30) The implantation of the accordion in Quebec: from the origins to the 1950

Today, in Quebec, the button and the chromatic accordions are very popular instruments, so much that, since 1989, there is an annual accordion festival in the city of Montmagny. It is because of this festival that an accordion economuseum was established in this same city, the only one of its kind in the province or elsewhere in Canada. In the last thirty years, a number of accordion makers have opened shop in practically all sectors of the province. The first of them all was Marcel Messervier from Montmagny, whose father, Joseph, had also repaired accordions, followed by Gilles Paré of Trois-Rivières, Marcel Desgagnés of Jonquières, Robert Boutet of Saint-Christine-de-Portneuf, Réjean Simard of Chute-aux Outardes, Sylvain Vézian and Raynald Ouellet of Montmagny, Clément Breton of St-Étienne-de-lauzon, Raymond Simard of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, to name but a few. Paradoxically, little is known of the history of the implantation of the accordion in Quebec, and no research had been done on the question until the Carrefour mondial de l'accordéon of Montmagny asked me to look into the suject. This article presents the analysis of this research which was done in the first part of 1997.

The romantic accordion

The first traces of the accordion in Québec can be found in the account books at the convent of the Ursulines, who ran a boarding school in Québec City. The purchase of an acordia for 3£ is noted in November 1848, only twelve years after the invention of the Demian accordion, also known as the romantic accordion . The account books for the following years tell us that between 1846 and 1858, the Ursulines purchased five more accordions: two in 1846, which had to be repaired the following year, one in 1849, another in 1851 and the last in 1858. During this time, they also bought two concertinas. The Ursulines were using the accordion for teaching music to their students, as music lessons were an important part of their curriculum and a source of income for the religious community. The sources tell us that in 1847, the nuns were also teaching the organ, the harp, the piano and the guitar. Parents had to pay for the use of the instrument as well as pay for the lessons, at a cost of 11$ (3£ sterling) for accordion lessons .

Of the six accordions purchased, three are still in the possession of the Ursulines of Quebec. Finely crafted, they must have been beautiful to look at when they were new. These bi-tonal romantic accordions are of European make. One bears the label of the London maker, Keith Prowse & Co. and is made of linden and pine, veneered with rosewood, and inlayed with holly and different variety of rosewood than that of the veneer. The keys and the clappets are covered with mother-of-pearl, while the bellows are made of leather and painted paper . The instrument ressembles that made by the Parisian maker, Reisner, who travelled about in the 1840's. It has a right hand keyboard with two rows of twelve buttons each, two chord rockers and a base for the left hand which includes a valve for air control . The second accordion carries the Wender label, a French maker who was manufacturing the instruments in Paris from 1840 to 1850. As for the former instrument, it also has a right-hand keyboard with two rows of twelve buttons each. It does not have any chord rockers, but the left hand base has a 10 button keyboard on which chords were probably played. The third accordion is similar to the first with two chord rockers near the air valve, and although the instrument may be of French make, there is no label of origin to prove this so. However, given the position of the chord rockers (on the left side) all seems to indicate that it was made around 1850.

Another accordion of this type can also be found at the Trois-Rivières convent of the Ursulines. Although there is no available documentation concerning the origins of these instruments at that location, they seem to be from the same time period as those of the Quebec City establishment. One of the models was purchased in Montreal and a small label inside the bellows indicates it came from "Seebold Bro's, Music Warehouse, 221, Notre-Dame St., Montréal . The Musée de la civilisation de Québec also has in its collection two models, one very similar to those owned by the Ursulines of Quebec City. However the instrument in question has two chord rockers on the right hand side and two others on the left which could be bass notes. The make of this accordion is unknown, but as for the aforementioned instruments, it is a two tone instrument with a right-hand keyboard with two 12 button rows. The outside row is in A major, and the inside row consists of all the accidentals corresponding to this key. The system would permit the musician who mastered the "push-pull" mechanism to play in every possible pitch of the key. As shown in the following tablatura, the first note of the scale was played by "pulling" on the second outside button (A); this accordion had a chromatic scale of three octets.( Fig. 1: Accordion n°92-607, Coll. Musée de la civilisation, Photo: Yves Le Guevel)

