Fw: water closet accordionists

[Helen Winkler <winklerh...>]

Just to explain, I'm posting for Josh because he is in the process of
resubscribing to the list and is awaiting approval in order to post to the
list directly.  He still has access to his e-mail, horowitz (at) 
budowitz(dot)com
Below is Josh Horowitz's response to the posting:

> In the interests of total disclosure : Grigori Matusevitch played the
> English Concertina not the Accordion.

Concertina, shmoncertina, what's the difference? Actually Allan is almost
totally correct, and I stand almost totally corrected. Matusewitch (his name
has many spellings, so don't get started on me there, or we'll have to
switch over to cyrillic) played many models of keyed and buttoned
instruments, the main one being the English concertina, as Allan pointed
out.

In one photo from Russia 1909 (courtesy of Eric Matusewitch, Grigori's
incredibly nice and informative grandson) Grigori is featured amid a pyramid
of instruments, including a two-row "bayan" and what seems to be Vyatskaya
accordions as well (keyed instruments, not concertinas). He loved to finish
off his programs with virtuosic ditties on a tiny accordion, which he would
take out of his pocket to surprise the audience.

Here is his brief biography...Grigori Matusewitch (b. August 15, 1886 Minsk,
d. July 28, 1939 New York). Grigori was one of the nine sons of Hyman
Matusevicz, who owned a large house-furnishing shop in Belorussia, and
studied violin as a child with a private teacher in Minsk. Whilst a teenager
he happened upon Mulka, an inebriated Tartar who appeared in Minsk playing
the English concertina. Matusewitch was so fascinated by the instrument that
he bought Mulka a bottle of Vodka, to which the drunk replied by handing
over his concertina in gratitude. Matusewitch taught himself to play the
instrument and developed a rich career, which included playing for the
Czar¹s family. In 1920 Matusewitch moved with his family to the free city of
Danzig, Germany, where he gave frequent concerts and was able to obtain a
League of Nations passport, which enabled him to concertize on both sides of
the Atlantic till 1923.

Although only three recordings of Matusewitch¹s Yiddish style concertina
playing exist,  he deserves to be considered as one of the finest of the
early Yiddish music Oaccordionists¹. He was primarily a classical
concertinist, but enjoyed playing folk music and delighted his audience by
including some in almost every program.
www.budowitz.com


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