Bandoneon - musical instrument - history, photos, videos. From an accordion to a bandoneon. How does a bandoneon differ from an accordion?

"Bandoneon was invented in Germany,

to accompany a church service,

but I found myself very quickly

in the brothels of Buenos Aires."

Astor Piazzolla

It is impossible to imagine tango music without the bandoneon; it is this bandoneon that gives it its unique piercing sound.

Willem Haenraets. "Bandoneon"

Bandoneon belongs to the group of reed musical instruments. The sound is produced by vibrations of the metal reeds when the air forced by the bellows during play passes through the cracks in the metal plates.

The instrument weighs about five kilograms, its dimensions are 22 x 22 x 40 cm.

Bandoneon from "Pigini"

The bandoneon has a quadrangular shape and produces two different sounds when the movement of the fur changes. When the bellows inhale and when it exhales, the same bandoneon button can play different notes. In addition, the sound quality can be made different by adding to the game the knee of the leg on which the bandoneon is placed during the game.

Elaine Hughes. "Bandoneonist"

Although the bandoneon was invented relatively recently, there is no clear opinion about its origin. It can be considered a direct descendant of the German concertina, invented by Karl Friedrich Uhlig in Chemnitz around 1835. Many researchers agree that the German musician and musical instrument dealer Heinrich Band, originally from the city of Krefeld, was directly related to the invention of the bandoneon. It is reliably known that Band opened his music store in 1843 and presumably in 1846 the first bandoneon could have been sold here. It is believed that the bandoneon inherited the surname of its probable creator. However, there were also other variations of the name of this instrument: bandonion, bandeneon, bandolion, bandoleon, mandolin, mandoleon.

Be that as it may, the bandoneon became widespread in Germany. The “Society of Lovers of Playing the German Concertina and Bandoneon” was created, and even a special newspaper was published. The bandoneon became not only a favorite home instrument, but also began to be used in professional music-making: a large number of ensembles and orchestras were created.

The bandoneon was initially used to perform sacred music in churches in Germany, but at the end of the 19th century it was brought to Argentina and became part of tango orchestras.

The first examples of the bandoneon were brought to Buenos Aires at the end of the 19th century, presumably around 1870, under very vague circumstances. The first to include the bandoneon in a musical ensemble was Domingo Santa Cruz. Flutes, guitars and violins (occasionally mandolins and accordions) made up the first ensembles with the participation of the bandoneon.

The bandoneon was designed by Heinrich Band in Kreffeld in 1840, based on the German concertina. It has a quadrangular shape and produces two different sounds when changing the movement of the fur (that is, it produces twice as many sounds as there are buttons on the keyboard). The fur is multifold, with two frames. At the top of each frame there are rings into which the ends of the lace, which serves to support the instrument, are tied.

At first the instrument had up to 28 buttons (56 tones), over time the number of buttons reached 72 (144 tones) - this range of keyboards was created on a unified model as a result of many collective efforts and was accepted as a standard. The keyboard of the bandoneon (unlike the German concertina) is located in a vertical direction, and the buttons are placed not in four, but in five rows. The arrangement of sounds on the keyboard is also slightly different.

Bandoneons were built (like German concertinas) in the keys of G, D, A, E major. The octave sound of the voices in them is two- and three-voice (two or three vocal reeds per octave sound simultaneously inside the instrument).

When playing the bandoneon, the right hand is threaded under the right, and the left hand under the left wrist strap; the straps fit tightly to the hand when the bellows is released, and when squeezed with the back of the hand, they rest against wooden projections - blocks. The game involves four fingers on both hands. The right thumb rests on the air valve lever and regulates the additional air flow into and out of the bellows when playing.

Bandoneon has become widespread in Germany. The “Society of Lovers of the German Concertina and Bandoneon” was created, and even a special newspaper was published. The bandoneon has become not only a favorite instrument in the home but also in professional music-making; a large number of ensembles and orchestras are being created. For ensemble playing, picolo bandoneons (sounding an octave higher than usual) and bass bandoneons (sounding an octave lower) began to be produced. A lot of literature is published for quartets and bandoneon ensembles.

Study guides and collections of songs and dances were first published using a digital system, then a transition was made to a digital music system. A lot of different sheet music literature has been published for the bandoneon. The most famous authors of schools and tutorials are O. Balman, V. Pershman, F. Kale. In addition to a large number of transcriptions, many original works by V. Pershman, G. Nauman, O. Balman, X. Ambrosaus, P. Estel and others are published. There are also well-known virtuoso soloists on this instrument (I. Schramm, V. Pershman, Astor Piazzola).

