Accordion Music Genres - Use in Classical Music

Use in Classical Music

Although the accordion is best known primarily as a folk instrument, it has been used with increasing frequency by classical composers. The earliest surviving concert piece written for the accordion is Thême varié très brillant pour accordéon methode Reisner, written in 1836 by Miss Louise Reisner of Paris, an accordionist and amateur composer.

The Russian composer, Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, included four optional single-action diatonic accordions in his Orchestral Suite No. 2 in C Major, op. 53 (1883), simply to add a little color to the third movement: Scherzo burlesque.

The Italian composer, Umberto Giordano, included the single-action diatonic accordion in his opera Fedora (1898). The accordionist appears on-stage—along with a folk-trio consisting of a piccolo player and triangle player—three times in the third act (which is set in Switzerland), to accompany a short and simple song which is sung by a little Savoyard (Alpine shepherd).

In 1915, the American composer, Charles Ives, included a chorus of diatonic accordions (or concertinas —along with two pianos, celesta, harp, organ, zither and an optional theremin—in his Orchestral Set No. 2. The accordion part—written for the right-hand only—consists of eighteen measures at the very end of the eighteen-minute-long three-movement work. All the above works were written for the diatonic button accordion.

The first composer to write specifically for the chromatic accordion (able to play all 12 notes of the chromatic scale) was Paul Hindemith. In 1921 he included the harmonium in Kammermusik No. 1, a chamber work in four movements for twelve players, but later rewrote the harmonium part for accordion. Other German composers also wrote for the accordion.

In 1922 the Austrian composer, Alban Berg, included a short on-stage accordion part in his landmark opera Wozzeck, Op. 7. The instrument—marked Ziehharmonika bzw. Akkordeon in the score—appears only during the tavern garden (wirthausgarten) scene, along with an on-stage (Bühnenmusik) ensemble consisting of: two fiddles (violins tuned up a tone), one clarinet in C, one guitar and one bombardon in F (or bass tuba), to lend a touch of authenticity to the deutsche bier garten setting.

In the United States several composers contributed to this effort including: John Serry, Sr. whose works featured both the traditional chromatic accordion as well as the free bass accordion. Throughout the United States, Russian émigré and Bayan virtuoso Stas Venglevski has premiered many contemporary works including solo and ensemble pieces as well as concertos by Yehuda Yannay, Anthony Galla-Rini and William Susman.

Notable composers who wrote for the accordion during the first half of the 20th century were:

• Virgil Thomson: Four Saints in Three Acts (1928)
• Serge Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, op. 74 (1936)
• Paul Dessau: Mother Courage (1936) and Die Verurteilung des Lukullus (1949)
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Jazz Suite No. 2 (1938)
• Jean Françaix: Apocalypse According to St. John (1939)
• Darius Milhaud: Prelude and Postlude for "Lidoire" (1946)
• Henry Brant: All Soul's Carnival (1949)
• George Antheil—of Ballet mécanique fame: Accordion Dance for accordion and orchestra (1951)
• John Serry, Sr.: American Rhapsody (1955), to name a few.

Pauline Oliveros brought the accordion into the American expirimental tradition.