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THE! MUSIC TRADE
HISTORY OF THE CONCERTINA.
Some Interesting Facts Regarding This In-
strument—Development of the Accordeon—
Capable of Excellent Musical Effects When
in Competent Hands.
To most people the mention of the concertina
suggests recollections of distressing cacophony.
But in most cases the instrument heard on these
occasions was not a concertina properly so-
called. The wretched thing masquerading under
that name is some variety of accordeon. Even
of the accordeon, however, one should speak with
a certain measure of respect; for did not Dick-
ens, when he went to America in 1842, perform
thereon? On the passage out he borrowed an
accordeon from the steward, and with his per-
formances, he wrote home he "regaled the ladies'
cabin."
The accordeon, which was a development of a
previously existing aeolina, was invented in 1829
by a Viennese named Damian, and consists, as
everyone knows, of a small pair of bellows and a
range of keys which regulate the admission of
wind to metal reeds. The accordeon sound notes
in one key only. The concertina proper was in-
vented on the same date by Charles Wheatstone,
who later became a famous man of science. It
seems curious that a man whose reputation rests
chiefly on his electrical work and discoveries,
who was one of the earliest men of science to
make experiments in connection with submarine
cables, and who, moreover, was an extraordi-
narily skilful decipherer of cryptographic writ-
ings, should also have dabbled in music inven-
tions. But as a matter of fact, Wheatstone's
musical work preceded his scientific discoveries.
He went straight from school to the business of
manufacturing musical instruments, and it was
in 1829, at the age of 27, that he took out his
patent for the concertina. But he was more in-
terested in the scientific principles on which
musical instruments are constructed than in
music itself, and his acoustical and musical ex-
periments soon drew him into the path which
led to his many electrical discoveries.
The concertina, which has since been developed
and improved, is constructed on similar prin-
ciples to the accordeon, but in range of sounds
and command of variety of keys the concertina
is much the superior of the latter. The accor-
jdeon, or the concertina in its earlier stage, does
not seem to have got into the hands of the folk
with whom it is now most frequently associated
for some considerable time after its invention.
FOR
In Dickens' "Sketches by Boz," written a few
years after the invention of the instrument, there
are various characters introduced and scenes de-
picted, in connection with which the concertina
would assuredly have been mentioned had it then
enjoyed the popularity of later days. But we
may read the "Sketches" and the like writings of
about the same date through and through with-
out finding a reference to a concertina or accor-
deon as figuring in street music. But before
many more years had passed the keyed bellows
was a recognized member of the street orchestra.
In 1860 Charles Keene had a sketch in Punch
which showed four boys seated on a doorstep
playing respectively the bones, tin whistle, mouth
organ and concertina. The tin whistler, who acts
as conductor, remarks, "Heasy with them bones,
Bill!" "But I'm aplayin' hobligarter," says Bones,
to which the conductor retorts, "Well, I didn't
say you wasn't; but you needn't go and drownd
my tremoler!"
But the concertina, in its perfected form and
in competent hands, is a very different instru-
ment from that played by the boy in Keene's
drawing, or from that which accompanies the
progress of the coster in his "shallow," or the
holiday makers in their brake. Miss Hawkes is
revealing to the present generation of concert-
goers the extraordinary musical possibilities of
the instrument when capably played; but she is
by no means the first concertinist to astonish the
town. A few years after the concertina was first
invented a juvenile prodigy, a Master Regondi,
gave performances thereon which made a great
sensation. As the irate musician remarked in
Du Maurier's drawing: "Gonzertina!—pantscho!
—pones!—gomb!—nuzzing vill blease ze Pritish
bublic, if ze berformer is onter vife years olt!"
The British public has not changed much with
the passing of the years. But some juvenile
prodigies have retained their power to attract
after they have ceased to be juveniles. The same
virtuoso who played in 1837 as Master Regondi
was still astonishing the London music public
with his concertina playing twenty years later,
when he was known as Signor Giulio Regondi.
