Accordion in music

Main article: Accordion

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 advertisments.

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 polka 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 of 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 1800s and early 1900s.

The mid-eighteenth-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 Colombian Vallenato to Korean trot music. See the list of traditional music styles that incorporate the 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.

Use in popular music

The accordion was heard frequently in popular music 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 as well as 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".

Use in classical music

Henry Doktorski with the New Philharmonic Orchestra.

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 Thême varié très brillant pour accordéon methode Reisner, 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 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.

Notable composers who wrote for the accordion during the first half of the 20th century were:

• Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts (1928)
• Serge Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, op. 74 (1936)
• Paul Dessau: Mother Courage (1936) and Die Verurteilung des Lukullus (1949)
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Jazz Suite No. 2 (1938)
• Jean Françaix: Apocalypse According to St. John (1939)
• Darius Milhaud: Prelude and Postlude for "Lidoire" (1946)
• Henry Brant: All Soul's Carnival (1949)
• George Antheil—of Ballet mécanique fame: Accordion Dance for accordion and orchestra (1951)
• John Serry, Sr.: American Rhapsody (1955), to name a few.

The free-bass accordion in classical music

Template:Sound sample box align right Template:Sample box end 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 accordion (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 the tyranny of a limited range of bass notes (only a minor seventh) and the pre-set chord buttons.

Despite being invented as early as 1912, the instrument did not really become popular until the mid-twentieth 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:

"When I started, there was absolutely no accordion culture. Unless, you define accordion culture as 'oom-pah-pah,' or the Cuckoo Waltz—that sort of thing. The free-bass accordion didn't exist—it was entirely unknown when I was a child. At that time the accordion world was living in splendid isolation. No contact at all with the outside musical world. Concerts for us consisted of Frosini, Deiro repertoire or folkloristic music. The possibilities of getting a formal, quality education [on accordion] were nil. The accordion was not accepted at any of the higher music institutions. . . . The possibilities for a soloist, for the best players, would be variety 'night club' work, Saturday night shows. . . . This is what I was doing when I was very young."

Ellegaard continued,

"But in 1953 the first free-bass accordions were introduced in Denmark and, by coincidence, I was one of the first students to get such an instrument. . . . In 1957, the pianist Vilfred Kjaer, who was also well-known in our country as a composer of light music, wrote a concerto for me and through his good connections, he was able to organize the world premiere of Jubilesse infameuse. It was a work of light character, but anyway a beginning. At that concert, also by coincidence, [the composer] Ole Schmidt was sitting in the audience. He didn't like Kjaer's composition, but liked the instrument, and told me this bluntly afterwards. So I challenged him to write something better. In 1958 he wrote Symphonic Fantasy and Allegro, op. 20 for accordion and orchestra, which was the first really serious work for accordion written by a good composer."

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 Schmidt:

• Niels Viggo Bentzon wrote Concerto for Accordion (1962-63), In the Zoo (1964) and Sinfonia concertante (1965) for six accordions, string orchestra and percussion.
• Per Nørgård 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 Rasmussen wrote Invention (1972)
• Hans Abrahamsen wrote Canzone (1977-8) for solo accordion.
• Steen Pade, Nørgård's student, wrote a concerto for accordion and three solo works: Excursions With Detours (1984), Aprilis (1987) and Cadenza (1987).
• Vagn Holmboe 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 composers such as Sofia Gubaidulina, Edison Denisov, Luciano Berio, Per Norgard, 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.

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 twentieth 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 .