Hello MMD.  For several years I have owned a mystery 65-note roll which
I acquired somewhere that, to me now, is also a mystery.  The roll had
lost its box and its leader, so I made it new ones, but it provided
few clues to its manufacturer, apart from "Carnival Espagnole", hand
written just before the start of the music.  It has sat on the top of
the piano to which my 65n pushup is -- well, pushed up -- for a couple
of years, and I decided the other day to give it a spin.

It's a very enjoyable composition, and listening to it reawakened
my interest., so I began to look through my accumulation of roll
catalogs.  The roll is a straight 65n roll, with no theme perforations
or Metrostyle lines, so it almost certainly isn't an Aeolian roll.
I couldn't find a Carnival Espagnole in any of my other U.K. catalogs,
so I turned to Google.  Entering "Carnival Espagnole" led me to a
number of websites including one devoted to Charles Delioux, a 19th
Century French composer.  His "Carnival" was spelled "Carnaval", and
it was possible to print the sheet music.

It is over sixty years since I had any piano lessons, but the first
page looked suspiciously like the beginning of my roll.  Then I found
that one could download a MIDI simulation of the music.  That sounded
exactly like my roll, so I believe I have nailed the piece down.  It is
"Carnaval Espagnole", Op. 38, Caprice de Concert, and is dedicated to
Mamselle Josephine Martin.

But which company manufactured this roll?  The roll paper looks like
that used by the Perfection Roll company, but I don't have access to
a Perfection catalog.  If any one has one, would he or she mind having
a look to see if Perfection ever cut a Carnaval Epagnole?

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania.

 [ Later... ]

Hello MMD, again.  I may have gone off half-cocked, again.  I had
another look at the start of the "Carnaval Espagnole" roll, and just
above where the leader had been torn off was a Patent Number stamp.
The earliest patent number in the United States was dated May 12th,
1891.  I have a couple of Aeriol 65-note rolls and both have that date
stamped on the leader.  So I conclude that my Delioux roll is an Aeriol
roll.

I believe that Aeriol was an early incarnation of the Aeolian Co.  So
I'll forget about the Perfection roll company and instead ask if anyone
has access to an Aeriol catalog?  When I print a new label for my roll,
it would be nice to have the correct roll number on it.

John Phillips in Hobart, Tasmania.

 [ MMDigest articles about Aeriol & Aeriola are indexed at
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/A/aeriol.html  and
 [ http://www.mmdigest.com/Archives/KWIC/A/aeriola.html  -- Robbie