Accordion music genres
Encyclopedia
The accordion has traditionally been used to perform folk or ethnic music, popular music, and transcriptions from the operatic and light-classical music repertoire. Today the instrument is sometimes heard in contemporary pop styles, such as rock, pop-rock, etc., and occasionally even in serious classical music concerts, as well as advertisements.
craze. "Once the polka became a craze in Paris and London during the spring of 1844, it diffused rapidly to the rest of the world. . . . In March 1844, polka-mania took Paris: common people, servants, workers and, one assumes, anyone else who wasn't too stuffy were dancing the polka in the streets of the capital and soon in Bordeaux and other French cities as well. A week or so later it took London by storm. And from these two great centers of fashion, empire, and influence, the polka diffused rapidly upward into the rest of French and English society and outward to the rest of the world."
Except for a brief moment in time during the 1830s and 1840s when the accordion was heard by French aristocracy during Salon music
concerts, the instrument has always been associated with the common people. The accordion was spread across the globe by the waves of Europeans who emigrated to various parts of the world in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The mid-19th-century accordion became a favorite of folk musicians for several reasons: "The new instrument's popularity [among the common masses] was a result of its unique qualities. Firstly, it was much louder than all the older folk instruments put together. It could easily be heard in even the wildest pub above the stomping of dancing feet. It was also the prototype of a 'one man band' with bass and chords on the left-hand side and buttons for the melody on the right, and you could still sing along and beat the rhythm with your feet. The instrument needed no tuning and was always ready to play, but the most ingenious thing about the early one-row squeezebox was that you couldn't play it really badly. Even if you lost the melody it still sounded fine."
Since its invention, the accordion has become popularly integrated into a lot of varying traditional music
styles all over the world, ranging from the European polka
and the Colombia
n Vallenato
to Korea
n trot music. See the list of traditional music styles that incorporate the accordion. Although rarely seen many early bigband (swing bands like Glen Miller's) scores have the Piano part marked "Piano/Piano Accordion"
Sometimes, certain traditional music styles may even be tied to a certain type of accordion, like the Schrammel accordion
for Schrammelmusik
or the Trikitixa
for Basque music
. It would be hard to name one country in which the accordion did not play a significant role in its music tradition. It has even been idealized in literature.
beginning around 1910 until about 1960. This half century is often called the "Golden Age of the Accordion." Three players, more than any others, inaugurated this era of popularity for the instrument, all Italian immigrants to the United States: Pietro Frosini
, and the two brothers Count
Guido Deiro
and Pietro Deiro
. All three players were celebrities on the Vaudeville
circuits and performed throughout North America, Europe and Australia during the age of Vaudeville. They recorded hundreds of 78 RPM records for the Victor Talking Machine Company
, Columbia Records
, Decca Records
, Edison Records
and Cylinders, and other labels. Guido Deiro was the most successful and famous accordionist during the 1910s and 1920s, and lived a life filled with celebrity, luxury, fast cars, and fast women. Many popular bands, such as the Paul Whiteman
Orchestra, employed staff accordionists.
After most Vaudeville theaters closed during the Great Depression
, accordionists still found work during the 1930s-1950s teaching and performing for radio. Charles Magnante
is considered one of the greatest American popular accordionists. At the peak of his career, he played 30 live radio broadcasts and eight studio sessions each week. Another great popular American accordionist was Dick Contino
, who toured with the Horace Heidt
Orchestra and was billed as the "world's greatest accordion player." He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
a record 48 times. In addition, John Serry, Sr.
achieved national recognition on tour with Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm jazz orchestra during the 1930s, concertized on the CBS
radio and television networks in the 1940s and
1950s and appeared in the Broadway Theatre
during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1950s through the 1980s the accordion received great exposure on television with performances by Myron Floren
—the accordionist with Lawrence Welk
—on the Lawrence Welk Show
. However, with the advent of rock 'n roll and the generation gap
in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the accordion declined in popularity, as the younger generation considered it "square"—epitomizing the light-hearted music of their parents and grandparents.
In contemporary popular music
, it is generally considered exotic and old-fashioned to include the accordion, especially in music for the youth culture. Nevertheless, some popular acts do use the instrument in their distinctive sounds. See the list of popular music acts that incorporate the accordion.
The instrument was also used in the Disney song "Whale of a Tale" from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as well as Donald Duck
's song, "Quack Quack Quack". It was used in a Christmas setting for the song "Nuttin' for Christmas".
The composer Tomohito Nishiura
frequently uses the accordion in the Professor Layton series of games, for example in "Laboratory" or "Don Paolo's Theme". However, when 'Live Versions' of the soundtracks are released, the accordion is occasionally replaced (such as in "London 3" from Professor Layton and the Unwound Future). Every 'theme' for a game uses the accordion in some capacity.
