Chemnitzer Concertina
Chemnitzer System: Uhlig, 20 tones
bisonoric, logical
(Collection Oriwohl, Nr. 116) ♫ Audio (only demo, no art)
Manufacture: unknown.
One-choir; D major; (zinc plates with nickel silver reeds)
This is what it look like, the beginning of all Deutsche Konzertinas (German Concertinas). An instrument in the design of the original concertina, as it was first made by C.F. Uhlig around 1830 in Saxony.
This original form of an bisonoric Deutsche Koncertina was the starting point of all later Konzertina and bandonion instruments in Germany.
Left side
In contrast to the Accordion production already taking place in Vienna with left-sided finished chords, Uhlig decided to use single notes on both sides. As this instrument shows, early models of the Deutsche Koncertina also had rectangular keys.
However, in view of the number of holes on the handle, the instrument on the left does not seem to be made by Uhlig. Uhlig concertinas are known with only three holes.
Left side unfolded
Left side:
Reedplate made of zinc with riveted steel reeds on flat chamber.
Left keyboard mechanism
Left manual tone assignment with D major
From key 2 onwards, D major begins in ascending pitch, including the right manual. This diatonic (scale bounded) tone steps almost always requires a change of bellows, except when changing manuals and on the right manual from key 4 to 0.
The tonic (d1/f#1/a1) can be easily played with the three adjacent keys 3+4+5. When changing bellows, E minor is heard on the same keys as the parallel of the subdominant, which itself is not playable. The dominant A major is also heard with the keys 1+2+3.
Because the individual notes of the left triads can only be heard in the same bellows direction on the right manual, there can be no dissonances.
However, the harmonic chord accompaniment of these early instruments was not in the foreground, but the melody playing across both manuals.
Right manual tone assignment
With only 5 keys on each side, there is already a different way of playing the manuals:
On the right side, the following tone is heard on one key by changing from pull to press, and to the next key by changing from push to pull. On the left manual it is the other way around in both cases.
The individual notes are played on both sides in the same bellows direction, whether the same follow-up note is played on the same key or the next one is the opposite:
At the step from the root note d2 to the following note e2, a key change takes place. On the left manual from d1 to e1, however, this is not the case, and so on.
Top view
With the 10 keys of this Konzertina, 19 different tones (reeds) can be played (the note a is double). The bisonoric construction enables a large number of tones with minimal material and construction effort.
A unisonoric instrument requires twice the number of reeds for 19 tones - 28 pieces, two per tone, and 19 keys instead of 10 with additional mechanics.
The bisonoric construction with a small number of tones offers considerable cost advantages compared to the unisonoric construction. However, these disappear with each note that is doubled in order to be able to play it in both bellows directions.