In 1926, E. Kusserov and R. Miklitz developed a more convenient keyboard system for the bandoneon. Their instruments (referred to as the “bandoneon of the Kusserow system”) had a full chromatic range of sounds, and most importantly, the same sound of voices when changing the movement of the bellows. E. Kusserov created a school for playing bandoneons of this system.

Today, the bandoneon continues to be popular in Germany, where this instrument is taught in music clubs and folk music schools. The bandoneon is also very popular in Argentina, where it has long been considered a national instrument. There bandoneons are made with three and even four voices.

First harmonics, types of harmonics.

Let's first understand the definition of the concept of "harmonic" and the principle of its sound formation.

The term “harmonica” in the modern classification of instruments has a general meaning and means all instruments with a sound source in the form of a metal reed vibrating in a special frame under the influence of an air stream.

Previously, in all instrumental literature, the concept of “harmonica” was usually understood not only as a typical definition of a reed pneumatic instrument - this term denoted diatonic instruments with horizontal movement of the bellows, having one- and two-row right-hand keyboards and a small set of bass-chord accompaniment buttons on the left keyboard .

In practice, both in scientific and methodological literature, expressions like: " the harmonica turned into a button accordion"However, this understanding was a common mistake. Since button accordion - chromatic instrument with a significantly wider range, a three- to five-row keyboard and a developed system of bass-chord accompaniment - also one of the types of harmonica. Consequently, according to Professor M.I. Imkhanitsky, a harmonic cannot turn into a harmonic. The name of the mentioned diatonic folk instrument should be similar to its name among the people - accordion. That is why the term "harmonica" should be called different types of harmonics- hand, foot and lip.

Fundamental structure of a harmonic.

In all harmonics the sound is extracted as a result of the action of an air stream, which causes vibrations of a metal freely slipping reed (voice). On modern instruments, this tongue is attached at one end with a rivet to a metal (aluminum or copper) frame. The frame together with the riveted tongue is called a strip. The bars come in different lengths - the longer the bar (i.e., the longer the reed), the lower the sound, the shorter the bar, the higher the sound. The stronger the pressure of the air stream during sound production, the greater the amplitude of vibration of the reed, and, consequently, the volume of the sound; The weaker it is, the quieter the sound becomes. This allows you to get different shades while playing. When the vibration amplitude increases or decreases, the pitch of the sound does not change.

Principle of sound extraction using a slipping tongue oscillating under the influence of an air stream, it was invented in China around 2 - 3 thousand years BC. This principle of sound generation was used on the sheng instrument, which was a semicircular body with bamboo or reed tubes embedded in it. At the lower ends of the tubes there were metal plates with tongues cut into them. The plank and frame were a single unit. The performer blew air through a mouthpiece that was located on the side of the body. The sound arose in the tube only if you closed the hole with your finger. Later, the shens spread throughout Southeast Asia (Burma, Laos, Tibet, Japan). Sheng was considered a sacred instrument in China and Japan, i.e. suitable for performing sacred music.

Mouth and hand harmonica.

At the end of the 18th century, sheng came to Europe, and its principle of sound formation became known. Organ builders are beginning to actively use a new principle of sound production based on an oscillating metal reed in the designs of portable organs. Thus, at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, the following appeared: F. Kirschnick's Instrument, Bibelharmonica, J. Vogler's Orchestra, I. Mölzel's Panharmonica, L. Sauer's Piano Organ, G. Grenier's Expressive Organ, I. Bushman's Elodicon, as well as various types Harmonium - manual, folding, portable, organ type. Air was pumped into them to produce sound by bellows, which were driven by the performer’s legs. In some designs, the portable organ player required a special assistant to pump the hand bellows while playing.

First harmonica was made by I. Bushman in Berlin in 1821. He calls his new instrument “aura,” but this name did not stick with it, and as it spread, it received the name “harmonica.” In the 1820s, the production of harmonicas was organized in the German cities of Trossingen, Frankfurt am Main and Klingenthal. At first, the instruments had a diatonic one-octave scale, then, in the process of development, the range of new designs of harmonicas expanded, chromatic models appeared, some harmonicas, for example, the Viennese system, were tuned to the tap (tremolo tuning). The idea of creation harmonica with keyboard(1825) belongs to the English physicist and designer Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875). The symphonium, as he called his instrument, was not widespread, but his ideas continued to develop. In the second half of the 19th century, various types of harmonicas with a keyboard (even with two keyboards) became widespread - flute harmonica, accordion, etc.

