The Accordion in the 19th Century - Gorka Hermosa

In 1898 he published an autobiography and in 1904 three compendiums of songs for the
accordion with figured notation. In 1897 the first gramophones arrived in Russia an
soon afterwards, in 1901 he recorded his two first themes for the company Gramophone
Concert, singing and playing accompanied by a pianist. He became one of the bestknown
artists in Saint Petersburg. He sold a great deal of records and recorded more
than 20 themes for different record companies until 1912, including one in Berlin in
1906 171 . He obtained a place in a symphonic orchestra 172 in 1909 in Kislovosko and in
1912 in Essentuk. [45, 94, 287]
In the Saratov area, an unusual type of accordion is an inveterate tradition: the
Saratov harmonica, an accordion with bells, which sound after pressing the buttons on
the left manual. The bells were first introduced around 1856 (the first press reference to
the bells dates from 1866). In late 19 th c., I.F. Orlansky-Titarenko started to excel and
would become one of the most influential personalities in early 20 th c. concerning the
Russian chromatic accordion. [287]
Some of the most outstanding accordionists in late 19 th c. were V.V. Andreev 173
(who was a multi-instrumentalist for classical and popular music as well as composer of
original pieces for accordion and also the founder of the National Instrument Orchestra
in Russia) and Peter Jukov (who improvised melodies and stood out for his remarkable
spiritedness). In Moscow, Batichev and Kuznetsov became renowned; and in Tula,
Nicolai I. Beloborodov (1828-1912) was the founder, in 1886, of the first known
accordion orchestra (which even produced phonograph records since 1908 and was
active until 1914,
touring the whole
country) and his
successor at the
orchestra V.P.
Khegstrem.
Accordion
orchestras became
very fashionable
musical features.
Harmonia by Vasily
Varshavsky (who
recorded since
1903) was a
remarkable example
[35, 40, 226, 287, 395, 407, 417] Fig. 94: Beloborodov’s Accordion orchestra (1886) 174 .
POLAND:
The accordion spread very quickly in Poland to reach such popularity that a
newspaper article published in Warsaw in 1863 regards the accordion as a “plague”
because it was relegating other Polish traditional instruments to oblivion. [236]
NORWAY:
Around 1880 the first performers appear and became known playing polkas,
mainly: Gerhard Gulbrandsen (1858-1927), Peter Pedersen (1867-1948), Severin
171 The record, entitled Moscow Hotchpotch, was released by Gramophone Company Ltd. and can be listened to at
http://www.russian-records.com/details.php?image_id=4935&sessionid=f7f00eb2e62c7c31b9a8c0c0e627995c (321)
172 At accordions.com [289] a symphonic orchestra is mentioned, but it means semi-professional folk instrumental ensemble.
173 Also spelt Audreev. [287]
174 Fig. taken from: Monichon [202] page 68.
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