It is impossible to say with certainty where exactly the hand accordion was first invented. It is widely believed that the accordion was invented in Germany, in early XIX century by a native of Friedrichrod, Christian Buschman. However, there is other data.

The Germans themselves consider the accordion to be a Russian invention, and according to the research of Academician Mirek, the first accordion appeared in St. Petersburg in 1783 through the efforts of the Czech organ master Frantisek Kirshnik (he invented new way sound extraction - using a metal reed that vibrates under the influence of air flow).

There are other views on this problem.

“Chance decided everything... If the Tula gunsmith Ivan Evstratievich Sizov had not gone to the fair in Nizhny, we would not have enjoyed today the amazing sound of the concert button accordions “Russia”, “Appassionata”, “Jupiter”. “And it was like that. On a July Sunday in 1830, Ivan Sizov walked around the Nizhny Novgorod fair, admired all sorts of goods - both overseas and Russian: painted Semyonovskaya dishes, Gorodets gingerbread, Balashikha and Vologda lace, blacksmith and jewelry work of Kostroma residents, and suddenly... he heard rich, deep sounds, melodious, then I saw an instrument that gave birth to music through something unknown: folds that seemed to be made of fabric and wooden slats with spatulas and buttons for both hands. “Harmonica,” explained the owner, “is a rare, overseas thing.” And he asked for an unheard of price - 40 rubles in banknotes! But Ivan could no longer leave: he kept returning to the harmonica. And then he paid and took him home - to Tula, to Oruzheynaya Sloboda.”

Tula handicraftsmen were the first in Rus' to begin making accordions. Their first Tula harmonicas had only one row of buttons on the right and left hands (single row).

It turned out to be not so difficult for a craftsman to repeat the sample, although he had to tinker with the adjustment of the metal reeds that were inside the harmonica and with the fret.
Ivan Sizov made several harmonicas: for himself, as a gift for people, and then he started making them for sale. Behind him, others who were more daring began to play harmonicas.

On Shrovetide Week of 1831, first in one hut, then in another, they danced not to a balalaika or a horn, but to a harmonica, “which evoked such a dance that would artlessly express the life, energy and sweeping nature of the Slav. This is where the harmonica is a real treasure!”

In 1851 in Tula, not counting small family cooperatives, there were six factories producing harmonicas. From here they dispersed to the nearest provinces: Pskov, Ryazan, Oryol, and walked along the Volga to Kazan and Vyatka.

As the famous expert and collector A. Mirek wrote: “If in Germany harmonicas were made where there were masters, then in Russia, where harmonicas were brought, masters appeared.”

Yes, what kind! Everyone sought not only to make it more elegant, to decorate it to their own taste, but also to adapt it to the local songs and dances!

The Saratov harmonicas that appeared after the Tula ones were structurally no different from the first ones, but the Saratov masters were able to find an unusual sound timbre and therefore these small harmonicas became very popular among the people.

The design of the accordion was constantly improved. Vyatka artisans expanded the sound range of harmonicas (they added buttons to the left and right hands). The version of the instrument they invented was called the Vyatka accordion.

“And if the accordion player wanted a bright, noticeable instrument, then he rode under Vyshny Volochok, in Bologoye. “Bologovka” was distinguished not only by its extraordinary decoration: carved copper, burning “like the devil’s eye,” calico, mirror glass, but also by its structure - two rows on the right (the sounds of the first row - when the bellows were squeezed, were created by the second row, but when unclenched). “Bologovka” on the left had both basses and sets of chords, both major and minor. Its sound was reminiscent of those cheerful harmonicas with which wandering Italians (“Talians”) walked around the courtyards.”

“The Novorzhevskaya Talyanka looked like a big dandy, who began to get along in the south of the Pskov land (not without the influence of Bologov’s masters!). Imagine: a dark brown lacquered harmonica body, covered with a carved pattern of a fancy ornament made of yellow copper, cupronickel, and silver! 14 deep folds of fur are framed by a metal patterned strip. The furs are glued with smooth silk of crimson, violet, blue».

The next stage in the development of harmony was the so-called. double row accordions. By this time, additional buttons had already begun to appear in the previous two-row single-row accordions, but they had not yet “pulled” onto an independent second row. A two-row accordion could also be called a “two-row” accordion, because behind each row of buttons in right hand a certain scale was fixed. Such accordions are called Russian wreaths.

But the harmonica of the Yeletsk masters - the “Eletskaya piano” (“piano”, “rusyanka”) became the prototype of the elegant accordion. The black and white keyboard on the right had all the sounds of the full chromatic scale of the piano, and on the left there was an extended neck with bass keys and chords in Russian and European style. The Yelets master “built” the finished harmonica by listening to the sounds, comparing it with the singing of the sample harmonica, which each master had his own. So all the “pianos” sounded differently, carrying the master’s handwriting into the world.

Well, the most hilarious harmonicas could be bought in Cherepovets: they don’t seem to be harmonicas, but they’re pampering for the kids, the size of a mitten, and the harmonica player picks them up - it’s fun! They called them “turtles.”

Once the already famous harmonica player Pyotr Eliseevich Emelyanov, performing under the pseudonym Nevsky, was touring in Cherepovets and, seeing the “turtle,” decided to go out to the public with such an harmonica. He sang humorous couplets, then folk songs, then a medley, playing along on the “turtles.” The success exceeded his expectations and surprised him very much: although he was self-taught, he already had considerable acting experience and knew the audience very well!
In St. Petersburg, Pyotr Eliseevich ordered famous master Paramonov gave harmonicas a whole set of “turtles” - different in both shape and sound - and successfully performed with them in Germany, England, France, Italy. “Turtles” are still revered by pop artists today.

An event in the history of Russian harmonica was the work of the remarkable master Pyotr Egorovich Sterligov. He lived in a village near Ryazan and, first out of curiosity, then to earn money, he began to repair harmonicas of any type! He did not play himself. I adjusted the system by ear.

