BANDONEÓN
HISTORY OF BANDONEON
Despite its over century-old history, the Bandoneόn was able to establish itself only recently in the musical ‘cultivated’ world, ranking among the noble classical instruments. The increasing presence of the bandoneόn in theatres, auditoriums and great concert halls has been contributing to broaden the interest of cultural organizations and of the audience towards this specific musical instrument.
Designed in Germany in the mid-1800s by Heinrich Band, the bandoneόn was conceived for the purpose of obtaining a portable instrument whose sound would recall that of small organs, designed to perform sacred music and accompany chants during religious processions.
PHYSICS AND MECHANICS
The bandoneόn belongs to the family of free reeds and its mechanics is based on a few fundamentals:
- buttons or keys
- levers
- reeds
- bellows
- valve.
On both sides, left and right, keys are arranged to form two keyboards, connected by bellows that can reach the remarkable width of about one metre.
The instrument has got 38 buttons for the medium-high register (right keyboard) and 33 buttons for the medium-deep register (left keyboard), its overall sound range covering about 5 octaves.