The second model in the Musée de la civilisation's collection is a most interesting case dating from the romantic period and proves that the chromatic accordion was made since the mid-19th century. This is a chromatic instrument. It has 22 piano style keys of ivory and 15 in ebony, giving it a chromatic spread of two and a half octets, given that the first C also corresponds to the fifth ivory key. This instrument bears an inscription over the keyboard: Brevêté S.G.D.G., Médaille d'or (Gold medal winner) and is a double reed accordion . Above and below the keyboard are two small pulls, each of which stills the reeds on one register while the air passes through the opposing one. The reeds are brass and there are five pleats in the bellows which are made of cardboard, covered with a dark green printed paper with black leather binding. The left hand base does not have rockers or chord buttons and is simply a handle. The sound passes through sound holes in the sound box. There is a identical instrument in the International Museum at Castelfidardo in Italy, and which is identified as being a harmoniflûte of French make, dating form 1853 and of which the inventor is thought to be Busson . Given the uncertainly of the name, it is possible that the maker may have been Philippe-Joseph Bouton who was the first to adapt the piano keyboard to the accordion.

B) Distribution of the romantic accordion (Fig. 2: Accordion n° 42046, Musée de la civilisation, Photo Yves Le Guevel) After lengthy research on this subject, it seems that Quebec City was the original center of distribution for the accordion in the province of Quebec. The local music stores and repair shops, and even general stores sold European products. Advertising in the newspapers of the day show the presence of establishments which sold accordions, such as the ad placed by Joseph Lyonnais, Quebec City's first instrument maker. Informing his clients that he had moved from the Saint-Roch neighbourhood to 34 rue des Prairies, he also mentioned that he made violins and repaired accordions .

The Lyonnais business was a family affair, and after working with his father until in 1860, Roch Lyonnais opened a shop in Saint-Roch. An ad published in the Journal de Saint-Roch in December 1874 notes that as well as repairing various musical instruments, he also repaired concertinas . It is probable that the two accordions purchased by the Ursulines in 1846 had been repaired by Joseph Lyonnais in 1847. A year before his death, Lyonnais also repaired the harmoniflute accordion, as did his son, Roch, as their labels are found within the instrument, one on the reed bed and the other on the bellows panel.

As did other musicians of his time, Roch Lyonnais was an innovator; this is confirmed by journalist Nazaire Levasseur who wrote that Roch Lyonnais made the first accordion in Canada. He invented and made, in 1855, a Begarina, an instrument with free-reeds, with a scale of two octets with chords in G major and C major . Although he was probably the first accordion maker in Quebec, it is impossible to prove it at this time.

It was also possible to purchase accordions and concertinas from other music stores and other businesses. The arrival of new shipments from Europe were publicized such as that of a variety of articles from Paris which had been shipped on the Clarissa arriving from Bordeaux: mother-of-pearl articles, accordions and flutes, wallets, cigar cases ... Similarly, in 1875, accordions were also sold by a merchant in Saint-Roch, and in 1879, there was a music store in Sainte-Foy which also dealt in the instrument.

Modernisation and popularization of the instrument

After 1880, catalogue shopping became possible, making it possible for even for buyers living in the hinterlands of Canada to have access to merchandize. Accordions, especially the Kalbe and Imperial makes were available to the North American market. In 1895, the American catalogue company, Montgomery-Ward sold a large variety of Kalbe, imported from the factory in Berlin, and selling from two to nine dollars. These were especially one row accordions with ten buttons, two basses, and two, three or four registers, but also two row accordions with nine or ten buttons to a row, and four basses and two registers.

The Kalbe accordions were being sold as of 1890, and in 1892, they are found alongside another German brand, the Moritz in the fall Eaton catalogue from Toronto. Priced varied between $1.10 and $5.75. As this was the most popular and widely-circulated catalogue in Canada, a study of its pages between 1892 and 1950 tells a great deal on what types of accordions were then available throughout the country.

As of 1897, an Ideal accordion is sold in the catalogue. In 1901, a method book for playing the accordion and the concertina is available throught the catalogue, Winner's Canadian Method for German Accordions and Winner's Canadian Method for German Concertina's. At 30 cents apiece, they were sold until 1912. In 1902, the German made Ludwig "Pine Tree" was featured in the catalogue, and in the fall of 1905, Hohner accordions made their appearance as well, two years after this company began manufacturing the instruments. Two models were present, the "German" type with registers and the "Italian" model without registers. From 1907 to 1915, only Hohner's were available in the catalogue, and in 1910, a diatonic two row button accordion became available for the first time. It was the fall of 1925 before Eaton's sold a 3 row button accordion with 16 basses.