The first reliable facts concerning production of hand-held harmonicas, can be dated to 1829. They are associated with the invention of the Viennese piano and organ maker Cyril Demian (1772-1847). Together with his sons Guido and Carlo, he creates a new instrument - a harmonica with horizontal bellows movement. On May 23, 1829, K. Demian officially patented his instrument in Vienna, which he called "accordion" (from the word "chord" - each of the five keys of the right keyboard made it possible to extract certain chords on it by opening and closing the bellows; subsequently, at the end of the word, the letter " and" was replaced by "e"). This invention differed from earlier examples of hand-held harmonicas by a different air supply system to the metal reeds. In any portable types of organs, as in harmoniums, air, forced by vertical compression of the bellows, entered the reed through the distribution chamber - this gave the sound dynamic evenness due to the uniform and constant pressure of the air stream on the reeds. With K. Demian, air was supplied to the reeds directly, thanks to which the sound became dynamically controlled: it became possible not only to regulate the force of air pressure, thereby changing the volume level, but also to make the attack of the sound accentuated. Each melodic sound in Demian's accordion formed a single complex with a chord. In the same 1829, a few months after the creation of the first model, instruments appeared that were already equipped with two levers on the left keyboard for extracting bass sounds and had six keys on the right. What was fundamentally important in the inventor’s design was that the measured alternations of bass on the left and chords on the right keyboard made it possible to create the simplest accompaniment and an extremely clear pulsation of the meter. As soon as alternation appears on the harmonic the simplest bass-chord accompaniment, it becomes exactly the instrument that we call harmony.

Immediately after K. Demian received a patent for the invention, the tool began to spread rapidly. In 1829, the German master Johann Glier first organized the factory production of accordions in the city of Klingenthal, after which their mass production began in Germany. Following Germany, such production of various models of accordions begins to actively develop in a number of European countries, especially in Switzerland, France and Italy.

Already in 1831 Kirill Demian produced an "improved harmonica" which in one row had sounds of a certain key, and in the other - missing semitones. In the left keyboard, a diatonic bass scale appeared, in which there were several chromatic sounds. This harmonica partially used the principle of single-pitch sounds for the expansion and compression of the bellows (in the additional semitones of the right keyboard and in the bass on the left). In 1834, the Viennese "Accordion School" of Adolf Müller appeared - a methodological manual intended for manual chromatic accordions.

Between harmonica and bandoneon: concertina.

In 1827, Charles Wheatstone created the concertina in London. In 1829, Charles Wheatstone received a patent for his invention, and in 1832 he creates a chromatic concertina. The prototype for the creation of the concertina was the symphonium made two years earlier. Somewhat later, Wheatstone's instrument received the name English concertina. The musical instrument he invented turned out to be extremely successful in design and existed for more than a hundred years without significant changes - subsequently the range was only expanded. The Concertina had a small, hexagonal-shaped case (later eight- and twelve-sided cases began to be made), directly on which the buttons were located; there was fur between the cases. Soon the English concertina became widespread in a number of European countries, including Russia. Beginning to be published Guidelines for playing the Concertina. By the middle of the 19th century, outstanding concertina performers appeared - Giulio Regondi (1822-1872). This musician tours in various European countries and gains popularity not only as a performer, but also as a composer. He created two concertos, many etudes, and a number of pieces for the concertina. Around the same time (mid-nineteenth century), quite extensive works for the concertina appeared: in 1850, the German composer and violinist Bernard Molik (1802 - 1869) created Concerto No. 1 for concertina and orchestra, and 11 years later - Concerto No. 2. In addition, B. Molik wrote the cycle “Falling Leaves” and “Six Characteristic Pieces” for concertina and piano. Somewhat later, Andante and Allegro, Quintet for concertina and strings by the English composer George Alexander Macfarren (1813-1887) appeared.

Exactly the concertina was the closest prototype of the button accordion with selectable left keyboard. The chromatic scale of its right and left half-frames made it possible to artistically convincingly perform on it not only samples of the popular everyday repertoire, but also classical music.

But still concertinas had only melodic sounds- there was no bass-chord accompaniment here. Therefore, they were played, as a rule, accompanied by other accompanying instruments - piano, guitar, various instrumental ensembles and orchestras.

