HISTORY OF HARMONIUM: AN OVERVIEW

The accordion and concertina early on became associated with the folk tradition and lost favor among classical music lovers. However, not all free-reed instruments lost popularity. The harmonium is said to have been invented in 1842 by the Frenchman, Alexandre Debain, although its prototype, Kirsnik's Harmonica, appeared more than fifty years earlier. By the second half of the nineteenth century the harmonium had evolved into a sophisticated instrument. The bellows were pumped by two foot pedals and the more expensive models had two keyboard manuals (each encompassing a range of five octaves) with up to thirteen stops (ranging from a sixteen foot Bourdon to a two foot Harpe eolienne), including tremolo and one or two knee-pedals to control volume. It was a popular instrument for churches which could not afford a pipe organ. In addition, it was favored for home music-making alongside the piano and in the cinema as a means of musical illustration in the era before sound films. Many nineteenth-century composers wrote serious music for the harmonium.