Melodeons & Flutinas,

[Stephen Chambers]

There was some discussion of this topic in the Concertinas On Ebay Questions thread, where it lies rather buried, so I shall make my latest comment in this new thread :

 

Interesting topic. I sympathize with the desire for clear terms; I also refer to the one-row "German-style" diatonic accordions as "melodeons," and generally I avoid using the term "melodeon" for an accordion that lacks the "growlbox."  However, I'd like to add three points for consideration:

 

1. The evidence that Stephan presented above (from Hohner's describe) still doesn't equate "German-style" with "melodeon"

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To equate "German-style" with "melodeon", you have to go right back to the years just after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, when the German Empire was established and German manufacturing/exporting was strongly encouraged. I sometimes (jokingly) refer to it as "The Accordion War", because it seriously damaged French commerce, and everything French (including accordions) which had been very fashionable, went out of favour. Even the U.S. Army, which had fought the Civil War in French-style uniforms, changed to Prussian-style, and inexpensive German accordions, marketed in Britain under the new name "melodeon" (sometimes to be found marked on the instruments), took over from the French models, and tutor books for "The Melodeon" started to appear.

 

However, in the United States "Melodeon" was already the well-established name of a distinctly American type of reed organ, so the "German-style accordion" has tended to continue to be descibed in those terms there, though nevertheless, examples bearing the name "Melodeon" are sometimes encountered.

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I have mentioned in a couple of other threads that I refound and was looking through a copy of a George Jones catalogue, from the late 1880's, and I realised that it is one of my sources to equate "German-style" with "melodeon", listing "MELODIONS or GERMAN ACCORDIONS" (the -ion suffix was commonly used in the early years, though Jones also used the -eon one in the same catalogue).

 

Also, having been a player of the instrument since the 1840's, he knew that there was a difference and distinguished between "FRENCH FLUTINAS & ACCORDIONS", something that I would also do.

 

Incidentally, there was a big price difference between the cheapest French accordion at 32s 0d, and the cheapest melodeon at 5s 6d, and the melodeon had a stop to change the sound, no wonder the Germans won the War !