Dear Mr. Sans,  thank you very much for the letter with your thoughts.
You wrote:

> Dear Mr. Robbie Rhodes:
>
> Last Friday I meet Mr. Elian Degen, and we talked about the Teresa
> Carreno project.  I am astonished with the immediate answer the
> project has had among the specialists in the matter.  I am
> especially grateful with you and the Mechanical Music Digest because
> of the special interest you have demonstrated in our project.

!Gracias, Senor!

Mechanical Music Digest (MMD) is only 3 years old, but already we have,
among our members, officials from all of the big societies in USA, UK,
Germany and Australia.  These people, like you, are the leaders of
their respective organizations; for example, Dr. Juergen Hocker is
president of the German 'Society for Self-playing Musical Instruments',
which has over 700 members in Europe.

This fact means that they are very concerned about realizing the best
possible performance from their instruments, and they want their
club-members to have the same goals.  Therefore they help to give
concerts, in big concert halls and also in the small parlours of homes.
They help the owners of the old instruments to hear a well-restored
instrument performing.

Because the Welte-Mignon and Hupfeld and Philipps rolls were recorded
in Germany,  I think that the greatest help for you will also come from
Germany.  The Duo-Art rolls were recorded in New York, and fine instru-
ments to play the Duo-Art rolls exist in North America and in Great
Britain and in Australia.

> I want to discuss with you some aspects of the suggestions you
> have made in your mail of February 25.  You talked about the
> recordings made by Denis Condon.  I don't know the collection, but
> it sounds interesting.  How much pieces played by the Carreno are
> recorded there?.  Could you give me a little more information about
> this collection?  Is there a real possibility to have a license for
> Mr. Condon to do an special edition here in Venezuela, with world
> wide distribution?  How much do we pay for this license?

I am sorry that I have no answers for you about the music recorded in
Australia by Denis Condon.  I wrote especially to MMD members there,
and asked if they could inquire.  I have heard nothing from them yet.
(Of course, it is now summer and vacation time in the land "Down
Under"! )

> Jurgen Hocker sent me a fax with a wide rollography of Teresa
> Carreno and his son.  I don't know if all of this titles are
> available, and if there are pianolas well maintained to play this
> rolls there to make the record, but an "integral" of the music
> recorded by the Carreno looks very interesting.  All depends of the
> costs of the project, but it seems not impossible.

The greatest percentage of Carreno's piano roll recordings were made
for Welte-Mignon (Germany) and Duo-Art (USA), and all of these rolls
are available from private collectors in USA.  The rolls by Hupfeld and
Philipps are very rare in the USA; I asked Dr. Hocker to try to locate
them in Europe.  We surely must try to find them for an
all-encompassing CD anthology.

> Dr. Hocker suggested in his fax that he can come to the Teresa
> Carreno piano competition to do an exhibition of pianola with his
> rolls.  I think that it would be a very exciting experience not known
> in the contemporary Venezuela.

Dr. Hocker loves the music, and he is a charming and impressive
lecturer.  He is an expert, also, on modern compositions for the player
piano.  He would be a wonderful feature at your piano festival/
competition.  He has lectured in the USA several times.  I think that
he speaks Spanish, too -- the audience in Venezuela would be thrilled !

> Degen told me that there exists pianolas in Venezuela.  I know that
> in the Museo del Teclado (Keyboard Museum) in Caracas exists one.
> Degen told me too that it is possible to adapt an artifact to a
> normal piano to convert it in a pianola.  Don't you know about this
> system?  If it exists, how can we do to obtain one, or hire it?

The device is named the "push-up player" in English, and in German it's
the "Vorsetzer", which sets before the keys.  It is a cabinet, separate
from the ordinary piano, which has leather-covered fingers to push down
the keys.  Inside the cabinet is the same pneumatic mechanism as in the
pianola.  These machines were produced for only a few years, until the
piano manufacturers began making pianos with the player mechanism
inside: the well-known Pianola!

The Vorsetzer -- the push-up player -- is very convenient, however,
for public concerts, because the concert hall provides a fine concert
piano.  For the same reason, it is very convenient to make audio
recordings:  just transport the Vorsetzer to a studio which is already
equipped with a fine concert piano.  This is much easier than
transporting a concert grand player piano to the studio or the concert
hall.  I have located suitable Vorsetzers for you in the United States;
I am sure they can be found also in England and Germany.

> Somebody called me by telephone from Texas.  I didn't understand
> his name, but he told me that he had made a recordable CD (not a
> commercial CD) with the music of Carreno, that he has 35 years
> researching about Teresa Carreno and this matter, and that he will
> send me the CD looking for the possibility of do our CD with this
> material.  I don't know him, but I am waiting for this material, and
> I will tell you about, but I read the communication that Dan Wilson
> send to the list and I think we must be careful with this offers.

It is wise to be cautious, and to evaluate all the offers yourself.
This is a good example, because you (and your friends who love the
piano music) can yourself hear the quality of the performance.  But
then you must evaluate the quality, just as a teacher examines his
students.  Could the performance be better?  And -- most important --
was the player mechanism operating perfectly?

The perfect performance (on CD) by a player piano should sound the same
as the pianist's performance in the concert hall (on CD).  We piano-
fans can ignore the imperfections of the piano, because we can concen-
trate upon what the pianist was trying to do.  Player-piano-fans can
discern the problems of the player mechanism, because they know if it
is good or bad.  I hope that we can find good, contemporary CDs for you,
which will demonstrate the fine quality which can be achieved under the
care of master technicians.

> I want to know too if the rolls are copyrighted and if one must
> pay the rights, and to whom, to do this records.

All of the music roll companies are long-extinct, and copyright for the
rolls produced in 1905 and 1915 no longer exists.  Therefore it is no
problem.

> As you can see,  I don't know too much about the world of
> pianolas.  We don't have problems to do this edition with the
> coordination of the Mechanical Music Digest and the Friends of the
> Pianola Institute.  We want to hear your opinion about this, and we
> can give you all the credits of your institutions in the edition.
> What do you think about?.
>
> Let me know your opinion, and tell me about this proposals.

MMD and the Pianola Institute (UK) and Gesellschaft fuer Selbstpielende
Musikinstrumente (Germany) will all help to locate the music rolls and
the owners of fine Vorsetzers and reproducing pianos which play the
special rolls.  But the big help will come from the owners and
collectors.  They will deserve your thanks.  :)

> Thank you again for your amazing response, and for the rollography
> you sent me.
>
> With all good wishes,
>
> Juan Francisco Sans, President,
> Fundacion Vicente Emilio Sojo-Consejo Nacional de la Cultura.
> Av. Santiago de Chile, No. 17, Los Caobos, Caracas.
> Apartado Postal 70537, Caracas 1071.
> funves@reacciun.ve
> Telf. 7935717 ; Fax. 7935606.

It is our pleasure to help you, sir !

Best wishes,

Robbie Rhodes, MMD