“The moon is shining, it’s shining clear. ..” (he knew how to do this!) will play and either put the accordion aside, or, satisfied, give it to the customer. Many harmonicas passed through the hands of Pyotr Yegorovich, when he himself was drawn to improve the harmonica, to add his own...
In 1905, when he was already a mature, 33-year-old master, the famous Y. F. Orlansky-Titarenko, who performed both alone and with his son, ordered him a harmonica for his solo performances. It took the master two years to create that harmonica! And when it sounded in the hands of a virtuoso, Yakov Fedorovich was delighted. He named it after the epic singer - “Bayan”.

The master’s accordion works continue today. About 5,000 are open in Russia music schools, about 120 music schools, 12 conservatories. Each of these educational institutions has a button accordion department.

“Old encyclopedic dictionaries about the harmonica wrote this: “Invented in Vienna in 1829... Distributed in Russia... Had a harmful effect on the development musical taste..." How good it is that they were wrong!"
IN recent years The traditions of both Tula and Saratov accordion are being actively revived.

Work on the production of ancient instruments has been revived. And, of course, to preserve and popularize forgotten tradition. For example, “TULA HARMONY” today is not only the production of instruments. The company sees one of its strategic directions in the preservation and development of Russian cultural traditions - the art of playing reed instruments. The company is a sponsor music festivals and competitions, establishes prizes for winners, works on targeted support young talents in the field of playing the button accordion and accordion.
At the recently held Ladya fair in Moscow, one could not only hear, admire, but also buy a wonderful instrument.

Saratov harmonica

Not far behind Tula and Saratov. In 2010, after a long break, the production of Saratov harmonicas began. Over the past three years, the restored tradition has become the “brand of the region.”

From history

Saratov harmonica - a type of harmonica with bells
The Saratov harmonica began to be produced in the 60s years XIX century. The first mention in print of a harmonica with bells dates back to 1866. The newspaper “Saratov reference sheet” wrote that the passengers of the ship, sailing past Volsk, asked the captain to come closer to the shore, “so that the gentlemen could better hear the playing of the harmonica with bells.”

Saratov accordions were made by accordion artels in Saratov. The first harmonica workshop in the city was opened by Nikolai Gennadievich Korelin in 1870 on Nikolskaya Street (now Radishchev Street). His instruments were so unique in sound that Korelin began to be called the “Stradivarius of the Saratov harmonica.” On August 18, 1879, Korelin was the first among the harmonium masters to receive a “certificate for the title of artisan of the Saratov Craft Council.” In this certificate, in the heading “what kind of skill” the scribe wrote down: “harmonious”. Soon, next to Korelin’s workshop, on Nikolskaya Street, other workshops for the production of Saratov harmonica began to open: D. Zharkov, G. Gvozdev, A. Emelyanov, and across Gogol Street, closer to the Glebuchev ravine, the workshop of S. Borisov opened.
The first harmonicas were small in size, without metal trim. The body was made colored, painted and varnished, and on custom-made instruments it was covered with veneer in the form of a set of different types of wood. The planes of the custom accordion were decorated with inlay with the image of a bow and two arrows - at the top and bottom. This type of finishing required special skill. The cases for the best custom-made harmonicas were made by artisan furniture makers, for example, in the famous furniture workshop of V.V. Melnikov.

In 1903, Dmitry Zharkov accompanied with his play M. Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths,” which was staged in Saratov for a close circle of people in the presence of the author of the play himself.

In the 1920s, artisanal accordion players were united into the “Saratov Accordion” artel and allocated premises at 5 Tsyganskaya Street (now Kutyakova Street). Over time, the artel expanded and turned into a whole enterprise, producing up to 8 thousand accordions per year. Custom-made concert harmonicas were also made for masters. In 1968, the workshop for the production of accordions became part of the Saratov factory musical instruments, and in the early 1980s became part of the Engels plant for the production of wind and percussion instruments. However, the activity of harmonious artels was short-lived; immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union, production ceased, and over time it stopped altogether. The workers could not make accordions with their own money and production gradually declined. TO beginning of XXI century, serial production of the Saratov harmonica ceased.
In 2009, a monument to the Saratov harmonica was erected on Kirov Avenue in Saratov, donated to residents by Express-Volga Bank in honor of the celebration of the city day. At certain hours, the monument plays compositions of a local Saratov instrumental group and reminds of historical symbol cities like an accordion.
Renaissance
In 2010-2011, a trial workshop for the production of Saratov harmonica was created on the basis of SSTU. Several young people who wanted to try themselves in this field were accepted there, and as a result, in the spring of 2011, the official presentation of the new Saratov accordion, made from scratch by Saratov craftsmen, took place. This experiment to revive an almost lost skill turned out to be successful and now this workshop produces permanent sets for training in the specialty “master of Saratov harmonica production”.
Tula and Saratov managed not only to bring them back to life antique instrument, but also to show it to the world.

An accordion, or accordion, is a wind reed musical instrument with a keyboard-pneumatic mechanism. There are two keyboards on the sides of the instrument: the right one plays the melody, the left one is for accompaniment. By harmonic we mean a whole series musical instruments, both hand and mouth. The sound in these instruments is achieved by vibrating the reed (metal bar) under the influence of air flow. In manual models, like in an accordion, air is pumped using a special reservoir - bellows

Accordion, accordion!

The songs are loud

For every swaying fence...

Accordion, accordion!

Dear side!

Poetry of Russian villages!

In 1780, the St. Petersburg master Kirshnik expressed the idea of ​​​​creating a musical instrument with reeds and pointed out a method for extracting sound, which is now used in all reed musical instruments.

The main version is that the ancestor of this variety of accordion came to the central regions of Russia at the end of the 19th century from the Russian north and had the original name “severyanka” (I will not say for sure, but perhaps this means the Kirillovskaya accordion).

