Following on from yesterday's mention by Adam Ramet, here's what
I wrote about Grieg and his Autograph Metrostyle rolls for the Player
Piano Group bulletin a year or so ago.

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The Autograph Metrostyle

The Metrostyle was a means by which a suggested interpretation was
printed onto piano rolls to aid the pianolist.  A red line was printed
or inked onto the roll, and the Pianola was equipped with a pointer
connected to its tempo control.  By following the red line with the
pointer, a performance with appropriate musical timing (rubato, pauses
between phrases, etc) could be obtained.  The pianolist was under no
obligation to follow this particular interpretation, but it provided
a good starting point when learning a new roll.

Most Metrostyle lines were created by roll editors at the Aeolian
factory.  'Autograph' Metrostyle rolls took the idea further by having
the Metrostyle line created by a prominent artist, whose signature and
endorsement appears in facsimile at the start of the roll.  By
following the Metrostyle line with the Pianola's Metrostyle pointer,
the resulting performance was supposed to represent the intentions of
the artist -- perhaps more like taking a master class with the artist
than listening to a recording.  The majority of these rolls were only
issued in 65-note form, and were superseded by the arrival of the
hand-played roll.  Some were issued in standard 88-note form or in the
"Pianolists' Library" series of rolls.

The creation of these rolls was described in "The appreciation of music
by means of the Pianola and Duo-Art" by Percy Scholes, published in
1925 by Oxford University Press.  It was taken from a series of
lectures given at Aeolian Hall to show owners and prospective buyers
the capabilities of the instrument.

The basic idea behind these rolls has at times been questioned, in
particular the idea that a composer or pianist would be sufficiently
skilful on the Pianola to produce a meaningful Metrostyle line.  As
the following description shows, this was not actually what happened.
(Although Aeolian was a large and highly commercial company, it is not
reasonable to assume - as some vociferous commentators do - that all
its employees were idiots or charlatans!)

The following account of Mr. Reed visiting Grieg in Norway gives an
interesting picture of the investment of time and effort in these
rolls, which were meant for artistic use rather than purely casual
entertainment.  The extract comes as Scholes is introducing a
performance of Percy Grainger's Duo-Art roll of Grieg's piano concerto.

Grieg's Autograph Metrostyle rolls

I think it will be of interest just to tell you that Mr. Reed, who
comes onto this platform sometimes before and after my lectures,
persuaded Grieg to have his pieces recorded for the 'Pianola'.  Twenty
years ago [1905] many people had the idea that the 'Pianola' was a
quite mechanical instrument.  Even nowadays people who have not heard
Mr.  Reynolds or any one of the numerous good players upon the
instrument think that the 'Pianola' is a very mechanical instrument --
that you just sit down and pedal away, so many yards of paper pass over
the roll, and the music is ground out.  Some people do play the
'Pianola' this way, but they are people with no musical soul and who
have not had put before them a model of 'Pianola' playing as we have
(there will be no excuse for us henceforth).  Grieg had this idea.
Mr. Reed says:

'Having a personal introduction to Grieg, I went to Bergen, taking with
me one of the latest "Pianolas", equipped with the Metrostyle.  After a
little difficulty I succeeded in persuading him to listen to it, at the
same time explaining the function of the Metrostyle, and how by its
means his own interpretations of his compositions could be marked on
the music rolls, and thus enable thousands of music lovers, and
possible future "Pianola" owners, all over the world in the years to
come, to play these compositions according to his exact interpretation.

'The thought that his own ideas could thus be preserved for posterity
appealed to him, as it has to many other composers who at the beginning
were equally prejudiced against the "Pianola", and he agreed to assist
me in marking the following rolls:

  Album Leaf
  In Spring
  The Wedding Day
  Humoresques
  The Butterfly
  "Peer Gynt" Suite
  From the Carnival
  Norwegian Bridal March
  Lonely Traveller
  March of the Dwarfs (Troldtog)

'I remained in Bergen for a week, working with Grieg several hours a
day, until the marking was complete, and the line on each roll was to
his absolute satisfaction.  As the work progressed, and he commenced to
realise what the invention of the "Pianola" really meant to the music
lover, he became very enthusiastic, so much so that during the few
remaining years of his life, Grieg was numbered amongst the staunchest
supporters of the instrument.

'I shall never forget my delightful visit to his villa "Troldhaugen",
a few miles from Bergen, situated on one of the many beautiful fjords
which abound on this coast.  Here, in his home, surrounded by his
family and friends, he played piece after piece and chatted about the
many quaint sources by which they had been inspired; old Norwegian
legends of the dwarfs, giants, etc., who in his imagination peopled
many of his pieces.  My friend, Johannes Wolff, the violinist, himself
an old friend of Grieg, was there also, and together they played
several Movements from the Violin Sonatas.  Then, after a simple
Norwegian supper, we sat in the music room with the wonderful glow
of the Norwegian twilight coming in through the windows, while Madame
Grieg sang a number of her husband's songs.'

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Julian Dyer