This project was supported in whole or in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian Made accessible through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation and Photo Friends
Photograph was edited for publication purposes Photograph article dated December 14, 1963 partially reads, "The setting was the private theater in the Toluca Lake home of Richard Simonton, founder of the now thriving Theater Organ Club and owner of Pacific Network, Inc., southern California's Muzak company....A 'Vorsetzer,' looking like a spinet piano, was nestled into position at the keyboard of one of the Steinways....The Vorsetzer (German for 'coming before') played a fragile roll which Debussy himself had made, or 'recorded,' in Paris in 1913...Simonton spent years working with the Welte family of Germany, and in acquiring every last one of the existing rolls made for them by Ravel, Bartok, Greig, Mahler, Saint-Saens, Richard Strauss and other musical greats....Walter Heebner, has completed two years of intense work, a labor of love, putting the sound of a grand piano as played by circa 1900 artists on technically perfect discs. The first three stereo high-fidelity recordings of the series, 'The Welte Legacy of Piano Treasures,' goes on sale today at Music City stores. They're $12.50 each and will never be discounted." Seen in the photograph are Richard Simonton, second from the right, and Richard Heebner, right, announcing the release of the Welte recordings.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;21 x 26 cm. Photographic prints
Welte legacy of piano treasures Businessmen--California--Los Angeles Sound engineers--California--Los Angeles Men--California--Los Angeles Audiences--California--Los Angeles Steinway piano Pianos Player pianos Player piano rolls--California--Los Angeles Dwellings--California--Toluca Lake (Los Angeles) Toluca Lake (Los Angeles, Calif.) Valley Times Collection photographs
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