically-pumped instrument. The Metrostyle, however is the same feature, on 88-Note instruments after 1909 — and many pedal-operated 65-Note players, after 1903. The Pianolist followed the line by use of a Pointer which was connected to the standard tempo scale, fluctuating in the Tempo 40-120 range.)

    The Pianola, and similar piano-players, were originally 58-Note instruments, but reached their peak of popularity at the time that the Wells novel was published. The 65-Note scale had become commonplace, and the emphasis was upon classical music ... personally interpreted. Wooden (and sometimes metal) 'fingers' with felt tips pressed down the piano keys, once the instrument had been rolled up to and adjusted for the 'height' of the keyboard. Beyond that, the Pianola was the same basic mechanism as the Pianola Piano, introduced in 1903, an inner-player ... that is, with the Pianola built into the piano itself, or what we call a Player-Piano today.

    The 65-Note rolls have the same width as the standardized 88-Note rolls (11¼" wide) but ... they feature 6 perforations to the inch instead of 9, as found on the familiar Music Rolls for the pedal player as well as the electric 'reproducing' pianos.

    If you look at the picture below, you'll see that the PERFORATIONS ARE LARGER on 65-Note rolls than the later 88-Note variety. Tracking was not much of a problem because of the size of the holes for each piano key. The spools had pins in the ends, but often varied from brand to brand, even though the scale was usually the same, in this period before music roll standardization. The label on the box top at the right indicates that these rolls were part of the Aeolian Circulating Music Library, wherein a 65-Note Pianola owner could participate in the player roll version of a "lending library". While the 88-Note era, which began in 1910, continued with the idea, it rapidly died out, primarily due to the fact that the "full scale" rolls were not as substantial when circulated in this fashion.

    Should you want to compare the difference in perforations between a 65-Note roll and the 88-Note variety, jump to this Website which links to our Issue #1 of the ARTCRAFT Newsletter — http:www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/listbot1.htm (Many people purchase this kind of roll, believing that "all are the same" ... only to find out that they don't play on their instrument! Of course, combination 65/88-Note players were made in the transition years, involving spool chucks and other features, including a dual-scale tracker bar. Such instruments can handle both formats without any difficulty.)
 
 

Aeolian 65-Note roll (Universal Music Co.)

    These music rolls are in perfect condition, testimony to the paper and perforating quality which went into the "sheet music transfers" of the 58-Note and the 65-Note rolls, both cut in the six-to-the-inch scale. They were given to ARTCRAFT by Scott Beebe, a music roll enthusiast in New Hampshire ... and, they are just about 100 years old in this year, 2000. (By contrast, many of the cheaper quality 88-Note rolls that followed, especially the 'dime store' variety [made by the Standard Music Roll Co. of NJ or International Word Rolls], are often fragile now, tending to "shred" during the rewinding operation.)

Close-up photograph of the 65-Note music roll perforations

    Here's another view, a closeup of a Universal Music Roll by Aeolian — in the 65-Note format. Notice how large the holes are, when compared to the typical 'standardized' music rolls that followed. Since Aeolian "duplexed" most of their arrangements so that 65-Note editions could be sold in the 88-Note version also (especially up to 1917), many of the 88-Note rolls had a strange "overlap" which exaggerated an already 'muddy' striking sound on classical music; this was due to the Master Roll being scored for dual purposes. You can see this kind of musical "smear" on the arpeggios and the 4-note chromatic figurations in the 65-Note arrangement above. An Aeolian 88-Note release, originating from this arrangement, would have an 'organlike' sound with these perforating patterns!

    And now, having introduced the kind of player rolls featured by H. G. Wells in Tono-Bungay, here's the scene — used in a reference many years later by Deems Taylor, to promote Aeolian's Duo-Art Pianola, their expression - 'reproducing' - player ... though without any mention of it being a seduction scene:

[Refer to ARTCRAFT Newsletter #2 for the connection of Tono-Bungay to the Aeolian player ads of the mid-'Twenties:]


From Tono-Bungay by H. G. Wells  (1909):

Our eyes met in a conversation very different from the one upon our lips. A sombre glow surrounded us, drew us together; an unwonted shyness kept us apart. She roused herself, after an instant's pause, to examine my furniture.

"You have chintz curtains. I thought men were too feckless to have curtains without a woman. But, of course, your aunt did that! And a couch and a brass fender, and--is that a pianola? That is your desk. I thought men's desks were always untidy, and covered with dust and tobacco ash."

She flitted to my colour prints and my little case of books. Then she went to the pianola. I watched her intently.

"Does this thing play?" she said.

"What?" I asked.

"Does this thing play?"

I roused myself from my preoccupation.

"Like a musical gorilla with fingers all of one length. And a sort of soul.... It's all the world of music to me."

"What do you play?"

"Beethoven, when I want to clear up my head while I'm working. He is--how one would always like to work. Sometimes Chopin and those others, but Beethoven. Beethoven mainly. Yes." Silence again between us. She spoke with an effort.

"Play me something." She turned from me and explored the rack of music rolls, became interested and took a piece, the first part of the Kreutzer Sonata, and hesitated. "Not that!" she said.

She gave me Brahms' Second Concerto, Op. 58, and curled up on the sofa watching me as I set myself slowly to play....

"I say," she said when I had done, "that's fine. I didn't know those things could play like that. I'm all astir..."

She came and stood over me, looking at me. "I'm going to have a concert," she said abruptly, and laughed uneasily and hovered at the pigeon-holes. "Now--now what shall I have?" She chose more of Brahms. Then we came to the Kreutzer Sonata. It is queer how Tolstoy has loaded that with suggestions, debauched it, made it a scandalous and intimate symbol. When I had played the first part of that, she came up to the pianola and hesitated over me. I sat stiffly--waiting.

Suddenly she seized my downcast head and kissed my hair. She caught at my face between her hands and kissed my lips. I put my arms about her and we kissed together. I sprang to my feet and clasped her.

"Beatrice!" I said. "Beatrice!"

"My dear," she whispered, nearly breathless, with her arms about me. "Oh! my dear!"

[Book 4, Chapter 2: The Aftermath of Tono-Bungay]
(Note: the phrases in bold type were done for emphasis here, but do not appear in the original text.)


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