Chemnitzer concertina: German musical instrument

The chemnitzer concertina is a musical instrument of the hand-held bellows-driven free-reed family, also known as squeezeboxes. The musical instrument is most related closely to the Bandoneon, but not so related to other accordions and concertinas.

source of picture: concertinamusic.com

The chemnitzer concertina is roughly square in cross section, having the keyboard to be made up of cylindrical buttons on each extreme arranged in curving rows. Like other versions of the musical instrument, the buttons travel in a direction almost parallel to the motion of the bellows, whereas the keys and the buttons of the instrument move roughly perpendicular to the motion of the bellows. A strap, often of leather, is attached at each end to hold the player’s palm against the musical instrument for performing it. Compare to the English version of the musical instrument, where the thumb holds a strap, the thin finger is held on a rest and the remaining fingers of the hand press the keys of the instrument. The musical instrument is bisonoric, this means that each button on the instrument corresponds to two notes; one when expanded and the other when compressed. On most versions of the instrument, two or more reeds sound for each note. The tones manufactured are in either unison or octaves, or combination in some.

The internal construction of this musical instrument is different from the other versions of the instrument, in that the action more closely is analogous to that of the accordion, and that the reeds are made of steel and are usually attached in groups of twenty or more to aluminum plates or zinc plates, instead of individual frames.

Sources vary when German inventor known as Carl Friedrich Uhlig manufactured his first concertina after seeing Charles Wheatstone’s musical instrument of the same name, or whether the two men fabricated their musical instrument concurrently and independently. Carl’s patent dates back to 1834, but Charles fabricated an analogous musical instrument in the year 1829. He did not build an instrument under the name concertina until the year 1844.

Carl’s first musical instrument had five buttons on each of the sides, but the keyboard of the instrument was expanded quickly and as that was done, it diverged into various lineages. Heinrich band was sold under the name Bandoneon. Many other german musical instruments were sold under the name concertina and their keyboard system were also given names based on the creators of the instruments, just like with the band and Scheffler, or the city of origin of the instrument as with the Carlsfelder and Chemnitzer systems.

The chemnitzer layout is one of 38, 39, 51 or 52 buttons, or one of the expanded versions from America of 52 buttons. The most notable innovation to the internal construction of the musical instrument were produced by German-American musical instrument inventor in Chicago; Ernest Glass fabricated an aluminum action in the year 1912 that was quicker and quieter than the earlier wooden ones. His son improved this action in the year 1928 and patented an action in the year 1932 that improved the pivot method of the action levers and permitted action levers to be produced by bending metal stock instead of die damping. Many American and Italian constructors of the 20^th century started using reed and reed block kinds analogous to those used in the accordions as a measure to save cost and to enhance repair, meanwhile many performers consider these musical instrument to be inferior, as they usually does not have any form of traditional sounds.

The chemnitzer concertina has been consistently been used in the folk music, specifically the polka music that is performed in the central and eastern Europe and by the 19^th and 20^th century immigrants to the united states from those provinces. Meanwhile the musical instrument especially in its 52 buttons and heavier versions can play in the musical contexts.