hand accordion

Classification: 4 Aerophones / 41 Free aerophones / 412 Interruptive free aerophones / 412.1 Idiophonic interruptive aerophones or reeds / 412.13 Free reeds / 412.132 Sets of free reeds / 412.132-62-8 Sets of free reeds with flexible air reservoir, with keyboard
Maker: Unknown
Date: early 20th century
Region: Carpathian area
Country: Austria or Germany
Owner: Franciszek Kotula Ethnographic Museum in Rzeszów
Inventory number: MRE 9748
Description: hand button accordion, single-row keyboard: 10 melodic keys and 4 bass keys; bellows made of 12 folds
Decoration: body decorated with openwork carvings, mostly floral
Materials: wood, metal, leather, canvas, cardboard, celluloid
Inscriptions: on the melodic side, a painted inscription PRIMA DONNA; on the bass side, aluminium plates with impressed inscriptions: C – dur and Stahltöne
Performance practice: after World War I the accordion became a popular component of folk bands (together with the violin and the drum), the hand variety becoming especially popular in Mazovia on the left side of the Vistula river (the areas of Łowicz and Rawa Mazowiecka) and in north Lesser Poland (the areas of Radom and Kielece), sometimes also in Subcarpathia
Catalog card by: Zbigniew J. Przerembski


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