The accordion is one of the favorite musical instruments of the Russian people.

It is believed that the very first accordion was invented in Germany, but the Germans themselves are confident in the Russian origin of this keyboard-pneumatic instrument. In this article we will look at some types of accordions that are popular in our country.

KHROMKA: WILL IT BE ABLE TO PLAY A CHROMATIC GAMING ON IT?

It is with lameness that many Russians associate the word “accordion”. Some “savvy” people from a musical point of view are surprised by one fact: the sound range of the khromka is based on the major scale, while the harmonica is called chromatic.

1 - tongue; 2 - opening valve; 3 - voice bar; 4 - chord input chamber; 5 - bass input chamber; 6 - melody input chambers; 7 - fur; 8 - left half-body; 9 - right half-body; 10 - neck; 11 - melody keyboard buttons; 12 - mesh; 13 - accompaniment keyboard buttons

You can't play all the flats or sharps on it, but there are still 3 semitones in the upper right corner of the keyboard.

The heart of the harmonica is the voice bars. It is the slats that make sounds dear to the heart. The bar is a metal frame on which a metal tongue is attached. The pitch of the sound depends on the size of the reed. The most low sounds produce the most massive reeds. Using paraffin, the slats are attached in a row on a slatted rail, which in turn is installed on gorodushkas (a whole system of air channels supplying air to the slats). The devices on the right and left sides are basically the same. Air is supplied to the towns through valves, which are opened by physical pressure through a push-button mechanism on the pawns (buttons). Pawns are lined up on the boards in rows (one, two or even three). All this (slats, slats, towns, push-button mechanisms) are located in decks (right or left), which are connected to each other by bellows. The bellows tend to be folded with the help of borin (8-40 pieces). This is the general scheme of the accordion structure. But each accordion, of course, has its own nuances and differences in its design.

Chart of notes on a chrome accordion 25x25.

Chords for accordion khromka 25x25:

Right side of the melody:

There are several varieties of khromka, the most famous of which are Nizhny Novgorod khromka, Kirillovskaya khromka and Vyatka khromka. They all have the same design, but each of these varieties has its own, unique sound. Therefore, they are very easy to distinguish by ear.

TULA ONE-ROW: IT TURNS OUT THAT THE SOUND IS NOT THE SAME WHEN THE BELLOWS STRETCH AND COMPRESS...

If we take all the types of accordions that exist today, then the Tula single-row one clearly stands out from the general series; it is everyone’s favorite folk instrument. The sound capabilities of most harmonicas are determined by the intervallic structure of the scale, but in the case of “Guest from Tula” the determining factor is the correlation with the movement of the bellows.

The Tula single-row keyboard has many varieties, the main difference between each of them is the number of buttons on the keyboard of the right and left hands. The most popular option is considered to be an accordion with 7 buttons on the right-hand keyboard and 2 buttons on the left-hand keyboard.

ELETSKAYA HARMONI: HARMONI-SEMI-ACCORDION?

Some types of accordions are not such “in pure form", one example of such an instrument is the Yelets accordion. It cannot be called a “purebred” accordion, since it is considered the direct ancestor of the accordion. The right keyboard of the instrument has flats and sharps, that is, the full chromatic scale. Left keyboard can be called a remote neck with chords and bass keys.

Over the entire period of its development, and the first Yelets accordion appeared back in the 19th century, its functional part and appearance. But one thing has always remained the same - excellent musical and technical capabilities.

TURTLE: FOR LOVERS OF SMALL ACCORINAS

The main feature of the tool is its compact size. The first varieties of Turtle had no more than 7 keys, a range of more modern options increased due to the expansion of the keyboard to 10 keys. The harmonium's tuning is diatonic; different sounds are produced when the bellows are compressed and unclenched.

There are several varieties of Turtle: “with four keys”, “Nevsky Turtle” and “Warsaw Turtle”. The last option is considered the most modern; all the keys corresponding to the reeds and melodies have been moved from the left keyboard to the right one.

The Tula chromatic harmonica is a brilliant invention of the Tula musician Beloborodov. Made in 1875-1878 by the “harmonious master” L.A. Chulkov according to Beloborodov’s sketches and with his direct participation. This is a two-row harmonica with a full chromatic scale, not seven (like a regular harmonica), but 12 sounds. This makes the sound more complete and expanded.

These and other types of accordions, such as the Russian “vena”, talyanka, Pskov rezukha and others, were, are and remain the favorite instruments of Russian residents, despite the fact that more than 150 years have passed since the appearance of accordions!

No one can answer this question with certainty; “science doesn’t know.” There is an opinion that the accordion came to Russia from Germany. However, this cannot be stated with absolute certainty, since accordions existed in the 18th-19th centuries in Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and even England.
There are a lot of accordion inventors. A monument should be erected to the person who invented the accordion bar, namely, who came up with the idea of ​​extracting sounds under air pressure from a metal reed inserted into a miniature metal frame. Who he was - German or Russian, French or English - is a mystery “shrouded in darkness.”
Academician A.M.Mireku proved it Russian origin. The harmonica in its modern form appeared in St. Petersburg. Her father, the Czech engineer Frantisek Kirshnik, lived in Russia at that time and demonstrated his instrument to the people of St. Petersburg in 1783. He gave his brainchild a Czech name

Harmonic. But now this name, like “accordion,” has become colloquial in Russian. The official name of this instrument is accordion.
She quickly became Russian national instrument. The harmonica captivated me with its sonorous voice, ease of learning to play, and its “toy” size for those times.

