The Squeeze Box

 

There are many ways to make sound and musical instruments come in a bewildering variety of shapes and sizes. In the past few years I've expanded my collection to include photos of musicians who played unusual instruments that are rarely seen today, but once were common members of musical ensembles.

This trio, for example, has a violin, a button accordion and an unusual guitar called a contra or Schrammel guitar. It's a string instrument first popularized in Vienna, Austria in the late 1840s. The design combines a traditional six-string guitar with a secondary fretless neck that has nine longer bass strings. 

In this kind of group, the violin would generally play the melody; the contraguitar the chords and bass line; and the button accordion could add sustained sounds that covered both the tune and the accompaniment. 

Here is a short video of
the Wiener Salonschrammeln,
a similar quartet of two violins, accordion,
and the Schrammel guitar
performing outdoors in a Viennese wine garden.
The music reflects Gemütlichkeit,
the Germanic tradition
of warm friendship and good cheer.   

* * * *

But my theme for this week's collection of photos of musicians is really the accordion. It's not an  obscure instrument like the contraguitar but it does come in a wide assortment of types and sizes. In this postcard Rensi and Truco, Akkordion-Orchesterkünstler, a music-hall duo act, sit in a photographer's studio posed with their two accordions. Their instruments are examples of an early style of squeezebox, or to use its proper music family name, the free reed aerophone. The sound of an accordion or concertina begins with air supplied by bellows which vibrate brass free-reeds, the  same as found in mouthblown harmonicas or pump-action parlor reed organs.  At each end of the squeezebox are buttons or keys that activate the reeds. 

This postcard was sent from Buchholz, a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on 10 May 1903. The recipient lived in Mügeln, a town near Leipzig in upper Saxony. 

To demonstrate the sound of two accordions
and give an idea of what kind of music-hall act
Renzi and Turco might have performed,
here is a British Pathé short film from 1935
entitled "Four Handed Melody - Isidoro And Catarina".
Their accordions use a piano style keyboard for the right hand.

* * * *

This next postcard shows a sextet of men dressed in matching vests and knee pants. The caption identifies them as the Bremer Schrammel-Capelle „Arion“. Here the melody instruments are flute, trumpet, and violin with a double bass, and two accordions handling the accompaniments. The ensemble also has two drums available too. They were essentially a dance band and probably performed at beer halls or outdoor restaurants.

The accordions are a type of square squeezebox called a Chemnitzer concertina. They were originally produced in Chemnitz, the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony. Simpler versions of the Chemnitzer concertina have anywhere from 38 to 52 buttons, but more professional models can have an amazing 65 or even 76 for a full three octave range with extra buttons that add a function for chords too. 

This postcard was sent from Bremen, Germany on 8 October 1906. If I'm not mistaken, each musician is identified with a name written in pencil on their shirts sleeves. 

For this kind of accordion music
I found this delightful couple on
Ruud Sligchers YouTube channel.
They call themselves Duo Alpen-Gold
and they are playing a dance tune
called "Schneewalzer" on two different accordions,
one with a piano keyboard and the other with buttons.
Wait until about 2:00 when someone gets the giggles.

* * * *

Finally I present a large band where the main instrument is clearly the Chemnitzer concertina as there are seven in this group of 17 musicians. Even with four brass players, two clarinetists, one violinist (look for the bow) and two drummers, the sound of concertinas would have been very dominant. Two of the men sit on beer kegs marked with S11. The postcard was never used so there is no date or identification but the bass drum has lettering. Using the magic of image software I was able to better highlight the words. The top word is still obscured but the second is "Falkenau" over the year 1911. Falkenau is a village in Saxony, Germany only 10 miles east of Chemnitz. Perhaps these men might have worked at the factory which made these concertinas. 

But if you think seven concertinas
are a lot of squeezeboxes
you should hear a 3 or four dozen!
Here is a concertina jam session
at the 2022 Polka Festival in Pulaski, Wisconsin.

I suspect this music is best appreciated
while consuming lots of beer, pretzels and string cheese.

Encore!

I can resist adding this 1940 British Pathé video
of The Two Eddies performing on accordions
using an unusual acrobatic technique.

Don't try this at home!

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where the sound of music

is best heard in sepia tones.