In 1834, in Germany, in the city of Chemnitz, master designer Karl Friedrich Uhlig (1789-1874) designed another type of instrument, called the German concertina. It had a tetrahedral body, the timbre was more rich, since the voices, unlike the English concertina, were doubled per octave. The sound of the reeds for releasing and closing the bellows when pressing the button was different. If the English concertina was a purely melodic instrument, then the buttons of the left keyboard of the German concertina, although they made it possible to extract only one sound per opening and closing of the bellows, were more suitable for the accompaniment of a melody played on a chromatic right keyboard.

Bandoneon chromatic instrument.

In 1840, in the German city of Kreffeld, master Heinrich Band (1821-1860) created a new chromatic instrument - bandoneon. It also, like the concertina, had different sounds for opening and closing the bellows when the button is pressed, and had a particularly wide range, eventually reaching more than four octaves in both keyboards. After some time, the bandoneon enters the countries of Latin America, where it becomes widespread. The bandoneon gained new fame in the second half of the twentieth century, thanks to the tireless creative work of the outstanding Argentine composer and bandoneonist Astor Piazzolla.

The bandoneon was initially used to perform sacred music in churches in Germany, but at the end of the 19th century it was brought to Argentina and became part of tango orchestras.

One of the most famous bandoneon performers was the Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, who composed a large number of works for him.

Basics

Variety. Named after its inventor, Heinrich Banda.

At first, the bandoneon was used to perform sacred music in churches in Germany. At the end of the 19th century it was brought to Argentina and became part of tango orchestras. It was thanks to the bandoneon that Argentine tango music received that piercing, poignant sound that attracts so many fans to it.

The sound in the bandoneon is produced by vibrations of metal reeds when the air pumped by the bellows during the game passes through the cracks in the metal plates. What’s interesting is that when you inhale and exhale the bellows, the same bandoneon button can play different notes. In addition, the sound quality can be made different by adding to the game the knee of the leg on which the bandoneon is placed during the game. This is why learning to play the bandoneon is extremely difficult.

Varieties of bandoneons

Bandoneons are distinguished by the number of tones. Typically this number ranges from 106 to 148.

The standard is a 144-tone bandoneon, and these are the instruments that all professional bandoneonists play. 144-tone bandoneons are soloists in tango orchestras.

Bandoneon in 110 tones It is mainly used for learning to play, so that a beginning bandoneonist can become familiar with the instrument.

There are also special and hybrid varieties of bandoneons, such as: bandoneon with pipes, bandoneon c-system (Russian), chromatifon, Praktikal bandoneon, bandoneon with piano layout and others.

Video: Bandoneon on video + sound

Thanks to these videos, you can get acquainted with the instrument, watch a real game on it, listen to its sound, and feel the specifics of the technique.

Bandoneon And concertina... Their emergence is inextricably linked with three Germans, each of whom could lay claim to the “palm”
He is an instrumentalist and clarinetist Carl Friedrich Uhlig from Chemnitz / Carl Friedrich Uhlig (Chemnitz), who designed the first German concertina in 1834, and who still knew nothing about the invention and research of the English physicist Sir Charles Wheatstone, who, while studying acoustics, created in 1829 a new musical instrument, the predecessor of the English concertina. The truth was not yet concertina, as we imagine it, but only a metal box with voices without fur with an oval mouthpiece and called “Symphonium”. From this description, in my opinion, the patented instrument looked more like a concertina. Heinrich Band

from Krefeld / Heinrich Band (Krefeld)- a music teacher and dealer in musical instruments whose name gave the name to the new instrument, and finally - Carl Friedrich Zimmermann (Carlsfeld), who began producing the first bandoneons in 1849. There are several plausible versions of the creation of this musical instrument, which played such a significant role in the development and spread of the tango genre at the beginning of the 20th century, but

There is no doubt that the bandoneon and concertina originated on German soil and the bandoneon is its improved and improved version

It is also reliably known that the word bandoneon came from the name of Heinrich Band / Heinrich Band,

music teacher from the city of Krefeld, who presumably studied concertina playing with Friedrich Uhlig in 1840 in Chemnitz.
You can see what a simple 20-button concertina looks and sounds like in this Video

English concertina . This is what Irish music sounds like

Grigorash Diniku - "Lark" Valentin Osipov (Concertino) and trio "Academy" - Vladimir Ushakov, Svetlana Stavitskaya, Sergey Likhachev