Still, how did the accordion appear in Rus'? This story is like a fairy tale.
Everything was decided by chance... If the Tula gunsmith Ivan Evstratievich Sizov had not gone to the fair in Nizhny, we would not have enjoyed the amazing sound of the accordion today.
And it was like that. On a July Sunday in 1830, Ivan Sizov walked around the Nizhny Novgorod fair, admired all sorts of goods - both overseas and Russian: painted Semyonovskaya dishes, Gorodets gingerbread, Balashikha and Vologda lace, blacksmith and jewelry work of Kostroma residents, and suddenly... he heard rich, deep sounds, melodious, then I saw an instrument that gave birth to music for some unknown reason: folds seemed to be made of fabric and wooden slats with spatulas and buttons for both hands... “The harmonica,” the owner explained, “is a rare thing, overseas...” And he asked for an unheard-of price - 40 rubles in banknotes! But Ivan could no longer leave: he kept returning to the harmonica. And then he paid and took him home - to Tula, to Oruzheynaya Sloboda... It turned out to be not so difficult for a craftsman to repeat the sample. Ivan Sizov made several harmonicas: for himself, as a gift for people, and then he started making them for sale. After him, others who were more daring began to play harmonicas... On Shrovetide Week 1831, first in one hut, then in another, they danced not to a balalaika or a horn, but to a harmonica “which evoked such a dance in which life would be expressed artlessly, the energy and sweeping nature of the Slav. This is where the harmonica is a real treasure!”
According to other sources, the origin of the production of Russian harmonicas dates back to the 30s of the 18th century in Tula, with wide specialization in individual parts and operations. Over its almost two-century history, durable and sonorous, distinguished by high artistic merit, Tula accordions and button accordions have become one of the symbols of Russia, receiving well-deserved recognition throughout the world. The most primitive, isolated examples of hand-held harmonicas were made by Tula masters - the Shkunaev brothers - in their home workshop. Following them, from about 1820, the stationary production of simple hand-held harmonicas was organized by gunsmith Timofey Vorontsov in the basement of his samovar factory. Further development This process was started by the simplest five-valve accordion brought by gunsmith Ivan Sizov from the Nizhny Novgorod fair in 1830. He opened a harmonica workshop in Tula, in which he first copied the imported sample, and then organized mass production of harmonicas.
Harmony production opened in a one-story house in Chulkovskaya Sloboda. The former harmonious subsidiary farm soon grew into the “Free Arms Harmonious Factory” - the first in Russia. Its owner was T.P. Vorontsov. At first, musical instruments were made on it according to samples imported mainly from the Austrian capital. In 1848, the statement of the “Civil Arms Harmonious Factory” noted that there were no machines at the enterprise, but things were made by working people, of whom there were: 10 masters, 3 apprentices, all civilians, from Russians. Hired workers produced three types of tools: large, medium and small, priced from 15 to 25 kopecks per piece, depending on the size. Up to 6 thousand harmonics were produced per year. Subsequently, production reached 10 thousand musical instruments. They were sold to Moscow. After the death of Timofey Pimenovich in 1854, the harmonium factory passed into the possession of his son Gabriel. The samovar factory went to another son, Akim. Subsequently, the brothers swapped factories. The third son, Ivan, was a Moscow merchant of the first guild. In 1920, the former harmonium factory of A.A. Vorontsova was taken over by the cartridge factory. Factory buildings housed kindergartens. A two-story residential house built for the family by Alexei Akimovich on the street. Rozhdestvenskaya (now K. Marx St., 128) was transferred to a hostel. It is the only one of all the buildings that has survived, albeit in a modified form. Its first floor went into the ground up to the windows, and the magnificent decor was badly damaged in many places. The Vorontsov house no longer stands out for its beauty and majestic appearance against the background of its neighbors, as in the old days.
At the end of the last century, a new harmonious factory appeared on the edge of Shtykova Street in Chulkovo. It was opened in 1880 by Leonty Alekseevich Chulkov, who lived with his six sons on nearby Zamochnaya Street. It was small, but in terms of technical equipment no enterprise in our city could compare with it. At an exhibition of accordions held in Tula in 1888, the products of this workshop so impressed Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich that he immediately ordered to award Leonty Alekseevich with a gold medal in his presence. In 1907, his son, Gennady Leontyevich Chulkov, created the mechanics of the so-called borrowed basses for a two-row Viennese harmonica, with the help of which, when pressing the bass buttons, not only the bass valves opened, but also the corresponding valves from the chord set, which made the bass sound more saturated. He received a patent certificate for this invention. Until now, mechanics G.L. Chulkova is used in all Viennese harmonicas, which is a feature of the sound of bass lines in all products of the Tula harmonica industry.
The largest enterprise for the production of harmonics in Tula was the factory of the Kiselev brothers ,

