When I started the Etude Music Magazine section of this web site I dove in to my collection expecting to have little interest in the magazine covers. I thought they would be hackneyed or maudlin, and while some of them approach kitsch I nevertheless have come to feel that the quality of the artwork is consistent and genuine.
These oversized and impressive covers remind me of the influence magazine covers used to hold over me. As a child the Time Magazine "Man of the Year" (later re-named "Person of the Year") was an annual declaration of influence that I looked forward to with interest and speculation. Who would it be? Whose face would join the party filled by luminaries and bad guys? It was not just the "Person of the Year" issue, it could be any edition of Time that influenced my perception of how history moved in my life.
In a similar spirit I find that these old Etude covers command some authority. A retrospective look at a few hundred of them shows the influence of Liszt, Paderewski, and Beethoven over the minds of musical culture from the early 20th century. The large format of these covers was common enough in their day but I find that in modern contexts the generosity of the printing and sheer size of these magazines provokes some nostalgia for a journal and a publishing industry that commanded influence over its audience. Among pianists Liszt was (and still should be) revered as a god, as the single most influential force in modern pianistic technique, and it should be no surprise to see the old Abbe grace so many covers of the magazine. Beethoven needs no introduction or explanation for appearing so often on The Etude's cover, while posterity seems to have treated Paderewski with less kindness as his reputation has shifted from being among the great pianists to something more of a charismatic personality.
A more general but often-recurring subject for the covers is music in the home, in the back yard, or at soireés and social gatherings. The Etude branded itself as a magazine for the musical home, a home in which "music study exalts life!" Those many images of Americans young and old sitting at the piano or playing another musical instrument seem crafted to the belief that music is an essential component of a healthy and happy home, with the piano itself depicted as the center of domestic life -- a role that would later be filled by television.
I have more covers to add, and I will do so as my scanning time permits. I need to clear my desk to make way for the oversize scanner, an investment without which this project would be impossible.
