Groble Brothers Music Store

In 1893 the U.S. Supreme Court legally declared the tomato to be a vegetable, Lizzie Borden was acquitted of murder, and Edward and Adolphus Groebl opened a music store on East Main Street, Oyster Bay.* According to a short biography written by the American Art Journal, April 21st, 1900, The Groebl brothers and sister Marie came from a musical background. “Both… parents were fine musicians, [their] father a notable composer and [their] mother a singer and pianist of prominence.” The store had originally opened on what was then known as Fleet’s Block for the purchase of musical instruments, but when Marie came on board the school offered vocal instruction and music lessons at home. An advertising pamphlet found in the Oyster Bay Historical Society archives contains excerpts from the American Art Journal and letters featuring the accomplishments of Marie Groebl:

“For the benefit of out of town singers and teachers who wish to pass the summer in study and the brushing up of their repertories Miss Marie Groebl, who has had a successful career on the operatic stage and in the concert room, has decided to hold a summer school at her beautifully situated and well equipped home and studios at Oyster bay, on Long Island Sound, within easy reach of New York, the greatest and most attractive of American summer watering places.”
Edward received his own bit of advertisement as the instructor “on the piano and organ, in harmony, sight reading and ensemble playing. The Virgil Method, violin and violoncello also taught.”

Per John Hammond’s research, besides merchandising and instructing, repairing and tuning, the Groebls pursued music publishing.** In the OBHS collection there are many postcards featuring scenes of Oyster Bay that were printed in Germany were sold by the Groebl Bros. Music Store.

The three siblings shared their gifts for the rest of their lives. As none of the siblings ever married, their talents were passed on only in the form of gentle instruction and the students who were fortunate to learn at their side. ~N. Menchise

*wiki.answers.com accessed Dec 7, 2011.

**Hammond, John. Oyster Bay Remembered. Huntington, New York: Maple Hill Press, 2002.

Images coutesy of the Oyster Bay Historical Society