History of free-reeds in Europe

[david fabre]

 

Hello the experts

 

I'm back from a fascinating conference from the conservator of the accordeon's museum of Tulle, city of the last

french industrial accordeon brand (Maugein Freres). The conference of course focussed on the instruments built

in france starting from the 1830's : mostly instruments with one or two diatonic rows on the right and no keys of the left ;

a kind of instruments known as "flutina" in some collections although the speaker told me she did not know this designation

(as far as I understand it was only an "export" name).

I asked her if she had any elements about the popularity of the "anglo-german" concertina in france during

its heyday (about 1860-1890 acccording to the monography of Dan Worral). To my surprise there are apparently few

traces of this instrument in France. She told me she remembers seeing concertinas mentioned in a few lists from dealers,

but that among the tutors written in french collected in the museum, none are about the concertina

(she apparently has a large collection of such tutors and I wish I have a chance someday to visit and see them !)

 

Back home I made myself the reflection that there is a huge difference in the history of free-reed instrument,

when told by a French specialist, compared to the one told by you specialists from the english-speaking world.

Then, I had the idea to research among websites from other european countries and now I have headache :

 

- A russian site mentions the building of free-reed instruments in petersburg in 1780 and the beginning

of production of accordions in tula in the 1830's

http://www.barynya.c...n-accordion.htm

 

- Spanish wikipedia mentions a patent from 1829 from the austrian "Marck Muñichz" (???)

http://es.wikipedia....g/wiki/Acordeón

- On a belgian site, they mention (with my own translation of an unclear sentence) In 1821, Häckel and just later Buschmann added bellows and a keyboard of buttons, thus building the «Handeoline», most likely the earlier known ancestor of accordeons.

http://www.accordeon...rdeon%20fra.htm

 

- and, last but not least, Italian wikipedia credits Leonardo (!!!) for the invention of an ancestor of accordeons, three centuries in advance !

http://it.wikipedia....iki/Fisarmonica

What do you think ????

Edited November 9, 2011 by david fabre

[Geoff Wooff]

I have heard it said that whilst English school children were taught that England won the Battle of Waterloo, the French children learn a different version of the event !

 

Perhaps our Ape ancestors invented the wheel... perhaps it arrived with Extra Terrestrial visitors ?

 

It could be that Vasco da Gama or Marco Polo (or some other exprlorer) brought the Free Reed back to Europe from China in the form of the Cheng and that this new discovery was incorporated into Organ building to create some new voices.

 

On the South coast of Australia there was supposed to be the remains of a wooden ship of European origin that by design was far older than the first official discovery. If Europeans travelled so far in the 14th Century then perhaps the Free Reed has been know to the Western world for far longer than we think.

People would have been making Pinging noises with springy metal for as long as metals have been in use.

 

Sounds like a very interesting conference David.

 

The Accordionist in our band has an old Maugein Accordion (1927) which he would like to have restored... he went to Tulle to vist Maugein Freres factory recently... they told him it was not possible to re-tune and keep the same sound and that he should buy a new instrument! However, Maugein still make very nice Accordions in Tulle.

Edited November 10, 2011 by Geoff Wooff

[david fabre]

More on russian accordions :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmon

 

I thought in knew everything about layout systems but this one is completely new to me : a diatonic (in the proper sense),

unisonic system with little resemblance to any of the other major systems.

Apparently it appeared in Tula in the 1830's (although i did not find anything precise on history).

 

anyone knows anything more on it ???

[david fabre]

continuing the research : did you know that the B/C "melodeon" system was invented in Paris ?

 

En 1832 Pichenot propose un système contenant toutes les notes de la gamme Majeure et permettant de faire un accord de tonique ou de dominante selon que l'on tire ou que l'on pousse.

 

 

 

Une autre proposition originale à Paris disposait deux rangées de boutons sur le système de Pichenot. Une en Do et l'autre en Si permettant d'obtenir toutes les notes de la gamme chromatique.

 

 

 

 

 

Original site :

http://accordeonjazz...ng=fr&showall=1

Edited November 10, 2011 by david fabre

[david fabre]

Now about the invention of the (instrument presently known as) "chromatic button accordeon"

 

-> Most french sources refer to castelfidardo (italy), circa 1900.

 

-> This very interesting site in german locates it in Vienna in the 1880's !

http://schrammelharm...geschichte.html

 

(sorry if this looks like a monologue, I'm using this thread to summarize my research)

Edited November 13, 2011 by david fabre

[Geoff Wooff]

Ah!, but an interesting monologue David... keep going because you never know what you might find.

[david fabre]

Thanks Geoff for your interest and your earlier post.

I don't remember well about Waterloo but I surely learned that Napoleon defeated THE WHOLE EUROPE in Austerlitz !

 

Other interesting findings :

-> In the harmonica world, the 'diatonic' note arrangement is called "Richter System" and

is thought to have been invented in.. 1883, despite the fact that accordeons had this arrangement much earlier !

http://www.patmissin.com/ffaq/q37.html

 

-> a great site in french on the history of acordeon (as far as I understand, adapted from the book of Monichon)

http://www.perigord....on/acclivre.htm

Alas, almost nothing on concertinas but they are nearly unknown in France....

Edited November 17, 2011 by david fabre

[david fabre]

for those interested, a very nice collection of early french accordéons.

http://collectionneuraccordeon.blogspot.com/