which mainly specialized in the production of two- and three-row Viennese harmonicas, in which it achieved significant success. They first worked at a weapons factory, and in the evenings and on Sundays, in order to get additional extra money, they were engaged in the manufacture of harmonicas. At first, artisans made simple five-valve valves. Their harmonics were different good sound and beautiful finishing, so they came true easily. To the Kiselevsky factory N.I. Beloborodov brought a Viennese accordion, where with his help it was converted into a two-row one with Russian tuning and became capable of playing Russian melodies. In 1883, the brothers organized harmonica-making workshops in their home. In 1886, the owner of a Moscow store on Tverskaya Street, Petr Pavlovich Vatutin, drew attention to their products. He came to Tula and made a deal with his brothers to supply Kiselev harmonicas to a large amount. His order allowed the Tula people to expand the production of their vociferous warblers. Using the money accumulated by their mother through petty trade and advances from a Moscow merchant, the brothers in 1890 built a two-story house on Venevskaya Street, where a harmonica factory was located. She was in a large wooden house, which was decorated with intricate carvings. But the openwork parapet grilles and flowerpots, unusual for Tula residents, gave it a special chic. The harmonium factory employed hired workers, but also employed handicraftsmen who were engaged in the manufacture of individual parts at home. The best Tula masters were lured to it. Dmitry Lyalin, Alexey Pastukhov, Alexander Gorbunov, Nikolai Badeishchikov, Dmitry Kuzmin, Nikolai and Dmitry Gryaznov and many other local craftsmen worked here. All of them were forced to abandon artisanal labor due to the fact that their own workshops could not compete with well-established production. They were tasked with performing the most complex operations and working on assembling individual units. The Kiselevskaya factory mainly specialized in the production of two and three-row Viennese harmonicas of the Russian type, abbreviated as “wreath,” which were in especially great demand, and achieved significant success. Having saved money, the brothers expanded the range of reed musical instruments at the beginning of the 20th century. Their factory occupied a leading position in the production of harmonicas and button accordions in Russia, competing in the world market.
In 1900, at the International Trade Exhibition in Paris, two- and three-row Viennese harmonicas of the Kiselev brothers received awards. In 1905 - 1907 The factory also began to produce three-row chromatic harmonicas - "left by right (elective) and foot basses." In 1914 they were awarded a gold, three silver and bronze medals.
Among the harmonium masters, Leonty Alekseevich Chulkov especially stood out. In 1880, he organized an independent harmonium workshop, where he worked together with his six sons. In 1907, the most talented of them, Gennady Chulkov, created the mechanics of the so-called borrowed basses for the two-row Viennese harmonica. He received a patent certificate for this invention. From then until now, G. Chulkov’s mechanics have been used on all Viennese harmonicas, which is another artistically stylistic feature the sound of bass lines in all products of the Tula harmonica craft. The first examples of Russian harmonicas were distinguished by their originality, good quality and external attractiveness, but had one significant flaw - they lacked a chromatic structure, which naturally limited the musical and artistic capabilities of the instrument. The creation of a harmonic with chromatic tuning was an important step towards improving the instrument.
One of the most prominent promoters of the harmonica was a Tula tradesman

possibilities , he suggested to master L.A. Chulkov to make for him an instrument with a two-row keyboard according to his own sketches, in which Nikolai Ivanovich especially worked out the keyboard system, in all other respects relying on the knowledge and experience of the master. New tool was a two-row harmonica with a full chromatic scale and not with seven, as usual, but with 12 sounds. The new chromatic accordion turned out to be unusually melodious and beautifully designed: cypress wood and ivory were used in its decoration, and brass inlay, leather and mother-of-pearl were placed on top in intricate script. In one of the rooms

copy the chromatic harmonica he invented, made by hand

The voice bars were changed in such a way that the accordion began to produce the same sound when the bellows are compressed and unclenched. Its structure was still diatonic (in a certain key, for example, in C major.
But to expand the range of tonalities, two or three chromatic sounds were added to the upper part of her keyboard. So the “lame” became almost chromatic, which is why it got its name.
“Khromka” was good because you could play any local tune on it. It was also called “two-row” because the buttons in the right hand were arranged in two rows, so that everything was, as they say, under the fingers.
In the mid-80s of the 19th century, Nikolai Ivanovich created a circle of lovers of playing chromatic harmonics, and in the early 90s of the participants

Beloborodova continued for many years and stopped at the end of 1902. IN

started by your teacher. A modest Tula accountant became the concertmaster of an orchestra that toured neighboring cities.Subsequently, an accordion with a chromatic scale

"accordion". Among other crafts, harmonica occupied second place in Tula, and the growth in the number of artisans - harmonica makers continued from year to year. The highest level in the production of harmonics was achieved in our country before the First World War, in 1912-1913.

After the end of the civil war, artisans began to cooperate in artels for the production of various harmonics. The first such artel was organized by harmonica master A.P. Pastukhov in Tula in 1922. The name of this master, unsurpassed in riveting voices, is associated with
producing the best solo and orchestral button accordions for many years.
All private factories (or rather assembly shops) in pre-revolutionary Russia were based on cottage industry and were not suitable for converting them into state-owned industrial enterprises, in connection with which the question arose about the creation of state factories. To better organize harmonica production, an exhibition of harmonicas was organized in Moscow in 1928, simultaneously with a harmonica competition, after which a firm range and standards of produced harmonica models were established for factories. The quality of the products and their artistic and stylistic features were monitored at the held masters competitions. Musical instruments were played behind a curtain, and the jury determined the sound quality by ear. At the same time, Tula masters invariably turned out to be the winners.
During the terrible years of the Great Patriotic War, the production of musical instruments was interrupted everywhere. But the people’s craving for music was so great that letters began to arrive from the army. The front demanded: “Give me harmonicas and button accordions! It’s easier to fight with a song!” And the production of musical instruments was restored. In the harsh times of war, the accordion and button accordion rightfully took their place in the military formation. At the beginning of 1943, a vocational school was organized on the basis of the Tula Harmony artel to train workers for musical production. Then the first 250 boys and girls sat down at their desks to become successors to the glory of Tula craftsmen and masters of folk art.
The best products of Tula craftsmen have repeatedly won prizes at various competitions, exhibitions and fairs. This product is one of the hundred best products Russia. Tula Harmony LLC is one of the largest Russian manufacturers of button accordions and accordions. The company produces reed musical instruments of any playing capabilities, as well as metal parts for harmonicas, button accordions, pianos and accordions.
In the two-hundred-year history of the development of musical instruments, the harmonica in the Tula region has come a long way in a short period of time - from a toy that played one chord to a professional musical instrument, preserving the best traditions of a unique folk craft.
In the 30s of the twentieth century, the first harmonious factory (artel) was created; in the 70s of the 20th century, the enterprise, then called the Melodiya Production Association, produced about 110 thousand button accordions per year.

