Schrammel Harmonica

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The Schrammel Harmonica

The Schrammel accordion is a chromatically it accordion with three rows of buttons in B position. It usually has two choirs and has twelve diatonic basses.

In terms of sound, the Schrammelharmonika stands out from the modern chromatic button accordion due to its softer sound . The reason for this can partly be seen in the relatively small dimensions and the low weight of the instrument, but the handmade reed plates and the type of tuning also contribute to its special sound character.

history

The instrument was first mentioned in writing in 1854, when the Viennese harmonica maker Matthäus Bauer presented an instrument with piano keys (patented for the first time in 1851) as well as an instrument with "half-tones, with a three-row machine" and not alternating tones at the industrial exhibition in Munich. According to Walter Maurer , a musician named Franz Walther should have developed the first ideas. The oldest currently known and preserved instrument dates from 1874, after 1954 to 1970 only a few Schrammelharmonas were built in Vienna.

Alfred Mirek mentions the instrument with the “Vienna System” as a model for the development of today's bayan from 1870 onwards. In the Soviet era , the handle pattern was called “Moscow”, in contrast to the “Petersburg”, which was diatonic.

Most of the surviving instruments date from the 1920s and 1930s.

Mention in the official report on the General German Trade Exhibition in Berlin in 1844 :

"II. Harmonica […] August Schopp, in Vienna , showed by sending in a harmonica of 30 Rthlrn . 20 Sgr., How much this instrument has also been perfected in the short years of its creation, in that what is present, on which quite good pieces of music can be produced by a trained hand, has a range of about 4 octaves . The exterior of the instrument is extremely elegant with mother-of-pearl and other decorations. "

Quote:

“A total of 572 instrument makers worked here between 1815 and 1833, of whom at least seven also made harmonicas. In 1852, 59 Viennese traders were known as“ harmonica makers ”and 16 others as“ harmonica tuners ”. The Wilhelm Thie company, founded in 1834, advanced to become the leading producer, employing several hundred workers around 1890 and enjoying a worldwide reputation for its quality . Outside Vienna, four more production centers arose in the 1820s, all of which were in structurally weak rural regions: Graslitz in the Bohemian Ore Mountains and Klingenthal in the Saxon Ore Mountains, Knittlingen in the Württemberg Oberamt Maulbronn and, at the latest, Trossingen. These locations already indicate that the harmonica construction as a niche industry was existentially dependent on conditions of relative underdevelopment and agricultural complementary structures. "

Well-known harmonica maker in Vienna

Two generations of Reisinger, Edmund Hochholzer, Josef Trimmel, Pospischil, Bauer, Forster Johann, Pick, Adolf, Regelstein, Franz Kuritka, Rudolf Barton are the main manufacturers alongside Karl Budowitz (1882–1925), plus an unknown number of craftsmen who presumably kept their names secret for commercial reasons.

The following information is incomplete and comes from the book: A Vienna Button Harmonica is made by Lisl Waltner, and is only in the book because Karl Macourek referred to these companies in his stories. However, this information was also researched in the trade books that were still available.

  • Matthäus Bauer: Company owner Karl Bauer, b. 1883, died 1946, founded in 1836 (information according to advertisement), trade license 1911–1950 (managing director Josef Reisinger), Vienna VI, Mariahilfer Straße 19/21
  • Albert Trimmel, b. 1880, d. 1953; Trade license 1910;
  • Emanuel Napravnik, b. 1874, died 1951, trade license since 1912, Wittwenfortbetrieb (Maria, born 1887) since 1952, managing director Franz Napravnik, geb. 1909, trade license 1954–1967, Vienna XVI, Habichergasse 4; Son Franz Napravnik; Harmonica player
  • Josef Reisinger, b. 1885, trade license 1919–1958, Vienna XV, Oelweingasse 3
  • Josef Sagat, b. 1895, d. 1968; Business license 1927, master craftsman's examination 1935, discontinuation of trade in 1959
  • Adolf Regelstein, b. 1876, trade license 1931–1938, Vienna XVI, Liebhergasse 44
  • Wenzel Rudolf, b. 1895, trade license 1933–1966; Successor to Zwirsch; Vienna XVI, Ottakringer Straße 164, produced reed plate raw material until 1966.
  • Franz Kuritka, b. 1908, trade license 1938–1965, Vienna XVI, Liebhergasse 44; Successor to Regelstein & Raab
  • Rudolf Pospischil, trade license 1952–1998; Vienna XV, Benedikt-Schellinger-Gasse 11
  • Karl Macourek, b. January 22, 1928; Master craftsman examination 1951; Trade license 1952–1998; Josefine Macourek, trade license for trading in musical instruments 1957–1998, died in 2018