The accordion has been a primary instrument in Mexican style music. Since the late 19th century, Tejano music
has emerged as one of the leading genres for the instrument in America. Pioneers such as Narciso Martínez
gave the instrument ataple in the cultural music of Mexican American people.Central to the evolution of early Tejano
music was the blend of traditional forms such as the Corrido and Mariachi, and Continental European styles, such as Polka, introduced by German and Czech settlers in the late 19th century. In particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk musicians at the turn of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico. Small bands known as orquestas, featuring amateur musicians, became a staple at community dances.
It's an traditional instrument on brazilian music, specifically baião
on northeast. Luiz Gonzaga
is called the king of baião.
Various folk metal
and viking metal
bands that have formed in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century feature accordions.
Although the accordion is best known primarily as a folk instrument, it has been used with increasing frequency by classical composers. The earliest surviving concert piece written for the accordion is , written in 1836 by Miss Louise Reisner of Paris, an accordionist and amateur composer.
The Russian composer, Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, included four optional single-action diatonic accordions in his Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C Major, op. 53 (1883), simply to add a little color to the third movement: Scherzo burlesque.
The Italian composer, Umberto Giordano
, included the single-action diatonic accordion in his opera Fedora (1898). The accordionist appears on-stage—along with a folk-trio consisting of a piccolo player and triangle player—three times in the third act (which is set in Switzerland), to accompany a short and simple song which is sung by a little Savoyard
(Alpine shepherd).
In 1915, the American composer, Charles Ives
, included a chorus of diatonic accordions (or concertina
sThe orchestra score ambiguously lists the part sometimes as "accordions" and sometimes as "concertinas." —along with two pianos, celesta
, harp
, organ
, zither
and an optional theremin
—in his Orchestral Set No. 2. The accordion part—written for the right-hand only—consists of eighteen measures at the very end of the eighteen-minute-long three-movement work. All the above works were written for the diatonic button accordion.
The first composer to write specifically for the chromatic accordion (able to play all 12 notes of the chromatic scale) was Paul Hindemith
. In 1921 he included the harmonium
in Kammermusik No. 1
, a chamber work in four movements for twelve players, but later rewrote the harmonium part for accordion. Other German composers also wrote for the accordion.
In 1922 the Austrian composer, Alban Berg
, included a short on-stage accordion part in his landmark opera Wozzeck
, Op. 7. The instrument—marked Ziehharmonika bzw. Akkordeon in the score—appears only during the tavern garden (wirthausgarten) scene, along with an on-stage (Bühnenmusik) ensemble consisting of: two fiddles (violins tuned up a tone), one clarinet in C, one guitar and one bombardon in F (or bass tuba), to lend a touch of authenticity to the deutsche bier garten setting.
In the United States several composers contributed to this effort including: John Serry, Sr.
whose works featured both the traditional chromatic accordion as well as the free bass accordion
. Throughout the United States, Russian émigré and Bayan virtuoso Stas Venglevski has premiered many contemporary works including solo and ensemble pieces as well as concertos by Yehuda Yannay
, Anthony Galla-Rini
and William Susman
.
Notable composers who wrote for the accordion during the first half of the 20th century were:
Pauline Oliveros
brought the accordion
into the American expirimental tradition.
(an instrument which could play single pitches on the left-hand manual with a range of three octaves or more, similar to the right-hand manual). Composers found the free-bass accordion much more attractive and easier to write for as it liberated the instrument from a limited range of bass notes (only a minor seventh) and the pre-set chord buttons.It should be noted that both Hindemith and Berg wrote for the free-bass accordion in 1922.
Despite being invented as early as 1912, the instrument did not really become popular until the mid-20th century; when it was "discovered" by classical accordionists. The Danish accordionist Mogens Ellegaard
, regarded by many as the father of the avant-garde accordion movement, described his introduction to the new accordion:
Ellegaard continued,
Symphonic Fantasy and Allegro was premiered by the Danish Radio Symphony
with the composer conducting. Ole Schmidt made the following comment about the work, "I hated accordion until I met Mogens Ellegaard. He made me decide to write an accordion concerto for him."
Other Danish composers soon followed SchmidtFor compositions particularly written for Ellegaard, see contents of the "Mogens Ellegaard collection" that are listed at The Royal Library of Denmark (Danish), also listing compositions written for him and their author.:
In Europe, free bass accordion performance has reached a very high level and the instrument is considered worthy of serious study in music conservatories . Modern and avant-garde
composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina
, Edison Denisov
, Luciano Berio
, Per Nørgård
, Arne Nordheim
, Jindrich Feld
, Franco Donatoni
, Toshio Hosokawa
, Mauricio Kagel
, Patrick Nunn
and Magnus Lindberg
have written for the free bass accordion and the instrument is becoming more frequently integrated into new music
chamber and improvisation groups.
The Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino
(b.1947) recently wrote a piece entitled Storie di Altre Storie, for accordionist Teodoro Anzellotti, requiring use of the free bass accordion in its instrumentation, and drawing off the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti
, the glass harmonica
music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
, and the ballades of Guillaume de Machaut
. It was well received by most European audiences and was released on a compilation disc of Sciarrino's other works on the Winter and Winter label.
Young generation composers who have written for accordion include the Finnish composer Sampo Haapamäki (b.1979) who wrote "Velinikka" a concerto for quarter-tone accordion and chamber orchestra; and the Cypriot composer Christina Athinodorou (b.1981) who wrote "Virgules" for Solo Accordion (2009) featuring the combined use between the usual Stradella and a free-bass.
In the United States, the free-bass accordion is heard occasionally. Beginning in the 1960s, competitive performance on the accordion of classical piano compositions, by the great masters of music, occurred. Although never mainstreamed in the larger musical scene, this convergence with traditional classical music propelled young accordionists to an ultimate involvement with classical music heretofore not experienced.
A number of American instrumentalists did succeed in demonstrating the unique orchestral capabilities of the free bass accordion while performing at the nation's premier concert venues. In the process they encouraged contemporary composers to write for the instrument. Included among the leading orchestral artists was John Serry, Sr.
A concert accordionist, soloist, composer, and arranger, Serry performed extensively in both symphonic orchestras and jazz ensembles as well as on live radio and television broadcasts. His refined poetic artistry gained respect for the free bass accordion as a serious concert instrument among prominent classical musicians and conductors of the early 20th century. In addition, his Concerto For Free Bass Accordion
was completed in 1966 and illustrates the vast orchestral potentialities of the instrument.
Recently Guy Klucevsek
has built a reputation on combining folk styles with classical forms and makes extensive use of the free bass. New York's William Schimmel
, who composes and performs in many genres, is a leading exponent of the "quint" style free bass system and uses it extensively in tandem with the standard stradella system.
In Canada several performers also contributed extensively to the acceptance of the Free Bass Accordion as a respected member of orchestral ensembles throughout North America. Among the leading performers, educators and composers was Joseph Macerollo who achieved widespread acclaim as an interpreter of both contemporary and classical compositions for the instrument.
Use in traditional music
After the invention of the accordion in 1829, its popularity spread throughout the world, in no small measure due to the polkaPolka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
craze. "Once the polka became a craze in Paris and London during the spring of 1844, it diffused rapidly to the rest of the world. . . . In March 1844, polka-mania took Paris: common people, servants, workers and, one assumes, anyone else who wasn't too stuffy were dancing the polka in the streets of the capital and soon in Bordeaux and other French cities as well. A week or so later it took London by storm. And from these two great centers of fashion, empire, and influence, the polka diffused rapidly upward into the rest of French and English society and outward to the rest of the world."
Except for a brief moment in time during the 1830s and 1840s when the accordion was heard by French aristocracy during Salon music
Salon music
Salon music was a popular music genre in Europe during the 19th century. It was usually written for solo piano in the romantic style, and often performed by the composer at events known as "Salons". Salon compositions are usually fairly short and often focus on virtuoso pianistic display or...
concerts, the instrument has always been associated with the common people. The accordion was spread across the globe by the waves of Europeans who emigrated to various parts of the world in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
The mid-19th-century accordion became a favorite of folk musicians for several reasons: "The new instrument's popularity [among the common masses] was a result of its unique qualities. Firstly, it was much louder than all the older folk instruments put together. It could easily be heard in even the wildest pub above the stomping of dancing feet. It was also the prototype of a 'one man band' with bass and chords on the left-hand side and buttons for the melody on the right, and you could still sing along and beat the rhythm with your feet. The instrument needed no tuning and was always ready to play, but the most ingenious thing about the early one-row squeezebox was that you couldn't play it really badly. Even if you lost the melody it still sounded fine."
Since its invention, the accordion has become popularly integrated into a lot of varying traditional music
Traditional music
Traditional music is the term increasingly used for folk music that is not contemporary folk music. More on this is at the terminology section of the World music article...
styles all over the world, ranging from the European polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
and the Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
n Vallenato
Vallenato
Vallenato, along with cumbia, is currently a popular folk music of Colombia. It primarily comes from the Colombia's Caribbean region. Vallenato literally means "born in the valley". The valley influencing this name is located between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Serranía de Perijá in...
to Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n trot music. See the list of traditional music styles that incorporate the accordion. Although rarely seen many early bigband (swing bands like Glen Miller's) scores have the Piano part marked "Piano/Piano Accordion"
Sometimes, certain traditional music styles may even be tied to a certain type of accordion, like the Schrammel accordion
Schrammel accordion
A Schrammel accordion is an accordion with a melody keyboard in the chromatic B-Griff system and a twelve-button diatonic bass keyboard...