In 2000, the association was purchased by OST WEST CORPORATION and registered as Tula Harmon LLC. Material investments and competent policies of OWK management allowed the enterprise to significantly increase production volumes.
Currently, thanks to the constant improvement of the production process, the range of musical instruments produced by Tula Harmon LLC has expanded fourfold compared to the 80s of the last century. Today the company produces about three thousand musical instruments a year, which are played in professional and amateur orchestras, musical institutions, and in the hands of virtuoso musicians. Among customers OOO

"Tula Harmon" - ensemble "Russia",

Pyatnitsky Choir,

and many others.
One of the most important areas of enterprise development is training and advanced training of its employees. Today, Tula Harmon LLC is one of the few Russian enterprises that trains masters in the manufacture of musical instruments. The best products of Tula craftsmen have repeatedly won prizes at various competitions, exhibitions and fairs. In 1994, Melodiya OJSC was awarded the International Diamond Award in Mexico City.

national Institute of Marketing, the company was once again awarded such a high award. In 1997, Melodiya received the international Earthmaker award in Switzerland in the nomination “For the preservation and development of the intellectual personnel potential of the enterprise during the period

awards in the category “For the wisdom and flexibility of management policy.” In 1998 in Madrid, Melodiya OJSC was awarded the international award for the quality of its products “Platinum Star”, and in 1999 in Paris it was awarded the XIII International Prize of Europe “For Quality”. IN regional competition In 2004 and 2007, the “Flagship of Small Business” LLC “Tula Harmon” became the winner in the category “Best Enterprise of the Year in the Field of Folk Arts and Crafts”. The company is a laureate of the “100 Best Products of Russia” competition.

The employees of Tula Harmon LLC worthily continue the traditions of the glorious Tula masters, in whose workshops new samples of Tula button accordions are created that meet the most modern performance requirements, such as button accordions “Rusich”, “Rus”, “Mir”, “Tula”, etc.

How does an accordion work?
The heart of the accordion is the bars. It is the slats that make sounds dear to the heart. The bar is a metal frame on which a metal tongue is attached. The pitch of the sound depends on the size of the reed. The deepest sounds are produced by the largest reeds. Using paraffin, the slats are attached in a row to a plank strip, which in turn is installed on gorodushkas (a whole system of air channels supplying air to the slats). The devices on the right and left sides are basically the same. Air is supplied to the towns through valves, which are opened by physical pressure through a push-button mechanism on the pawns (buttons). Pawns are lined up on the boards in rows (one, two or even three). All this (slats, slats, towns, push-button mechanisms) are located in decks (right or left), which are interconnected by bellows. The bellows tend to be folded with the help of borin (8-40 pieces). This is the general scheme of the accordion structure. But each accordion, of course, has its own nuances and differences in its design.
The next stage in the development of the accordion was the so-called double-row accordion. By this time, additional buttons had already begun to appear in the previous two-row single-row accordions. The harmonica is the great-grandfather of the modern harmonica.

Listen to its sound

Accordion, accordion!
The songs are loud
For every swaying fence...
Accordion, accordion!
Dear side!
Poetry of Russian villages!

It was all decided by chance... If Tula gunsmith Ivan Evstratievich Sizov had not gone to the fair in Nizhny, we would not have enjoyed the amazing sound today

concert accordions “Russia”, “Appassionata”, “Jupiter”.
And it was like that. On a July Sunday in 1830, Ivan Sizov walked around the Nizhny Novgorod fair, admiring all sorts of goods - both overseas and Russian: painted Semyonov dishes, Gorodets gingerbread, Balashikha and Vologda lace, blacksmith and jewelry work of Kostroma residents, and suddenly... he heard rich sounds, deep, melodious, then I saw an instrument that gave birth to music incomprehensibly: folds seemed to be made of fabric and wooden slats with spatulas and buttons for both hands... “The harmonica,” the owner explained, “is a rare thing, overseas...” And he asked for an unheard-of price - 40 rubles in banknotes! But Ivan could no longer leave: he kept returning to the harmonica. And then he paid and took him home - to Tula, to Oruzheynaya Sloboda...
It turned out to be not so difficult for a craftsman to repeat the sample, although he had to tinker with the adjustment of the metal reeds that were inside the harmonica, and with the fret...
Ivan Sizov made several harmonicas: for himself, as a gift for people, and then he started making them for sale. After him, others who were more daring began to play harmonicas... On Shrovetide Week of 1831, first in one hut, then in another, they danced not to a balalaika or a horn, but to a harmonica “which called for such a dance in which they would express themselves artlessly the life, energy and sweeping nature of the Slav. This is where the harmonica is a real treasure!”
The German harmonica, the like of which Tula craftsmen learned to make, had a diatonic tuning, that is, the sound created when the bellows was opened had one tone, and when squeezed, it had a different tone.
Some unnaturalness for the Russian performer was immediately noticed: the accordionist had to unclench the bellows before the start of the game, and... then the dance song would break out! The Tula people turned the bar upside down - the harmonica, remaining diatonic, acquired the so-called “Russian tuning”: the sound that it created when squeezing the bellows now appeared when unclenching it, and vice versa... That’s what it is still called today - “harmonica with Russian tuning”.
In 1851 in Tula, not counting small family cooperatives, there were six factories producing harmonicas. From here they dispersed to the nearest provinces: Pskov, Ryazan, Oryol, walked along the Volga to Kazan, Vyatka... As the famous expert and collector A. Mirek wrote: “If in Germany harmonicas were made where there were masters, then in Russia - there , where the harmonicas were brought, the masters appeared.” Yes, what kind! Everyone sought not only to make it more elegant, to decorate it to their own taste, but also to adapt it to the local songs and dances!
Harmonics changed tone, tuning, and range; instead of the push-button system, a keyboard was born; local handicrafts left their mark on the manner of finishing the body.
In the village of Popovka, near Kasimov (a city famous for many crafts), masters began to make harmonicas with the Russian system, but with a greater range than the Tula model. Under left hand- only basses, no ready-made chords. And although a few “Kasimovkas” with discreetly decorated bodies were distributed around the world, the Murom, Ryazan, and Kolomna accordionists preferred only the “Kasimovskaya popovka”.
And if the accordion player wanted a bright, noticeable instrument, then he went to Vyshny Volochok, to Bologoye. “Bologovka” was distinguished not only by its extraordinary decoration: carved copper, burning “like the devil’s eye,” calico, mirror glass, but also by its structure - two rows on the right (the sounds of the first row - when the bellows were squeezed, were created by the second row, but when unclenched). “Bologovka” on the left had both basses and sets of chords, both major and minor. Its sound was reminiscent of those cheerful harmonics with which wandering Italians (“Talians”) walked around the courtyards.
But the Novorzhevskaya Talyanka looked even more dandy, who began to get along in the south of the Pskov land (not without the influence of Bologov’s masters!). Imagine: a dark brown lacquered harmonica body, covered with a carved pattern of a fancy ornament made of yellow copper, cupronickel, and silver! 14 deep folds of fur are framed by a metal patterned strip. The furs are glued with smooth silk of raspberry, violet, and blue colors. “Play, play, tell me, my little girl...”
But what harmonics were invented in the Oryol province in Livny! There are buttons for both hands: 18 on the right, 14 on the left; chromatic scale, on the left there are basses, and major chords, and minor ones. Even the uninitiated can distinguish the “livenka” from other harmonics: it is narrow, only 8-9 centimeters wide, not tall, but it has bellows!.. Up to 40 borin (folds) instead of the usual eight, ten, and, finally, fourteen!