Heinrich Band did not make anything himself, but bought concertinas produced there in Bohemia / Böhmen (now the territory of the Czech Republic) and Saxony / Sachsen, remade them, improving the mechanics and increasing the range. These instruments were sold under the name Bandion exclusively in his shop, which he inherited from his father, and their range increased thanks to him, first to 64 and later to 88 sounds (at that time there were only 54 sounds). Thus, already in 1846, instruments with 100 sounds appeared, which found use in the city orchestra, and all this - 3 years earlier than Carl Friedrich Zimmermann, who is widely credited with creating the bandoneon in 1849.
How the name came about bandoneon? There is also no consensus on this matter. The often cited arguments that supposedly Heinrich Band created “Band Union” for the production and promotion of his instruments, which is consonant with the word bandoneon and hence the name of the instrument, did not come true. I am much closer to another point of view on its origin. At that distant time, instruments from the harmonica family were called Accordions / Accordion, which is from the Italian word “Accord” and the ancient Greek ending “ion”, which has a mythical origin and is translated as “something in motion.” Movement... - this is probably not only the need for constant movement of the fur, but also the fact that the instruments were used mainly in motion, while walking, processions, processions, they were played mainly while standing and they were held by a neck strap that was attached to eyes to the middle of the fur. Names Accordion and concertina- by that time there were well-known, good-sounding brands, but the new instrument did not have a beautiful name. It was called the “New Type Accordion” or simply “harmonica”. And then, adding another syllable to the not very euphonious “bandion”, it turned out - bandonion, and subsequently the letter changed i on e finally determined the name of the new instrument: bandoneon. Heinrich Band continued to improve his brainchild, as a result of which the range increased from 106 to 112, and then to 130 sounds. In 1924, the German Union of Concertina and Bandoneon established the parameters for the so-called “standard bandoneon” - 72 buttons and 144 sounds.
Bandoneon very quickly became known and popular far beyond the borders of Germany and in the 19th century, with sailors and settlers, it came to the American continent, where it truly received its new birth in Argentina. Because of its light weight and size, low price, and versatility, it firmly established itself in the brothels and pubs of the huge and seething Buenos Aires, sounded on its streets and in the gateways, gradually displacing wind instruments, especially flutes, from ensembles.
South Americans prefer “Rhine-type” bandoneons with 142 sounds. Design "disadvantages" such as the knocking of the keys and noise when closing the bellows were perceived positively and were organically integrated into playing the instrument. The timbre of these instruments ranges from sharp to soft, from mournful to mysterious at the same time. From Argentina bandoneon Together with tango, he triumphantly returned to Europe, enriched with new sounds and playing techniques.

Tango is the force that, at least for a moment, unites strangers and strangers. This whisper of sensuality carried out through imitation. Tango is also the glitz of the dance hall and the charm of the underworld, the splendor of Paris and the smoky twilight of cafes and brothels in Buenos Aires. Tango is a world of subtle metaphors, captivating with its melancholy melancholy.

Without the bandoneon, invented by the Germans, Argentine tango would certainly not have become as we know it - a heritage of world culture. This is a real "little man's piano" born in Saxony, by the way, very close to Klingenthal.

In the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, in 2007 there is even a tango monument - a 3.5-meter steel bandoneon.

There was also a bandoneon “boom” inside Germany. Already since 1900, associations, orchestras, and clubs arose. In 1939 alone, 686 orchestras were registered. The bandoneon has become the leading instrument in dance ensembles.

Later, the bandoneon in Europe and Germany was replaced by a more advanced accordion, which sounded almost the same, but with much greater performance capabilities.

On this recording, Richard Galliano plays J. S. Bach's Aria on bandoneon

Unfortunately bandoneon Due to historical reasons, it did not receive proper distribution and development in Russia, but, nevertheless, there were enthusiasts of this instrument. In this video there is a Russian Alexander Mitenev, winner of the Klingenthal and Castelfidardo competitions in 2009, plays this rare instrument for Russia.

Well, and of course, the most prominent representative is Astor Piazzolla. It is with his name, first of all, that the concept of modern is associated bandoneon. Thanks to him and his famous compositions, which revealed to the world the extraordinary beauty and variety of Argentine melodies, tango turned into an almost classical genre, migrating from brothels and gateways to the most sophisticated concert halls and received the name Tango Nuevo - the new tango.
Astor Piazzolla with his quintet performs "Milonga of Angels"