for Schrammelmusik
Schrammelmusik
Schrammelmusik is a style of Viennese folk music originating in the late nineteenth century and still performed in present-day Austria. The style is named for the prolific folk composers Johann and Josef Schrammel.- The Schrammel brothers :...
or the Trikitixa
Trikitixa
The trikiti , trikitixa or eskusoinu txiki is a two-row Basque diatonic button accordion with right-hand rows keyed a fifth apart and twelve unisonoric bass buttons...
for Basque music
Basque music
The strict classification of Basque music remains a controversial issue, complicated in part by the growing diversification of such music, but by and large it is made in the Basque Country, it reflects traits related to that society/tradition and it is devised by people from the Basque...
. It would be hard to name one country in which the accordion did not play a significant role in its music tradition. It has even been idealized in literature.
Use in popular music
The accordion was heard frequently in popular musicPopular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
beginning around 1910 until about 1960. This half century is often called the "Golden Age of the Accordion." Three players, more than any others, inaugurated this era of popularity for the instrument, all Italian immigrants to the United States: Pietro Frosini
Pietro Frosini
Pietro Frosini was one of the first famous "stars of the accordion." He was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1885 and began to play the chromatic button accordion at the age of six...
, and the two brothers Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
Guido Deiro
Guido Deiro
Count Guido Pietro Deiro was a famous vaudeville star, international recording artist, composer and teacher. He was the first piano-accordionist to appear on big-time vaudeville, records, radio and the screen. Guido usually performed under the stage-name "Deiro"...
and Pietro Deiro
Pietro Deiro
Pietro Deiro was one of the most influential accordionists of the first half of the 20th century. Born in Salto Canavese, Italy, the younger brother of Guido Deiro, he emigrated to the United States in 1907 to live with his Uncle Frederico and work in the coal mines of Cle Elum, Washington.Pietro...
. All three players were celebrities on the Vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
circuits and performed throughout North America, Europe and Australia during the age of Vaudeville. They recorded hundreds of 78 RPM records for the Victor Talking Machine Company
Victor Talking Machine Company
The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American corporation, the leading American producer of phonographs and phonograph records and one of the leading phonograph companies in the world at the time. It was headquartered in Camden, New Jersey....
, Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
, Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, Edison Records
Edison Records
Edison Records was one of the earliest record labels which pioneered recorded sound and was an important player in the early recording industry.- Early phonographs before commercial mass produced records :...
and Cylinders, and other labels. Guido Deiro was the most successful and famous accordionist during the 1910s and 1920s, and lived a life filled with celebrity, luxury, fast cars, and fast women. Many popular bands, such as the Paul Whiteman
Paul Whiteman
Paul Samuel Whiteman was an American bandleader and orchestral director.Leader of the most popular dance bands in the United States during the 1920s, Whiteman's recordings were immensely successful, and press notices often referred to him as the "King of Jazz"...
Orchestra, employed staff accordionists.
After most Vaudeville theaters closed during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, accordionists still found work during the 1930s-1950s teaching and performing for radio. Charles Magnante
Charles Magnante
Charles Magnante was an American piano-accordionist, arranger, composer, author and educator. His artistry helped raise the image of the accordion from an instrument considered suitable only for folk music to an instrument accepted in many music genres.- Background :Magnante's father was a...
is considered one of the greatest American popular accordionists. At the peak of his career, he played 30 live radio broadcasts and eight studio sessions each week. Another great popular American accordionist was Dick Contino
Dick Contino
Dick Contino is an American accordionist and singer.Contino studied accordion primarily with San Francisco-based Angelo Cognazzo, and occasionally with Los Angeles-based Guido Deiro. Early on he exhibited great virtuosity on the instrument...
, who toured with the Horace Heidt
Horace Heidt
Horace Heidt was an American pianist, big band leader, and radio and television personality. His band, Horace Heidt and His Musical Knights, toured vaudeville and performed on radio and television through the 1930s and 1940s.-Biography:Born in Alameda, California, Heidt attended Culver...
Orchestra and was billed as the "world's greatest accordion player." He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
a record 48 times. In addition, John Serry, Sr.
John Serry, Sr.
John Serry, Sr. was an accomplished concert accordionist virtuoso, arranger, composer, organist and educator who performed on the CBS Radio and CBS Television networks...
achieved national recognition on tour with Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm jazz orchestra during the 1930s, concertized on the CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
radio and television networks in the 1940s and
1950s and appeared in the Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
during the 1950s and 1960s. During the 1950s through the 1980s the accordion received great exposure on television with performances by Myron Floren
Myron Floren
Myron Floren was an American musician best known as the accordionist on The Lawrence Welk Show between 1950 and 1982...
