English Concertina
Directory
Resources in the Concertina Library for English concertina.
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The Victorian Concertina: Some Issues Relating to Performance
- by Allan W. Atlas
- Present-day players of the ‘English’ concertina must make a number
of important decisions when delving into and performing the large repertory of
art music that was written for the instrument in Victorian England. These
decisions become especially critical for those who would perform the music in a
manner that may at least approximate the way it may have sounded in the nineteenth
century.
Originally published in Nineteenth-Century Music Review, 3/2 (2006),
30 pages including photographs and musical examples.
Briefly, there are three basic decisions to be made. The first
two concern the choice of instrument: (1) modern instrument or period (Victorian)
instrument; and (2) if the latter, what kind of instrument in terms of reeds (type
of metal), tuning, structure of the bellows and number of buttons. The third
decision, on the other hand, has to do with a fundamental question of playing
technique: should we use three or four fingers of each hand?
- Posted 15 November 2007
- » read full article
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Ladies in the Wheatstone Ledgers: the Gendered Concertina in Victorian England, 1835–1870
- by Allan W. Atlas
- This study looks at the 978 women for whom there are 1,769 transactions—about 12% of the
total—recorded in nine extant Wheatstone & Co. sales ledgers that list the firm’s day-to-day sales
from April 1835 to May 1870. It is in two parts: (1) an Introduction, which analyses the data presented
in the Inventory from a demographic-sociological point of view and places Wheatstone’s commerce
with women into the context of its business activity as a whole; and (2) the Inventory (with
three appendices), which lists every transaction for each of the 978 women, identifies as many of them
as possible, and offers a miscellany of comments about both the women and the transactions.
Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle v. 39 (2006). 239 pages.
Briefly,
the roster of Wheatstone’s female customers reads like a list of Victorian England’s rich-and-famous:
the Duchess of Wellington and 146 other members of the titled aristocracy (more than twice as many
as their male counterparts), the fabulously wealthy philanthropist Angela Burdett Coutts, members
of the landed gentry, and such mainstays of London’s musical life as the guitarist Madame R. Sidney
Pratten, the organist Elizabeth Mounsey, and the contralto Helen Charlotte Dolby, as well as a large
number of Professors of Concertina.
- Posted 21 March 2007
- » read full article
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Marie Lachenal: Concertinist
- by Faye Debenham and Randall C. Merris
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New photographs, genealogical data, and information about
Marie Lachenal, eldest of Louis Lachenal’s daughters,
and about her family life as the wife of the photographer Edwin Debenham.
First published in
PICA [Papers of the International Concertina Association], Vol. 2 (2005), pp. 1–17.
The web version adds large colour photographs and additional information which
has been discovered since the text went to print.
- Posted 15 November 2005
- » read full article
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The Lachenal Sisters Visit Edinburgh, 1865–1866
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by Robert Gaskins
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At Christmas of 1865–1866, three young daughters of the late Louis Lachenal gave a
series of concerts in Edinburgh introducing “concerted music” played
on treble, tenor, and bass concertinas. We think this was also exactly the period when
Lachenal & Co. had lost their contract to manufacture concertinas for Wheatstone,
making it important to publicize Lachenal’s own brand.
Based on clippings from The Scotsman newspaper, Edinburgh, notices of
concerts and reviews, October 1865 through January 1866.
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Posted 01 February 2005
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» read full article
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The Concertina: A Handbook and Tutor for Beginners on the English Concertina
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by Frank E. Butler
- The standard tutor for the English concertina during
the concertina revival in the 1970s. Based on classes offered at the Battersea
Institute under the auspices of the Inner London Education Authority. Introduction
to music, exercises, and elementary tunes.
Originally published by Neil Wayne at the Free Reed Press,
Duffield, Derby, England, in 1974. 64pp plus covers. The scan was made by
Wes Williams.
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Posted 15 January 2005
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» read full document in pdf
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Playing Chords [for English, Anglo, and Maccann Duet]
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by Brian Hayden
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"I would like to explain the system that I use when teaching
players about chords, their structure, and placement. Chords are
what I am most requested to explain at folk music workshops or
gatherings as I tend to use chords a lot in my own playing." (From
the introduction.)
Includes a novel notation for chords which is used elsewhere on this website.
