Bandoneon

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Bandoneon
Audio sample of a bandoneon as an audio file
Bandoneon Cardenal (manufactured by ELA for Hohner, before 1939)

The musical instrument Bandoneon , originally Bandonion , is a hand-drawn instrument from the group of harmonica instruments designed by Heinrich Band and developed from the concertina .

construction

Buttons and mechanics
Reed blocks with reeds

In contrast to the accordion, the case of the bandoneon usually has a square cross-section. A bellows made of bellow cardboard in a wooden frame (alder or maple wood) and goatskin is mounted between two end pieces. By pulling up and compressing the bellows, a negative or positive pressure is created inside. Valves can be opened for individual tones by pressing buttons on both front sides (both treble and bass part). The air then flowing through makes metal tongues of different pitches arranged on so-called sound posts vibrate.

The octave doubling , ie two reeds (two-chorus) usually vibrate per tone, ensures sonorous, gentle but also sharp, brilliant tones. Other special features, such as the rattling of buttons and air noises when playing, determine the unmistakable timbre compared to other harmonica instruments . In contrast to the accordion , the bandoneon has no mechanically preset chords, but just like the piano, only single notes.

Keyboard systems and range

With the alternating bandoneon, most of the buttons or buttons are alternating . Alternating keys produce a different tone when the bellows is pushed and pulled. With the monotonous bandoneon, on the other hand, the same tone sounds when you play pushing and pulling, so the number of different tones on one side of the instrument roughly corresponds to the number of keys on this side. A total of almost five octaves can be played. There are diatonic and chromatic instruments.

The best known types of bandoneon that are still played and manufactured are:

Alternating notes , played with four fingers.

  • Rhenish / Argentine register, range 142 or 152, not completely chromatic (some notes are missing). The arrangement of the buttons is not the same for all manufacturers.
  • Standard bandoneon, pitch range 144. Tone range right: g to a 3 , left: C to b 1 . The fingerings are easier than in the Rheinische Lage.

Monotonous , played with four fingers.

  • Kusserow bandoneon
  • Manouri system (partly C-grip), pitch range 148, 34 keys, pitch range C to a 1 (34 tones).
  • Peguri system (partly C-grip), range 146, 33 keys, tone range F sharp to c sharp 2 (32 tones).
  • Traditional C or B fingering: tone range 154, 37 keys, tone range B to B 1 (37 tones).
  • Hybrid bandoneon (C or B grip) can also be played with five fingers in accordance with the button accordion. The number of buttons ranges from 2 × 37 to 2 × 39.

This series of photos shows the inner building blocks of a modern bandoneon:

  • mechanics

  • Inside and outside of a side part

  • Bellows, lateral view

  • Bellows, frontal view

  • Bellows, pulled apart

history

Bandoneon by F. Lange vorm. C. F. Uhlig
Suitcase label F. Lange vorm. C. F. Uhlig

inventor

The design of the bandoneon is first documented by the instrument maker Carl Friedrich Uhlig (born April 23, 1789 in Chemnitz ; † July 9, 1874 in Chemnitz). This began to produce 20-tone, later 40-tone and even larger concertinas around 1834. The keyboard system of the bandoneon is an extension or modification of the Uhlig system by the Krefeld music teacher Heinrich Band . It is believed that the band had learned the 54-note concertina from Uhlig in Chemnitz as early as 1840 and used it for his Krefeld city orchestra. It has been proven that the band initially bought concertinas in Bohemia , to which he was the first to make significant changes, because he found the small range (54 notes) of the concertinas of the time inadequate. Band first made 64-note instruments, later 88-note instruments, which had 23 keys on the right and 21 keys on the left. The range ranged from c to e 3 on the melody side and from D to d ′ on the bass side. Band sold his instruments exclusively in his music shop in Krefeld, which he had taken over from his father. With the experience of his musical practice in the Krefeld city orchestra, he developed a 100-note instrument in 1846 (see grandson Alfred Band, 1926).