—the accordionist with Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk
Lawrence Welk was an American musician, accordionist, bandleader, and television impresario, who hosted The Lawrence Welk Show from 1955 to 1982...
—on the Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show
The Lawrence Welk Show is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years , then nationally for another 27 years via the ABC network and first-run syndication .In the years since first-run syndication...
. However, with the advent of rock 'n roll and the generation gap
Generation gap
The generational gap is and was a term popularized in Western countries during the 1960s referring to differences between people of a younger generation and their elders, especially between children and parents....
in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the accordion declined in popularity, as the younger generation considered it "square"—epitomizing the light-hearted music of their parents and grandparents.
In contemporary popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
, it is generally considered exotic and old-fashioned to include the accordion, especially in music for the youth culture. Nevertheless, some popular acts do use the instrument in their distinctive sounds. See the list of popular music acts that incorporate the accordion.
The instrument was also used in the Disney song "Whale of a Tale" from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as well as Donald Duck
Donald Duck
Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created in 1934 at Walt Disney Productions and licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Donald is an anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit with a cap and a black or red bow tie. Donald is most...
's song, "Quack Quack Quack". It was used in a Christmas setting for the song "Nuttin' for Christmas".
The composer Tomohito Nishiura
Tomohito Nishiura
Tomohito Nishiura is a Japanese video game music composer. He works primarily on games developed by Level-5.-Works:*Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva *Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box...
frequently uses the accordion in the Professor Layton series of games, for example in "Laboratory" or "Don Paolo's Theme". However, when 'Live Versions' of the soundtracks are released, the accordion is occasionally replaced (such as in "London 3" from Professor Layton and the Unwound Future). Every 'theme' for a game uses the accordion in some capacity.
The accordion has been a primary instrument in Mexican style music. Since the late 19th century, Tejano music
Tejano music
Tejano music or Tex-Mex music is the name given to various forms of folk and popular music originating among the Mexican-American populations of Central and Southern Texas...
has emerged as one of the leading genres for the instrument in America. Pioneers such as Narciso Martínez
Narciso Martínez
Narciso Martínez , dubbed early on, El Huracan del Valle , began recording in 1936, on October 21 precisely, and is the father of conjunto music...
gave the instrument ataple in the cultural music of Mexican American people.Central to the evolution of early Tejano
Tejano
Tejano or Texano is a term used to identify a Texan of Mexican heritage.Historically, the Spanish term Tejano has been used to identify different groups of people...
music was the blend of traditional forms such as the Corrido and Mariachi, and Continental European styles, such as Polka, introduced by German and Czech settlers in the late 19th century. In particular, the accordion was adopted by Tejano folk musicians at the turn of the 20th century, and it became a popular instrument for amateur musicians in Texas and Northern Mexico. Small bands known as orquestas, featuring amateur musicians, became a staple at community dances.
It's an traditional instrument on brazilian music, specifically baião
Baião
The baião is a Northeast Brazilian rhythmic formula that became the basis of a wide range of music. Forró, côco, and embolada are clear examples...
on northeast. Luiz Gonzaga
Luiz Gonzaga
Luiz Gonzaga do Nascimento was a very prominent Brazilian folk singer, songwriter, musician and poet. Born in the countryside of Pernambuco , he is considered to be responsible for the promotion of northeastern music throughout the rest of the country...
is called the king of baião.
Various folk metal
Folk metal
Folk metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal music that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music...
and viking metal
Viking metal
Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its galloping pace, keyboard-rich anthemic sound, bleakness and dramatic emphasis on lyrical themes of Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age...
bands that have formed in the 1990s and first decade of the 21st century feature accordions.
Use in classical music
The Russian composer, Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, included four optional single-action diatonic accordions in his Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C Major, op. 53 (1883), simply to add a little color to the third movement: Scherzo burlesque.
The Italian composer, Umberto Giordano
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
, included the single-action diatonic accordion in his opera Fedora (1898). The accordionist appears on-stage—along with a folk-trio consisting of a piccolo player and triangle player—three times in the third act (which is set in Switzerland), to accompany a short and simple song which is sung by a little Savoyard
Savoyard
Savoyard is a Romance language group with several distinct varieties that form a linguistic subgroup from the Arpitan language family. It is spoken in some territories of the historical Duchy of Savoy, nowadays a geographic area spanning France , Switzerland , and Italy...
(Alpine shepherd).
In 1915, the American composer, Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, included a chorus of diatonic accordions (or concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
sThe orchestra score ambiguously lists the part sometimes as "accordions" and sometimes as "concertinas." —along with two pianos, celesta
Celesta
The celesta or celeste is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. Its appearance is similar to that of an upright piano or of a large wooden music box . The keys are connected to hammers which strike a graduated set of metal plates suspended over wooden resonators...
