{"id":742,"date":"2026-06-10T18:52:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/?page_id=742"},"modified":"2026-06-13T11:42:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T09:42:41","slug":"the-concertina-an-instrument-from-chemnitz","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/en\/the-concertina-an-instrument-from-chemnitz\/","title":{"rendered":"The Concertina \u2013 an Instrument from Chemnitz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15-19-J-de-Caro-La-Rayuela.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concertina is a true original from Chemnitz \u2013 invented in 1834 by Carl Friedrich Uhlig and, to this day, a prime example of Saxon ingenuity. At the time, Uhlig presented his \u201caccordion of a new kind\u201d rather modestly in an advertisement for his instrument business. From his workshop, which was located near what is now the Karl Marx Monument, the instrument quickly began its journey around the world. Via the Ore Mountains and the Vogtland musical region, it soon spread far beyond \u2013 reaching as far as South Africa and Argentina. Sounds surprising, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concertina works in a similar way to an accordion: a bellows produces sound when it is pulled apart and pushed together. Unlike the accordion, however, it produces single notes rather than chords. Over time, its range expanded from an initial 10 to as many as 144 buttons. This eventually led to the development of the bandoneon \u2013 the very instrument that became the heart of tango in Buenos Aires around 1900. The fact that an invention from Chemnitz became a \u201cfavorite instrument in South America\u201d is a remarkable success story.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/signal-2025-10-07-07-18-29-453-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-826\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.5014746298533421;width:518px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/signal-2025-10-07-07-18-29-453-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/signal-2025-10-07-07-18-29-453-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/signal-2025-10-07-07-18-29-453-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/signal-2025-10-07-07-18-29-453-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/signal-2025-10-07-07-18-29-453.jpg 2024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The concertina also had many fans in Germany, especially among industrial workers in Saxony and the Ruhr region. The instrument was affordable, easy to learn, and versatile \u2013 ideal conditions for the development of its own musical culture. In the 1920s and 1930s, numerous concertina clubs experienced their heyday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the Second World War, the concertina gradually fell into obscurity in Germany, but its community of enthusiasts still exists today. The largest concertina club with roots in Chemnitz is now based in Prague, with more than 140 active members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the European Capital of Culture year 2025, the bandoneon and tango once again took center stage. Milongas invited people to dance, concerts were enriched by the sound of the bandoneon, and workshops allowed both young and old to learn the \u201cpiano of the common people.\u201d At the European Summer Philharmonic, more than 200 musicians performed tango music, celebrating a piece of Chemnitz\u2019s musical heritage that has long since made its mark on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20240704_200939147_HDR-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-827\" style=\"width:524px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20240704_200939147_HDR-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20240704_200939147_HDR-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20240704_200939147_HDR-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20240704_200939147_HDR-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_20240704_200939147_HDR-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can listen to a sample of these distinctive sounds here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/15-19-J-de-Caro-La-Rayuela.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The concertina is a true original from Chemnitz \u2013 invented in 1834 by Carl Friedrich Uhlig and, to this day, a prime example of Saxon ingenuity. At the time, Uhlig [&#8230;] <\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/en\/the-concertina-an-instrument-from-chemnitz\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8222;The Concertina \u2013 an Instrument from Chemnitz&#8220;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"class_list":["post-742","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=742"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837,"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/742\/revisions\/837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamenica-musica.de\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}