Richardcarlin

Hi All: I found this 53 key (?) English recently and am wondering if anybody can identify the maker or give other information as to whether other instruments with this unusual number of buttons were made -- this is a standard treble extended upwards. Thanks! Richard

And now that I look more carefully (sorry!) the name is spelled as Maccann. So here's the exact wording on the back of the photo "Concertina player to the Queen of England. Maccann. Glasgow, Scotland" Phew.

Also sorry to reopen the debate about how to spell his last name...This image is similar to the one Stephen Chambers posted previously from a postcard showing him playing a different concertina with each hand.

This image comes from the late Perry Werner's collection. The photo is labeled as "Professor McCann--performer to the Queen--Glasgow, Scotland. Anybody have a guess as to when it was taken?

Mark Rosenthal: Sorry I forgot to give the details on the newspaper obituary for Signor Alsepti; it appeared in: The Exeter Flying Post or, Trewman's Plymouth and Cornish Advertiser on 11 Mar 1897, page 3 Regarding Census records with various spellings of Alsept's original name, I note that census takers often misspelled names so it's hard to say if the original last name was Alsop, Alsep or Alsept. I agree that changing it to "Alsepti" was probably to give the name an Italian flavor -- Italian musicians being more "classy" than English ones.

Have just got a similar card with all four of them without instruments...hasn't arrived yet in the postbox but will post when it comes. I remember the earlier one! Would love to have a copy of that again!

I don't know when he was married. I'm working on updating/enlarging my article on the Webbs and Fayre Four--have found more info than I had before. Maybe we should continue through regular email as I'd love to have you review it for mistakes! Also researching a few others perhaps with the idea of doing something more substantial. My direct email is carlinrpc@gmail.com -- As a teaser, here's an early Fayre Four photo when they had long hair! It's signed and dated (on back) 1920.

He was baptized in 1862 so this sounds likely. How do I order the certificate?

Thanks Stephen for the additional research....I'm working on updating my files on the Webb brothers as well--I found baptismal dates for Joe and Arthur and Joe's death date but not Arthur's -- I think he passed sometime earlier than his older brother but haven't found the date yet. Have you?

Here's a complete obituary for Alsepti--born James Alsept according to this--with his birth and death dates and marriage info. It's from his hometown Exeter newspaper. Had to scan in two parts!

Hey Stephen: I just found his complete obit in the Exeter newspapers. Will post more when I get home.

In searching Newspapers.com, I found this notice regarding Signor Alsepti's first playing a Lachenal edeophone. Alsepti was the author of a well-known tutor for the concertina published by Lachenal, and was said to be the inventor of the so-called "bowing valves" (air release levers) that enabled a concertina player to imitate the bowing of a violinist. In other newspaper items from the 1880s-'90s, it is noted that "Jimmy Alsepti"--supposedly of Italian birth--was originally performing and teaching in the Exeter area before coming to London in the mid-1890s to teach for Keith, Prowse and Company (who sold concertinas under their own name). Does anyone else have information on Signor Alsepti?

I'll be listing concertina music/tutors for sale on a continuing basis...hoping this stuff can find a loving home! Boosey's Instrumental Library: English Concertina Series, No. 50 -- paperback bound in boards; some foxing; 20 pages, undated $30.00 Several Items Bound Together: Dallas' Tutor for English Concdertina by W. Seymour, 22 pages; Dallas' Concertina Soloist No. 1 arranged by Ernest Hamilton, 24 pages; Dallas' Concertina Soloist No. 2, arranged by W. Seymour, 20 pages; Dallas' Concertina Soloist No. 3, arranged by W. Seymour, 16 pp. All undated; $40.00 Salvation Army Tutor for the English Concertina, New Ed., Revised and Enlarged--paperback bound in boards, some staining on cover, 56 pages, $35.00 The English Concertina Player's Companion by C. Roylance, paperback bound in boards, 56 pages, $40.00 Exercises for the Concertina composed by T. Berbiguier; London: C Wheatstone, 20 pages -- lots of scale runs! $25.00 Overture to William Tell by Rossini arranged by J. Howard Shackleton, London: C Wheatstone -- $20.00 There's tons more available for examination -- will endeavor to list items on a daily or semi-daily basis ... if interested, please message me as all can be had for a good price!

Boris did not do his own repairing. He mostly used Alex's Accordion repair shop on 48th Street although also used Accordion-o-rama which at the time had a Wheatstone-trained repair person. I recall reading that Alex finally retired at the age of 90!

When I interviewed the Fayre Four, they said it was Wheatstone managers the Chidley brothers who suggested their concertinas be gold, as black would be "too funereal" for young ladies to play. These were not gold plated at all--the ends were simply wood stained or painted gold, as were the leather bellows. Originally, the quartet played instruments made by George Jones who also made custom instruments for their father (half of the famous Webb Brothers circus duo). Their Wheatstones were made sometime in the '20s, I believe. During the mid and later '30s, Wheatstone began making highly ornamented instruments mostly for export sale to South Africa. These had tortoise shell, amboyna wood, or gold-plated ends; gold fittings; and so-called Moroccan leather bellows. I have seen tortoise shell instruments as large as a baritone model.