When was the accordion invented?

 

 

It is always difficult to say "when" something was invented. Most musical instruments evolved over time and eventually became known by a given name, such as "violin", "flute", or "accordion"". We usually think of the early Nineteenth Century as the period in which the accordion first occurred, but its principle of sound production can be traced back to ancient China in an instrument called the "sheng".

The sheng is a mouth-organ, a type of harmonica, that was part of Chinese music making over 4000 years ago. Small terra cotta figures of musicians playing the sheng were discovered in ancient tombs of Chinese rulers exhumed only a few decades ago.

The sheng has a series of bamboo pipes as well as a wind reservoir at it's base. Inside, each pipe has a bamboo reed which sounds a pitch when the performer opens the air hole (covered by his or her fingers) at the back of the reservoir. The sheng sounds like this:

During the 18th Century, with increased trade and commerce between the West and the Far East, Chinese instruments were imported into Europe. The sheng appeared and was heard in Europe in 1777. Early in the next century, possibly from the influence of this Chinese harmonica, an instrument called the Hand-Aoline was introduced by F. Buschmann in 1822.

In 1829, an improved instrument called the Akkordion, made by C. Demain, appeared. (This was the same year Wheatstone's concertina appeared n England.) The Akkordion actually had valves to open air into the reeds.

These were the earliest accordions, all hand made. By the middle of the 19th Century, the piano keyboard was added to the right hand by Bouton (1852). This is also the period when shops began to craft accordions in greater numbers. Bouton called this an "organ accordion" but the system was not widely adopted until the 1920s.

 

So is difficult to say when the accordion was actually invented, but it is safe to say it dates from the early 19th Century.

 

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