Oh, what intricate figures you can surprise your listeners with if you stretch the “livenka” over the entire span of your arms, and then in a row, then a month, then a bridge! “Through the village along a crooked path, on a clear evening, a blue recruit with a “shower” walked in a rollicking crowd” - this is from Sergei Yesenin.

The harmonica of the Yeletsk masters - the “Eletskaya piano” (“piano”, “rusyanka”) became the prototype of the elegant accordion. The black and white keyboard on the right had all the sounds of the full chromatic scale of the piano, and on the left there was an extended neck with bass keys and chords in Russian and European style. The Yelets master “built” the finished harmonica by listening to the sounds, comparing it with the singing of the sample harmonica, which each master had his own. So all the “pianos” sounded differently, carrying the master’s handwriting into the world.
It happened that someone visited Cherepovets - they brought from there hilarious accordions: it didn’t seem like accordions, but something for the kids to indulge in, the size of a mitten, and the accordion player would pick it up - fun! They called them “turtles.” And once the already famous harmonica player Pyotr Eliseevich Emelyanov, performing under the pseudonym Nevsky, was touring in Cherepovets and, seeing a “turtle,” decided to go out to the public with such an harmonica. Pyotr Nevsky - of strong build, with a short-cropped head, with unusually expressive facial expressions - sang humorous couplets, then folk songs, then a medley, playing along on the “turtles”. The success exceeded his expectations - the actor, although self-taught, was already experienced and knew the audience well! In St. Petersburg, Pyotr Eliseevich ordered the famous harmonica master Paramonov a whole set of “turtles” - different in both shape and sound - and successfully performed with them in Germany, England, France, and Italy. “Turtles” are still revered by pop artists today.
An event in the history of Russian harmonica was the work of the remarkable master Pyotr Egorovich Sterligov. He lived in a village near Ryazan and, first out of curiosity, then to earn money, he began to repair harmonicas of any type!
I didn't play it myself. I adjusted the system by ear. “The moon is shining, it’s shining clear. ..” (he knew how to do this!) will play and... either put the accordion aside, or, satisfied, give it to the customer. Many harmonicas passed through the hands of Pyotr Yegorovich, when he himself was drawn to improve the harmonica, to add his own...
In 1905, when he was already a mature, 33-year-old master, the famous Y. F. Orlansky-Titarenko, who performed both alone and with his son, ordered him a harmonica for his solo performances. It took the master two years to create that harmonica! And when it sounded in the hands of a virtuoso, Yakov Fedorovich was delighted. He named it after the epic singer - “Bayan”.
Five years later, P.E. Sterligov created the first five-row button accordion, a model that is still good today. Accordions began to be made in both capitals - “with St. Petersburg and Moscow acumen.” The demand for them grew steadily in the 20s and 30s of our century.
From the first days of the Great Patriotic War, both accordions and accordions went to the front. (It seems there is no monument to the warrior-harmonica player. But there should be...) “The fire beats in the cramped stove, the resin on the logs is like a tear, and the accordion sings to me in the dugout...” Those accordions that were left to wait for the owner’s return, stood in the most visible place in the hut, covered with a velvet rag. “Sing, harmonica, to spite the blizzard... Call lost happiness...” And the most beloved at the front was P. Sterligov’s five-row button accordion. P. E. Sterligov was given a long life; he died at the age of 87, in 1959.
The master’s accordion works continue today. About 5,000 music schools, about 120 music schools, and 12 conservatories have been opened in Russia. Each of these educational institutions has a button accordion department.
Old encyclopedic dictionaries about the harmonica wrote this: “Invented in Vienna, in 1829... Distributed in Russia... Had a harmful influence on the development of musical taste...” It’s good that they were wrong!

A. Kuznetsova

Publications in the Traditions section

Voiced, elegant, Russian, two-row

“Dear and Distant” - the cry of Talyanka in Yesenin’s style. “Sad memorable motive” - by Alexander Tvardovsky. “The poetry of Russian villages” - in the poem “Harmon” by Alexander Zharov. The accordion in Russia is not just a reed keyboard-pneumatic musical instrument. According to tradition, neither a wedding, nor farewell to the army, nor the usual folk festival We couldn’t do without an accordion. Craftsmen created their own instruments in almost every province. Read more about the history of the accordion - Natalya Letnikova.

Geography and biography

Firs Zhuravlev. Village Reveler (Harmonist Bobyl). 1870–80s

Germany, Austria, Italy, France, England and, of course, Russia. They extracted sounds under air pressure from a metal reed inserted into a frame in different parts of the world. The name of the one and only inventor of the mechanism itself has not been preserved in musical history.

