Hi all,  Occasionally I feel a connection with past owners of my piano
rolls when playing them.  One example would be when I use a roll from
the collection of a old friend like Richard Price, the deceased son of
T.  Rowe Price, who's roll collection I purchased.

Today it is roll No. 6959 Valse Triste Op. 44, recorded for Anna
Pavlowa, by Sibelius, played by Reid.  The connection is not because
of the neatly tied faded blue shoestring-like ribbon that secures it
but because of the two news articles glued in the top and bottom of
it's box.  Inside the top is an obituary article from Newsweek, Sept.
30, 1957, about Jean Sibelius.  In the bottom is a news paper clipping
of a similar but different obituary.

I pause thinking of the person still enjoying their Welte-Mignon piano
in 1957, some 20 to 40 years after its purchase.  What kind of piano
did they have, how many years did it last, and was this their favorite
piece of music?

Were they astounded by the fact that Sibelius had fifty grandchildren
and great-grandchildren, or was it because he was voted in a 1935 CBS
radio poll the greatest composer, living or dead?  Was it because as
a patriot he inflamed his people against the Russians in 1899 with his
stirring tone poem, "Finlandia", or was it because he refused to seek
safety when the Russians invaded his tiny country again in 1939.

I wish I could meet and talk to the previous owner of this roll, just
like I would like to meet Mr. Stieff who put labels on the top of about
12 roll boxes with the inscription, "Do not remove from the Welte room
by order of Mr. Stieff."

May you all enjoy the music!

Allen Ford