As published in Concertina Magazine
(Australia) in three parts, 12-14 (1985), 12:5-7,
13:12-14, and 14:8-10; with corrections in 15-16 (1986), 15:14
and 16:1,6,9.
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Posted 01 March 2004
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» read full article in pdf
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An Annotated Catalogue of Historic European Free-Reed Instruments from my Private Collection
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by Stephen Chambers
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A very important paper describing nineteen instruments which illustrate key points in the development of
European free-reed instruments, with large color photographs.
This paper was presented at the 20th Musikinstrumentenbau-Symposium at Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein, held
19–21 November 1999, to coincide with an exhibition of the instruments.
As Published in Harmonium und Handharmonika (Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte 62), edited by Monika Lustig,
Michaelstein, 2002, pp. 181-194.
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Posted 15 January 2004
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» read full article
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Signor Alsepti and “Regondi’s Golden Exercise”
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by Allan Atlas
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Discussion and explanation with new fingering of a celebrated excercise from James Alsepti's English tutor,
published by Lachenal c. 1895, with the explanation “The following exercise, which has never before been
published, was taught to Signor Alsepti by Regondi. It is
very difficult for all instruments, especially the Concertina, and to thoroughly master it with the correct
fingering &c. will enable the Pupil to play passages in all keys.”.
As published in
Concertina World 426 supplement (2003) pp. 1-8.
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Posted 22 December 2003
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» read full article
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The Cult of the English Concertina: a Chat with Miss Christine Hawkes
- by Norman Fraser
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Informative interview with Christine Hawkes who in 1907 had given successful concertina concerts
in the West End of London. Miss Hawkes has been “inundated with … shoals of letters from
people anxious to learn the concertina,” and she gives a number of practical tips on buying a
concertina and on practising. She recommends “the English concertina as patented by
Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1829,” … “as distinguished from the cheap German atrocities
with which Bank Holidays make us all too familiar.” Miss Hawkes “was lucky enough at the
beginning to come across a copy of Regondi’s ‘Concertina Exercises,’ but whether this
work is published now she does not know.”
Contributed by Stuart Eydmann.
First published in
Cassell's Magazine,
June 1908 to November 1908, pp. 159–161.
- Posted 26 March 2007
- » read full document in pdf
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Playing the English Concertina—My Technique
- by Simon Thoumire
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Scottish concertinist Simon Thoumire discusses his unique approach to playing the English concertina,
based on holding the instrument so it is rotated 45 degrees from the conventional
position. This allows his fingers to play across the columns of an English concertina,
taking advantage of the uniform reach possible to left and right and avoiding the
need to stretch for far notes or curl the fingers for near notes in the traditional way.
- Posted 15 August 2005
- » read full document
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Instruction Manuals for the English, Anglo, and Duet Concertina: An Annotated Bibliography
- by Randall C. Merris
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A comprehensive bibliography with more than 200 citations for
concertina tutors that were published from the 1840s to the present.
Separate sections deal with English, Anglo, and Duet tutors.
The annotations contain
considerable historical material on concertina makers, authors and teachers, performers,
and publishers in the UK, US, and elsewhere. The web version incorporates citations for tutors
that have appeared or were located subsequent to the original publication (about 35 more by 2005)
and adds over 100 scanned photographs of tutor covers.
A number of the tutors are available scanned
in full on this website, and these are indicated in the entries.
The original publication was in The Free-Reed Journal 4 (2002): 85-118,
and a PDF version of the printed article is also available online.
- Posted 01 April 2003; last updated 31 August 2005
- » read full article
- » read Part 1, "English Concertina"
- » read part 2, "Anglo Concertina"
- » read part 3, "Duet Concertina"
- » read original article (without updates) in pdf"
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Improvements in Concertinas, &c. (1861)
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by William Wheatstone
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British Patent No. 2289 of 1861, Provisional Specification (14 September 1861) and
Specification (14 March 1862) with thirty-three figures. 38 pages.
"Improvements in Concertinas, &c.".
Improvements on the preceding concertina patents,
including a duet arrangement which reappears eighty years later
in one of the "Wheatstone Edeophones".