Naming

Heinrich Band called his new instruments "Bandonion". When he came up with a name, he was probably guided by the commercial success of the Accordion developed in Vienna in 1829 . The 'accordion' (spelling at the time) became a widely used instrument name. The new type of accordion dating back to 1834, which goes back to CF Uhlig in Chemnitz , was initially called the “new type of accordion” or simply “harmonica”. Presumably in 1851, with the world exhibition in London , Carl Friedrich Zimmermann from Carlsfeld in the Erzgebirge first applied the English term concertina to the German instrument. Because it differed from the English instrument, it was later more correctly called the “German Concertina” or “Concertina”.

The 'Bandonion' developed by Band was a variant of the German concertina that had existed for twenty years. When looking for their own, unmistakable name, the band combined their name with the Accordion's familiar ending -ion . Presumably for reasons of euphoria, he added a syllable, and the result was the "bandonion".

It is unclear when the spelling was changed from Bandon i on to Bandon e on. The musicologist Ziegenrücker, for example, still called the instrument "Bandonion" in 1979.

An anecdote: When the band first advertised their instrument in a daily newspaper on August 12, 1855, the typesetter made two mistakes, so that it was referred to here as "Bandanino".

Further development

The bandoneon quickly became known and appreciated throughout Germany beyond the city limits of Krefeld . Band improved the range from 106 to 112, then to 128 and finally to 130 tones. In 1924, the German Concertina and Bandoneon Association established a so-called "standard bandoneon" with 72 keys and 144 tones. Of these, 20 keys are not changeable.

Another hand-drawn instrument, the Symphonetta, was developed from the bandoneon around 1890 .

Bandoneon game

The concept of the instrument, which is practical, “simple” and financially affordable in its size, also included the development of fingering (a kind of tablature ) in order to make learning the bandoneon easier. This allowed bandoneon players to play the instrument without any knowledge of music. However, such musical works must be rewritten on this so-called washcloth system with numbers and note values.

Around 1900, many bandoneon clubs were formed within the labor movement in Germany (there were around 686 clubs in 1939), which had dedicated themselves to playing mostly simple folk music . In the 1930s, the bandoneon was still part of the basic instrumentation of dance and entertainment bands. After 1950 there were a lot of bandoneon clubs in which four-part movements were played together.

In Europe and Germany, the bandoneon was gradually replaced by the easier-to-play accordion . a. also because it created the same hearing feeling as the bandoneon type preferred here with a vibrating, full tone and the mostly alternating-tone instruments are difficult to learn according to notes (i.e. without fingering).

The bandoneon is not worn around the neck, but kept on the knees. Due to the variety of sound possibilities it is used as an expressive solo instrument and also as an ensemble instrument in various musical styles. Bandoneon can be studied in Europe in Paris and Rotterdam .

Bandoneon and Tango

The greatest popularity of the instrument is directly related to the tango . Already in the early 20th century the instrument was a defining part of an Orquesta Típica . The formative influence of the bandoneon was also retained in later musical developments such as Tango Nuevo and Electrotango . Sung about in many tangos, the bandoneon with the tango still creates an identity today and is lovingly praised in South America as the best German invention. The bandoneonists in the local barrios have maintained and further developed the bandoneon playing technique and style for many generations. It is played and taught according to notes.

After Argentina and Uruguay the bandoneon probably came first over the United States. The German immigrant Wilhelm Seyffardt had his brother in Krefeld send him an "Accordion" to America in 1855 , which was definitely a "Bandonion". Seafarers and especially around 1900 the many European immigrants gave the instrument a new home in the harbor bars and brothels of Buenos Aires and Montevideo .

The South Americans preferred a certain type of instrument: 142-tone (the "Rheinische Lage"), sharp to gentle in tone, melancholy and mysterious at the same time. Structural "defects" such as the clatter of keys and air noises were viewed positively and integrated organically into the playing of the instrument.

From Argentina, the bandoneon came back to Europe with the new way of playing and tango.

