If This House Could Talk - Blog #15

 Charles bought a Chickering square grand piano in 1881. Daughters Tinnie and Jennie took piano lessons from Mrs. Watts ($10 a term) and then Miss Parsons. Charley, who played in the band, also took piano lessons a few years later.

Many evenings after supper Tinnie and Jennie both played the piano for Charles. They didn’t realize it, but they made him happy. The piano sounded cheering and delightful. It comforted him that his children were growing in proficiency and general knowledge.

Music added to the mirth of family gatherings here. I counted 19 one Christmas Eve. They were Charles’ sister Jane Schmidt and her family and his brother-in-law John Broughten and his children. Tinnie and Jennie and their cousins played the piano.

On one special evening in 1896, Charles and the children went to sister Jane Schmidt’s house. They rented an Edison’s phonograph for the evening. They delighted in listening to the best recorded concert songs and band music. Charles was impressed that they could hear in Jane’s house the “choicest” music that others heard in person at the finest opera houses. Two years later he purchased a Graphophone for our house.

Charles attended recitals, concerts, and operas at the Turner Hall. He was proud of Jennie and Tinnie who gave piano recitals there and of Jennie who sang there.

I remember a cold February night in 1888 when Charles came home all enthused by the performance of “The Mikado” that he saw. A group of the “best citizens” of Marysville put up a guarantee of $150 for the Chicago Opera Theater to come to Marysville to perform the opera. Think of it! Marysville had this Gilbert and Sullivan lyric opera just three years after it premiered in London!

The Chickering piano that Charles and Sylvia purchased in 1881 is in the collection of the Koester House Museum. It was known as a wagon grand because of its shape, which allowed it to be transported in a horse-drawn wagon. It brings back good memories seeing Tinnie’s and Jennie’s music books displayed.