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Posted 15 November 2001
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» read full document in pdf
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Wheatstone English Concertina Pricelists
- collected by Chris Algar
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Most of these pricelists were found in old concertina cases. From internal evidence it is
possible to date the lists c. 1915 to c. 1965 (plus one very early pricelist dated 1848,
from the collection of the Horniman Museum, and a list published as an advertisement
in a trade directory in 1859). These lists contain information about Wheatstone
model numbers and descriptions which are useful to interpret the Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers.
See also Duet pricelists from Wheatstone.
See also Anglo pricelists from Wheatstone.
- Posted 15 May 2003
- » go to directory
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Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers
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Directory
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Historical business records of C. Wheatstone & Co. from
the Horniman Museum in London. Earlier ledgers from the Wayne Archives
contain company sales records from the late 1830s to the 1860s
along with production records from the 1860s to the 1890s and some
early records of wages and other payments. Later ledgers from the Dickinson Archives
contain production records from 1910 to 1974. All surviving ledgers
have been digitized (some 2,300 pages in total) and made available free on the web for
private research.
The same material is also available to buy on an inexpensive CD.
Includes an introduction to the project by Margaret Birley, Keeper of Musical Instruments at
the Horniman Museum, and an article by Robert Gaskins describing in detail how the ledgers
were digitized.
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Posted 15 June 2003; Updated 15 June 2005
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» go to directory
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Wheatstone, His Sighing Reed, and The Great Regondi
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Presented by Bernard Richardson
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BBC programme on the history and music of the English concertina,
focusing on its inventor Sir Charles Wheatstone and the first concertina virtuoso Giulio Regondi.
In addition to the presenter, Bernard Richardson, the program features (in order of appearance)
Allan Atlas, Neil Wayne, Brian Bowers, Alistair Anderson, Douglas Rogers, Jenny Cox, and Dave Townsend.
BBC Radio4 programme broadcast 27 November 2007.
Includes links to audio files of the entire programme in WMA format and MP3 format.
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Posted 27 November 2007
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» read full article
Do you know another resource that we should include?
Tell us about it.
Reprinted from the Concertina Library
http://www.concertina.com
© Copyright 2000– by Robert Gaskins
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Very early (1830s) English
concertina by Wheatstone,
showing exterior air-valves
concealed in later models
Contents
- Directory: English Concertina
- Victorian Concertina Performance: Some Issues Relating to Performance
by Allan Atlas
- Ladies in the Wheatstone Ledgers
by Allan Atlas
- Marie Lachenal: Concertinist
by Faye Debenham and Randall C. Merris
- Directory of items in the Concertina Library about Richard Blagrove
- The Lachenal Sisters Visit Edinburgh, 1865–1866
by Robert Gaskins
- The Concertina: A Handbook and Tutor for Beginners on the English Concertina
by Frank E. Butler
- Playing Chords [for Maccann Duet, Anglo, and English Concertinas]
by Brian Hayden
- An Annotated Catalogue of Historic European
Free-Reed Instruments from my Private Collection
by Stephen Chambers
- Directory of contributions to Concertina Library by Allan Atlas
- Signor Alsepti and “Regondi’s Golden Exercise”
by Allan Atlas
- Louis Lachenal: "Engineer and Concertina Manufacturer" (Part 1)
by Stephen Chambers
- Some Notes on Lachenal Concertina Production and Serial Numbers
by Stephen Chambers
- The Cult of the English Concertina (Miss Christine Hawkes)
contributed by Stuart Eydmann
- Playing the English Concertina—My Technique
by Simon Thoumire
- Instruction Manuals for the English, Anglo, and Duet Concertina:
An Annotated Bibliography
by Randall C. Merris
- A Short Account of the English Concertina, …
by W. Cawdell (1865)
- “The Concertina, A New Musical Instrument”
by C. Wheatstone & Co. (1848)
- “Music for the Concertina”
by C. Wheatstone & Co. (1848)
- Improvements in the Construction of Wind Musical Instruments (1829),
by Charles Wheatstone
- Improvements in the Action of the Concertina, &c. by Vibrating Springs (1844)
by Charles Wheatstone
- Improvements in Concertinas, &c. (1861)
by William Wheatstone
- Wheatstone English Concertina Pricelists
from Chris Algar
- Wheatstone Concertina Ledgers
Horniman Museum
- Wheatstone, His Sighing Reed, and The Great Regondi
BBC Radio4 Programme
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