The fine playing of one of his later contempo-
raries, Mr. Richard Blagrove, must be still fresh
in the memories of not a few middle-aged con-
certgoers.—London Globe.
E. A. Bates & Co., Santa Barbara, Cal., have
closed all their branch stores and will devote
themselves to the wholesale trade exclusively,
owing to the ill health of Mrs. E. A. Bates, head
of the company.
"THE TRIO CORNET
" T H E VIENNA W O N D E R " A N D
MILANO ORGANETTO ACCORDEONS
WRITE TO
WM. R. GRATZ IMPORT COMPANY, 35 and 37 West 31st St., New York
THE
CONN
AND THB>
Union Label
ARE SYNONYMOUS
AND
THE
M. E. SCHOENINGJ>AILS FOR EUROPE.
Well Known Importer Will Visit Small Goods
Centers—Those Who Bade Him Bon Voyage.
M. E. Schoening, the importer, New York,
sailed for Europe Thursday of last week via the
Hamburg-American line. It is his usual trip
abroad to visit the small goods centers of the
Continent, and he will be away for a couple of
months. Representatives from the leading job-
bing houses were at the pier to see Mr. Schoening
off, among them being Frank Scribner, Walter L.
Eckhardt of the Manufacturers' Outlet Co.,
and Henry Stadlemaier of C. Bruno & Son. Corks
kept popping at a lively rate, according to the
participants in the happy crowd, and "Mike" was
wished all manner of good luck by the jolly party
of his friends.
KAFFENBERGER & CANTOR PUBLICITY.
Kaffenberger & Cantor, the "big piano cover
house," 7 and 9 West 18th street, New York, this
week mailed the trade a special circular, em-
bodying information regarding their line of new
scarfs. The designs of these goods represent the
very latest developments in their line, and com-
ing in all colors they present as rich an array
of scarfs as have ever been presented the trade.
The prices are also right, and in addition to the
last K. & C. bulletin, they also inclose the sug-
gestive line, in bold type, "Make a Noise Like an
Order!"
HISTORIC VIOLIN FACTS
Collated by Knute Reindahl, of Chicago, III.
Under the head of Historic Miscellany in his
booklet, "An Artist's Touch," Knute Reindahl, of
Chicago, prints the following:
"When the violin, in its present model, entered
the field of orchestral music (in the score of
Montiverde's opera 'Orfeo') it was specifically de-
scribed as a 'little French violin.' In their
earlier days violins, as well as other members of
the violl family—violas, violincellos and double
basses—were much larger than those of the
present. Historically, they are the culmination
of a development toward diminutiveness—a de-
velopment which reached perfection in model, as
well as in tone and durability, at the hands of
the famed Cremonese makers.
"The violins of Stradivarius were considered
perfection perfected; in fact, the present-day say-
ing to the effect tha 'the one perfect thing in this
world is a Stradivarius violin' comes dangerously
near to the truth. That a Stradivarius violin is
not susceptible to vast improvement—in any
serse of the word—none will deny, and while it
is a vlemonstrable fact that a few violin-makers
of the past, and of the present, have produced
perfect violins by varying methods and divergent
systems of plate and sounding-board thicknesses,
it is, nevertheless, a fact that no maker—even of
this late day—has outstripped Stradivarius as
regards structural and tonal beauty.
"Two hundred years ago concert pitch varied
according to locality, from A 405 vibrations per
second at London to 455% at Milan. 'Tis a little
more than a decade since 'normal' pitch, or diap-
ason normal, or international pitch, was estab-
lished with A at 435, which curiously enough
:
fits sounding boards over 200 years old.
SMITH ACADEMY
GUITARS a n d MANDOLINS
Genuine Distinguishing Marks of Superiority
Cannot Be Duplicated lor the Money
Which Will In Future Be Found On All
A trial order la all we aak
Wonder and American Model Band
and Orchestral Instruments
WRITE FOR A CATALOGUE OF SALABLE GOODS
MADE BY
C. G. CONN COMPANY,
Koerber-Brenner Music Company
ST. LOUIS
Exclusively Wholesale