, harp
Harp
The harp is a multi-stringed instrument which has the plane of its strings positioned perpendicularly to the soundboard. Organologically, it is in the general category of chordophones and has its own sub category . All harps have a neck, resonator and strings...
, organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
, zither
Zither
The zither is a musical string instrument, most commonly found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary citera, northwestern Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe and East Asian cultures, including China...
and an optional theremin
Theremin
The theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
—in his Orchestral Set No. 2. The accordion part—written for the right-hand only—consists of eighteen measures at the very end of the eighteen-minute-long three-movement work. All the above works were written for the diatonic button accordion.
The first composer to write specifically for the chromatic accordion (able to play all 12 notes of the chromatic scale) was Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
. In 1921 he included the harmonium
Harmonium
A harmonium is a free-standing keyboard instrument similar to a reed organ. Sound is produced by air being blown through sets of free reeds, resulting in a sound similar to that of an accordion...
in Kammermusik No. 1
Kammermusik (Hindemith)
Kammermusik is the name given to a series of eight musical compositions by the German composer Paul Hindemith.Written between 1921 and 1927, the first two works are for small ensembles , and share the opus number 24. Kammermusik No...
, a chamber work in four movements for twelve players, but later rewrote the harmonium part for accordion. Other German composers also wrote for the accordion.
In 1922 the Austrian composer, Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
, included a short on-stage accordion part in his landmark opera Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
, Op. 7. The instrument—marked Ziehharmonika bzw. Akkordeon in the score—appears only during the tavern garden (wirthausgarten) scene, along with an on-stage (Bühnenmusik) ensemble consisting of: two fiddles (violins tuned up a tone), one clarinet in C, one guitar and one bombardon in F (or bass tuba), to lend a touch of authenticity to the deutsche bier garten setting.
In the United States several composers contributed to this effort including: John Serry, Sr.
John Serry, Sr.
John Serry, Sr. was an accomplished concert accordionist virtuoso, arranger, composer, organist and educator who performed on the CBS Radio and CBS Television networks...
whose works featured both the traditional chromatic accordion as well as the free bass accordion
Free-bass system
A free-bass system is a system of bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater access to playing melodies on the left-hand manual of the instrument and to forming one's own chords, by providing a buttonboard of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in...
. Throughout the United States, Russian émigré and Bayan virtuoso Stas Venglevski has premiered many contemporary works including solo and ensemble pieces as well as concertos by Yehuda Yannay
Yehuda Yannay
Yehuda Yannay is an American-Israeli composer, conductor, film maker and performance artist.Yannay moved from Romania to Israel in 1951, where he studied with Alexander Uriya Boskovitch , who influenced him greatly...
, Anthony Galla-Rini
Anthony Galla-Rini
Anthony Galla-Rini was a celebrated American accordionist, arranger, composer, conductor, author, and teacher, and is considered by many to be the first American accordionist to promote the accordion as a "legitimate" concert instrument.-Early life:Galla-Rini was born in Manchester, Connecticut,...
and William Susman
William Susman
William Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...
.
Notable composers who wrote for the accordion during the first half of the 20th century were:
- Virgil ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
: Four Saints in Three Acts (1928) - Serge Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, op. 74 (1936)
- Paul DessauPaul DessauPaul Dessau was a German composer and conductor.- Biography :Dessau was born in Hamburg into a musical family...
: Mother Courage (1936) and Die Verurteilung des LukullusDie Verurteilung des LukullusDie Verurteilung des Lukullus is a opera by Paul Dessau to a libretto by the German dramatist Bertolt Brecht....
(1949) - Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
: Jazz Suite No. 2 (1938) - Jean FrançaixJean FrançaixJean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
: Apocalypse According to St. John (1939) - Darius MilhaudDarius MilhaudDarius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
: Prelude and Postlude for "Lidoire" (1946) - Henry BrantHenry BrantHenry Dreyfuss Brant was a Canadian-born American composer. An expert orchestrator with a flair for experimentation, many of Brant's works featured spatialization techniques.- Biography :...
: All Soul's Carnival (1949) - George AntheilGeorge AntheilGeorge Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
—of Ballet mécaniqueBallet mécaniqueBallet Mécanique was a project by the American composer George Antheil and the filmmaker/artists Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy. Although the film was intended to use Antheil's score as a soundtrack, the two parts were not brought together until the 1990s. As a composition, Ballet Mécanique is...
fame: Accordion Dance for accordion and orchestra (1951) - John Serry, Sr.John Serry, Sr.John Serry, Sr. was an accomplished concert accordionist virtuoso, arranger, composer, organist and educator who performed on the CBS Radio and CBS Television networks...