Other harmonica makers can be found in address books from 1856, 1863 and 1874.

today

Currently only two independent accordion makers are known who also build individual Schrammel harmonicas. The trained accordion maker Herfried Zernig from Sebersdorf in Styria produces Schrammel accordions on request, which are largely based on historical instruments, but in detail these are not copies of original instruments. Zernig deviates in essential details from the original, at least in the instruments manufactured up to now. He uses reed plates available today and wakes them up. It used to be common practice to place these on leather. In the past, the wood connections were also made with hot glue , which would be possible today and is no more difficult to handle than synthetic white glue . The bass mechanics are based more on the diatonic harmonica than on the historical original, whereby the arrangement of the bass keys and the key assignment are not affected. Bass keys are, at least in the known products, not on the bass floor, but on the front of the bass part, as is common today with the accordion. The bellows is not traditional, but made in the style of a Styrian harmonica. Musicians who now have a harmonica made according to historical models could also demand these details. However, every instrument copied today will always remain a unique specimen, which only shows in retrospect whether it meets expectations. However, the well-known instruments made by Zernig are fine examples of the fact that traditional craftsmanship is still possible today in harmonica construction. It is also noteworthy that apart from a few injection-molded joints for the bass mechanics, the reed plates, mother-of-pearl buttons, bellows corners and bellows cardboard folds, these instruments are completely made by the accordion maker, except for the raw materials such as wood, wire, screws, leather, felt and linen. In addition to Herfried Zernig, Gerhard Grübel from St. Martin am Tennengebirge also makes Schrammel harmonicas to order under the brand name EDLER Harmonikas.

Origin of the name

The Schrammel Quartet around 1890

Since 1870 the violinists Johann and Josef Schrammel played in Georg Dänzer's Quartet together with Anton Strohmayer on the double guitar . Dänzer was famous in Vienna as a virtuoso of the G clarinet; landlords , polkas and the legendary “old dance” were played. After 1873, the year of the great stock market crash and a subsequent far-reaching “back to nature” movement, the same line-up called itself “Die Schrammeln” - after the two violinists had finished their studies and given up their desire for a career in high culture. They traveled all over Europe and, through their virtuosity and strict polyphonic composition, brought folk music closer to the “classical”. Johann Strauss (son) and Crown Prince Rudolf were avowed fans. The Schrammeln performances were sold out; they invented the music Tourism in its present form: What today is the bus driver in Grinzing , were then the cab .

Georg Dänzer died in 1890, due to a lack of good clarinet players, he was replaced by the harmonica player Anton Ernst, a cousin of Johann Schrammel's wife. Several very good quartet arrangements and a harmonica school have been preserved from him.

In a very short time this line-up (two violins, harmonica, double guitar) established itself as the Schrammel Quartet and, with the associated Schrammel music, is still a chamber music tradition in Vienna today .

The bass button combinations for major
The bass button combinations for minor
Schrammelharmonika Treble B-grip old number of buttons, newer ones have three deeper notes. (G-b '' '), beat 0.25 Hz - 6 Hz

literature

  • Lisl Waltner: A Vienna button harmonica is created. Institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902153-03-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official report on the General German Trade Exhibition in Berlin in 1844, Volume 3, K. Reimarus, 1845, pp. 213-214. books.google.at
  2. ^ Hartmut Berghoff: Between small town and world market: Hohner and the harmonica 1857–1961 . Schöningh, Paderborn / Munich / Vienna / Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-506-72984-5 , pp. 47 .
  3. ↑ Lisl Waltner: A Vienna button harmonica is created. Institute for Folk Music Research and Ethnomusicology University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna 2014, ISBN 978-3-902153-03-6 .
  4. ^ BF Gottfried secretary and expeditor of the imperial royal privileged wholesaling committee: trade and trade address book of the Austrian monarchy . Ed .: Lower Austrian trade associations. Born in 1856, No. 13 . Vienna 1856, p. 163 ( books.google.at ).
  5. ^ A. Heinrich: Handels Gewerbe address book for the imperial capital and residence city of Vienna and the neighboring villages with an alphabetically ordered name register . In: Commercial trade address book for the imperial capital and residence city of Vienna and the neighboring villages with alphabetically arranged name register 1863 . 1863 ( books.google.at ).
  6. ^ C. Neumayer: Vienna Commercial Register for Industry, Trade and Commerce: for the year 1874 . Ed .: C. Neumayer. Born in 1874. Self-published by the editor, Josefstadt, Lerchenfelderstrasse No. 76, Vienna 1874 ( books.google.at ).