Manufacturers in the past and present

Detail bandonion AA

The most famous are the instruments from the no longer existing Alfred Arnold factory in Carlsfeld (Eibenstock) , a small town in the Ore Mountains . From there around 30,000 bandoneons were exported to Argentina and Uruguay by 1945 . With the end of bandoneon production around 1948 (due to expropriation of the company), however, the documents for the local bandoneon construction disappeared. Arno Arnold, a nephew of the founder Alfred Arnold, produced bandoneons in the Rhein-Main area for a few years, but they no longer achieved the quality of AA instruments. On these instruments from the 1950s, the reed plates were mostly made of aluminum instead of zinc. Worldwide research and building tests still do not achieve the incomparable tone of the old instruments.

Today there are only a handful of bandoneon builders who usually build individually to order. However, you can visit very complete collections in Germany, such as the Bandoneon Museum of the Preuss family in Lichtenberg and the collection of the Steinhart family from Kirchzarten / Freiburg, which has been in the Tango and Bandoneon Museum in Staufen im Breisgau since July 2014 . Since 2007 there has been a master workshop for hand-drawn instruments in Carlsfeld , where bandonions are built and repaired. In Klingenthal a bandoneon factory was founded, which has set itself the goal to build band Onions and concertinas, which in structure, sound and quality legendary instruments from the factory comply by Alfred Arnold. On the site of the first harmonica factory Carl field in which from 1847, the first Carl fields harmonicas were built and later the company Ernst Louis Arnold and Alfred Arnold harmonicas and tape Onions made today is a Bandonion memorial stone.

Well-known soloists

Enrique Telleria 2009

Discography

  • Astor Piazzolla: Concert for Bandoneon. Lothar Hensel, Johannes Goritzki u. German Chamber Academy Neuss. Capriccio 1996. CD 10565
  • Tres movimientos tanguísticos porteños. Concert for bandoneon. Josep Pons and Orquestra de Cambra Teatre Lliure. Harmonia Mundi France 1996. HMC 901595 (CD)

Movie

  • Film about the Bandoneón dance theater . Pina Bausch in Buenos Aires. Argentina 1995; 45 minutes; Directors: Milos Deretich, Gabriela Schmidt, Gabriela Massuh. Production: Goethe-Institut Buenos Aires . Music: Astor Piazzolla.
  • El último Bandoneón ( The Last Bandoneon ), Argentina 2005; 79 minutes; Director: Alejandro Saderman; with Rodolfo Mederos, Marina Gayotto. Music: Rodolfo Mederos u. v. a.

literature

  • Hans-Peter Graf: Development of a family of instruments: The standardization process of the accordion , Verlag Peter Lang 1998, ISBN 3-631-32841-9
  • Peter Fries: Bandoneon School. Studies and Etudes. Music score German. Apollo Paul Lincke, Berlin / Mainz 1935, 1950, 1994 (repr.).
  • Klaus Gutjahr: Playing the bandoneon made easy. 2 vol., Proyecto Bango, Berlin 1998.
  • Walter Pörschmann: School of modern bandoneon play. 2 vol., No. 1540, 3rd edition, special publisher Pörschmann & Sohn, Leipzig 1925.

Web links

Wiktionary: Bandoneon  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Bandoneon  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the relationships between bands and Saxon instrument makers, cf. Andreas Fasel: What Tango Krefeld owes . In: THE WORLD . May 27, 2020 ( welt.de [accessed June 4, 2020]).
  2. ↑ Wieland Ziegenrücker: General music theory with questions and tasks for self-control. German Publishing House for Music, Leipzig 1977; Paperback edition: Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, and Musikverlag B. Schott's Söhne, Mainz 1979, ISBN 3-442-33003-3 , p. 177.
  3. ^ Maria Dunkel: Bandonion and Konzertina. A contribution to the representation of the instrument type. Berlin musicological work. Vol. 30. Katzbichel, Munich-Salzburg 1987, 1996. ISBN 3-87397-070-8
  4. ↑ Audio samples of the sound possibilities of the bandoneon, homepage eckstein-bandoneon.de
  5. ^ History of the Bandonion and the Alfred Arnold Company
  6. ↑ Jens Glüsing: Sound of homesickness. in: Der Spiegel . Hamburg 2009,2, 131. ISSN  0038-7452
  7. ↑ Music history of the Bandonion ( Memento from August 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ http://bandonionfabrik.de/bandonionfabrik.html