: American RhapsodyAmerican RhapsodyAmerican Rhapsody was written for the accordion by John Serry, Sr. in 1955 and subsequently transcribed for the free bass accordion in 1963 and for the piano in 2002...
(1955), to name a few.
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
brought the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
into the American expirimental tradition.
The free-bass accordion in classical music
Despite efforts by accordion performers and organizations to present the accordion as a serious instrument to the classical music world, the much-coveted breakthrough into the mainstream of serious musical circles did not take place until after leading accordionists more or less abandoned the stradella-bass accordion (an instrument limited to only bass and pre-set chord buttons on the left-hand manual) and embraced the free-bass accordionFree-bass system
A free-bass system is a system of bass buttons on an accordion, arranged to give the performer greater access to playing melodies on the left-hand manual of the instrument and to forming one's own chords, by providing a buttonboard of single-note buttons with a range of three octaves or more, in...
(an instrument which could play single pitches on the left-hand manual with a range of three octaves or more, similar to the right-hand manual). Composers found the free-bass accordion much more attractive and easier to write for as it liberated the instrument from a limited range of bass notes (only a minor seventh) and the pre-set chord buttons.It should be noted that both Hindemith and Berg wrote for the free-bass accordion in 1922.
Despite being invented as early as 1912, the instrument did not really become popular until the mid-20th century; when it was "discovered" by classical accordionists. The Danish accordionist Mogens Ellegaard
Mogens Ellegaard
Mogens Ellegaard of Denmark is widely regarded as the "father of the avant-garde accordion."- Early life :Ellegaard was the son of a carpenter and began studying the instrument at the age of eight. - The free-bass accordion :...
, regarded by many as the father of the avant-garde accordion movement, described his introduction to the new accordion:
Ellegaard continued,
Symphonic Fantasy and Allegro was premiered by the Danish Radio Symphony
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra , is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The DNSO is the principal orchestra of DR...
with the composer conducting. Ole Schmidt made the following comment about the work, "I hated accordion until I met Mogens Ellegaard. He made me decide to write an accordion concerto for him."
Other Danish composers soon followed SchmidtFor compositions particularly written for Ellegaard, see contents of the "Mogens Ellegaard collection" that are listed at The Royal Library of Denmark (Danish), also listing compositions written for him and their author.:
- Niels Viggo BentzonNiels Viggo BentzonNiels Viggo Bentzon was a Danish composer and pianist.Bentzon was descended from Johan Ernst Hartmann and the great-grandson of J.P.E. Hartmann. From 1938 to 1942, he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen under Knud Jeppesen and Christian Christiansen...
wrote Concerto for Accordion (1962–63), In the Zoo (1964) and Sinfonia concertante (1965) for six accordions, string orchestra and percussion. - Per NørgårdPer NørgårdPer Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...
wrote Anatomic Safari (1967) for solo accordion and Recall (1968) for accordion and orchestra, which was dedicated to Lars Dyremose, director of the Danish Accordion Academy. - Karl Aage RasmussenKarl Aage RasmussenKarl Aage Rasmussen is a Danish composer and writer.Quotation and particularly collage played an important role in his music from the early 70s, but increasingly he used pre-existing musical material in new connections and for new purposes, most often in a densely woven montage of small idioms...
wrote Invention (1972) - Hans AbrahamsenHans AbrahamsenHans Abrahamsen is a Danish composer.Born in Copenhagen, Abrahamsen first got to know music through playing the French horn at school. He went on to study music theory at the Royal Danish Academy of Music...
wrote Canzone (1977-8) for solo accordion. - Steen PadeSteen PadeSteen Pade is a Danish composer. He studied composition with Ib Nørholm, Per Nørgård, and Karl Aage Rasmussen.From 1992 to 2007 he was director of the Royal Danish Academy of Music-External links:* *...
, Nørgård's student, wrote a concerto for accordion and three solo works: Excursions With Detours (1984), Aprilis (1987) and Cadenza (1987). - Vagn HolmboeVagn HolmboeVagn Gylding Holmboe was a Danish composer and teacher who wrote largely in a neo-classical style.-Life:At the age of 16, Holmboe began formal music training at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on the recommendation of Carl Nielsen. He studied under Knud Jeppesen and Finn Høffding...
wrote Sonata, Op. 143A.
In Europe, free bass accordion performance has reached a very high level and the instrument is considered worthy of serious study in music conservatories . Modern and avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Gubaidulina
Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, is a Russian composer of half Russian, half Tatar ethnicity.Gubaidulina's music is marked by the use of unusual instrumental combinations...
, Edison Denisov
Edison Denisov
Edison Vasilievich Denisov was a Russian composer of so called "Underground" — "Anti-Collectivist", "alternative" or "nonconformist" division in the Soviet music.-Biography:...
, Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
, Per Nørgård
Per Nørgård
Per Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...