But professor of history and theory of music Alfred Mirek argued that the modern harmonica appeared in St. Petersburg. This is the work of the Czech engineer Frantisek Kirshnik, who then lived in Russia. In 1783, the master presented his work under the Czech name - harmonica. In Russian - accordion or accordion.

Sounds are made in the accordion by strips - metal frames with a fixed metal tongue. The more massive the reed, the lower the sound. The strips are attached using paraffin to a rail mounted on the whole system air channels. Air is supplied when the musician presses buttons or keys and opens the bellows.

Tula accordion

Alexander Kerzhner. Village acquaintance. 1969

Domestic production of the sonorous musical instrument began in Tula. Right next door to the samovars. In 1820, the first attempts to make simple hand harmonicas were made by gunsmith Timofey Vorontsov - in the basement of his samovar factory. This is how the “Free Arms Harmonious Factory” appeared - the first in Russia.

Ten years later, his colleague Ivan Sizov visited the Nizhny Novgorod fair, from where he brought an overseas miracle - a five-valve accordion. First, the master copied the sample, and then it came to mass production.

Gennady Chulkov added colorful bass to the two-row Viennese harmonica - at the suggestion of the famous harmonica player and teacher Nikolai Beloborodov. Together with his father and five brothers in the family workshop, Chulkov developed a mechanism that, when you press the bass buttons, opens not only the bass valves, but also the chord row. The invention was patented and is still used on all Viennese harmonicas. The chromatic range expanded the sound palette, adding semitones to the main seven notes.

In 1900, Russian accordions conquered Paris. At the International Trade Exhibition, two- and three-row harmonicas from Tula - the Kiselev brothers - received awards. It was Tula harmonicas that were loved in their homeland - for their unique chamber sound. The aesthetic side did not disappoint either - ivory, leather, mother-of-pearl, intricate brass inlay. The accordion in Russia has become a real work musical art.

Solo and orchestra

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky. Seated peasant women and a young accordion player. No later than 1945

Nikolai Beloborodov first organized a circle of lovers of playing chromatic harmonicas, and at the end of the 19th century it came to the first orchestra - the world's first harmonica orchestra. Beloborodov's invention, which gave the accordion a completely different sound, allowed Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to introduce the accordion into the symphony orchestra for the first time.

The Austrian Kalbe asked Nikolai Beloborodov to sell the patent for the invention of the chromatic accordion, but the musician refused. Subsequently, it was the accordion with a chromatic structure that was called the button accordion.

Nikolai Beloborodov visited Yasnaya Polyana at the invitation of Tolstoy. Lev Nikolaevich was a real fan of playing the harmonica, and the maestro played music more than once at the request of the classic of Russian literature.

All over Russia

Boris Kustodiev. Harmonist. Village Maslenitsa. 1916

Saratov and Livenskaya, Vyatka and Vologda, Bologovo, Tagil and Shuyskaya, “Petrogradka” and Livenskaya. Far from it full list types of Russian accordions. Craftsmen made their instruments in almost every province.

The harmonica of the Yelets masters - the “Elets piano” - became the prototype of the accordion. It uses keys rather than buttons. “Royalka” was never assembled in factories; each was made in a single copy by one craftsman. The sounds were constructed by comparing them with the sound of a sample accordion.

Already in the 21st century, a workshop for repairing and manufacturing piano harmonicas was opened at the Yelets Museum of Folk Crafts. The production was restored by the grandchildren of the old masters. And in 2014, the Yelets accordion, produced in 1923, was heard throughout the world - at the opening ceremony Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In front of the people in a round dance

Fedot Sychkov. At the outskirts. No later than 1958

People in Russia both danced and cried to the accordion. Re-dances and ditties, improvisations and tunes. Russian song and accordion are inseparable. And a hundred years ago, and today. Not a single folklore festival is complete without an accordion.

Nizhny Novgorod “Potekhinsky tuning fork”, “Vyatsky-khvatskys”, Bogorodsky “Playing accordions in Rus'”, “Symbols national culture. Gusli and accordion" - in the capital's Gnesinka, the all-Russian show "Play, accordion!" And in Arkhangelsk, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the international festival of harmonists “Smetanin Meetings” is being held. Holiday performing skills gathers participants from Russia, France, Germany.

“It’s easier to fight with a song!”

Boris Krylov. Play, accordion. 1929

The production of accordions did not stop even during the Great Patriotic War. The Tula masters decided that in difficult years for the country there was no time for music. But the army literally bombarded the Tula factory with letters asking: “Give me harmonicas and accordions! It’s easier to fight with a song!” So the accordion became a fighting friend and took its place in the ranks. In the summer of 1941, about twelve thousand accordions were sent to raise the morale of soldiers, and in the fall sixty thousand instruments were already sent to the front.

“The accordion was like a hundred divisions, / That it conquered hell and death!”- wrote Alexander Tvardovsky. The accordion sounded at rest stops with war songs and raised the morale of the wounded in hospitals. “Terkins-harmonica players and jokers were in every partisan detachment. They showed their agility in battles and sabotage, in their dashing harmonica playing, skillful stories and jokes.”, says Alexander Makushev’s book “Tell the Accordion”.

Museum exhibit

Vladimir Makovsky. On the boulevard. 1886

The only one in Tula music museum- Memorial Museum of N.I. Beloborodov is dedicated to the inventor of the chromatic accordion and the instrument itself. The main exhibit is a Tula lame glass, made in 1878 by order of Beloborodov by “harmonious craftsman” Pavel Chulkov. The exhibition introduces the working harmonium and gramophone. Conducted by the museum and musical evenings, and classes for young music lovers.

There are four harmonica museums in the world: in Germany, Italy, America and Russia. The Museum of Russian Harmonica has unique collection, collected over half a century by Doctor of Art History Professor Alfred Mirek. In 1997, the musician donated the exhibition to the city - more than 200 rare types of musical instruments. The exhibition recreates the workshop of a Russian harmonium maker.