, Arne Nordheim
Arne Nordheim
Arne Nordheim was a Norwegian composer who had since 1982 been living in the Norwegian State's honorary residence, Grotten, next to the Royal Palace in Oslo. Nordheim received numerous prizes for his compositions, and was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary...
, Jindrich Feld
Jindrich Feld
Jindřich Feld was a Czech composer of classical music.-Biography:Feld was born into a musical family, his father a well-known professor of violin at the Prague Conservatory which followed the tradition of Otakar Ševčík, the master of Jan Kubelík. His mother was a violinist...
, Franco Donatoni
Franco Donatoni
Franco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...
, Toshio Hosokawa
Toshio Hosokawa
is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:Hosokawa studied with Yun Isang at the Berlin University of the Arts. Since 1998, Hosokawa has served as Composer-in-Residence at the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Hosokawa became a guest professor at Tokyo College of Music...
, Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
, Patrick Nunn
Patrick Nunn
Patrick Nunn , is a British composer and educator.-Biography:Nunn read music at Dartington College of Arts studying under Frank Denyer between 1988 and 1991 taking additional tuition with Louis Andriessen at Dartington International Summer School and with Gary Carpenter at the Welsh College of...
and Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg
Magnus Lindberg is a Finnish composer and pianist. He is currently the composer-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.-Education:...
have written for the free bass accordion and the instrument is becoming more frequently integrated into new music
Contemporary classical music
Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...
chamber and improvisation groups.
The Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino
Salvatore Sciarrino
Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
(b.1947) recently wrote a piece entitled Storie di Altre Storie, for accordionist Teodoro Anzellotti, requiring use of the free bass accordion in its instrumentation, and drawing off the keyboard sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti
Domenico Scarlatti
Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style...
, the glass harmonica
Glass harmonica
The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica , is a type of musical instrument that uses a series of glass bowls or goblets graduated in size to produce musical tones by means of friction The glass harmonica, also known as the glass...
music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, and the ballades of Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut
Guillaume de Machaut was a Medieval French poet and composer. He is one of the earliest composers on whom significant biographical information is available....
. It was well received by most European audiences and was released on a compilation disc of Sciarrino's other works on the Winter and Winter label.
Young generation composers who have written for accordion include the Finnish composer Sampo Haapamäki (b.1979) who wrote "Velinikka" a concerto for quarter-tone accordion and chamber orchestra; and the Cypriot composer Christina Athinodorou (b.1981) who wrote "Virgules" for Solo Accordion (2009) featuring the combined use between the usual Stradella and a free-bass.
In the United States, the free-bass accordion is heard occasionally. Beginning in the 1960s, competitive performance on the accordion of classical piano compositions, by the great masters of music, occurred. Although never mainstreamed in the larger musical scene, this convergence with traditional classical music propelled young accordionists to an ultimate involvement with classical music heretofore not experienced.
A number of American instrumentalists did succeed in demonstrating the unique orchestral capabilities of the free bass accordion while performing at the nation's premier concert venues. In the process they encouraged contemporary composers to write for the instrument. Included among the leading orchestral artists was John Serry, Sr.
John Serry, Sr.
John Serry, Sr. was an accomplished concert accordionist virtuoso, arranger, composer, organist and educator who performed on the CBS Radio and CBS Television networks...
A concert accordionist, soloist, composer, and arranger, Serry performed extensively in both symphonic orchestras and jazz ensembles as well as on live radio and television broadcasts. His refined poetic artistry gained respect for the free bass accordion as a serious concert instrument among prominent classical musicians and conductors of the early 20th century. In addition, his Concerto For Free Bass Accordion
Concerto For Free Bass Accordion
Concerto for Free Bass Accordion was written for the solo Free-bass system accordion by John Serry, Sr. in 1964 and was revised in 1966. A transcription for solo piano was completed in 1995 and revised in 2002...
was completed in 1966 and illustrates the vast orchestral potentialities of the instrument.
Recently Guy Klucevsek
Guy Klucevsek
Guy Klucevsek is an American-born accordionist and composer.Klucevsek is one of relatively few accordion players active in jazz and free improvisation....
has built a reputation on combining folk styles with classical forms and makes extensive use of the free bass. New York's William Schimmel
William Schimmel
William Schimmel is one of the principal architects in the resurgence of the accordion, and the philosophy of "Musical Reality"...
, who composes and performs in many genres, is a leading exponent of the "quint" style free bass system and uses it extensively in tandem with the standard stradella system.
In Canada several performers also contributed extensively to the acceptance of the Free Bass Accordion as a respected member of orchestral ensembles throughout North America. Among the leading performers, educators and composers was Joseph Macerollo who achieved widespread acclaim as an interpreter of both contemporary and classical compositions for the instrument.