During the wartime years, as of 1916, the Hohner accordions were boycotted, and they are not seen in the catalogue until 1924. From 1916 until 1918, Eaton's sold Swiss made accordions. However, from the spring of 1918 to the winter of 1921, there are no accordions at all in the catalogue. From 1922 to 1925, the Czechoslovakian Invicta accordians appear, while the first piano-accordion is sold through the autumn-winter catalogue of 1926-1927. Although no company name was given in this case, it was a 31 key accordion with a left-hand 16 bass-note keyboard. After 1926, the Italian accordions are sold alongside the Hohner's. In 1929, a Hohner piano-accordion with 25 piano keys and 12 basses appears for the first time. In 1935, Eaton's is selling a Minerva piano accordion with 120 basses. By 1939, several Italian brands are available, namely the Suprema, the Superba and the Donizetti. During the Second World War, the Hohner accordions were once again boycotted, and this until 1949. No accordions are sold between 1941 to 1947, when in the fall catalogue a diatonical Invicta appears, as well as the Italian chromatic piano accordions, Serenilli, Maggi and the Swiss-made Schwaller.

IV, The origins of the Quebec-made accordion As we have previously seen, the 10 button, one row diatonical accordion of German make was the popular instrument of the 1890s. This model was to inspire makers in Quebec who began to make the instruments for their own use and began to sell them as well. To this day, this tradition of small home production continues. There are no accordion factories in Quebec. (Fig. 3: M. Gagné in his shop, circa 1930)

It seems that the first accordion which was made in Quebec was made in the Saint-Sauveur neighbourhood of Quebec City, in 1895, by Odilon Gagné, born in 1852, and who was a pioneer of the fabrication of the instrument in the province. From a working class family, Odilon Gagné was a cabinet maker and a skilled musician. He opened a cabinet shop during the 1870s and began making furniture and pianos, which he sold alongside harmoniums. As a musician, who was also the son of a musician, he began making accordions in 1895. Beginning from scratch, he made his own tools, the molds for the reeds, as well as his own chrome buttons for the keeyboards, as well as learn to use the materials such as cardboard, canvas and leather, the main components of the accordion bellows. By 1916, year of his death, he had made at least 150 accordions. Although his accordions were proudly displayed in his showcases, he also sold Hohner and Ludwig "sapins", as this "Pine Tree" model was known in Quebec.

Odilon Gagné's two sons, Philias and Wilfrid, also musicians, continued the family business after their father's death, renaming the enterprise la Maison Gagné et Frères in 1917. They made the same model their father had designed, a one row accordion with 10 buttons, with two sets of reeds and two bass notes. The accordions were made of pine and cherry, using lead and steel, sheep and goat leather, as well as a double layer of paper lined cardboard for the bellows. They kept abreast of the latest trends in music and, since the 1920s, have always had an attractive selction of harmoniums, saxophones, guitars, trumpets, clarinettes, mandolins, violins, harmonicas and piano accordions in their store. The accordionists Théodore Duguay, Joseph Guillemette, Louis Fontaine, Gérard Lajoie, Lévis Beaulieu, to name but a few, played on Gagné accordions between 1920 and 1950. (Fig.4: Gagné accordions made between 1910 and 1910)

Wilfrid and Philias Gagné never married, and the former died in 1950 and the latter in 1957. But they had put some thought into the future of their business and they groomed a nephew, Paul-André Gagné to take over the shop. Born in 1925, the boy, who was raised as if he was their own, was playing a Ludwig by the time he was five. When Paul-André took over the business from Wilfrid, he expanded the shop, and after Philias' death, he was left alone to manage the enterprise. He continued making the same style of accordion as his uncles until he retired in 1994. Meanwhile, one of his sons, Richard Gagné had learned to make and repair accordions, and he took over the management of the business in 1980, further expanding the shop, opening a music school on the second floor of the building, and began selling popular instruments such as electric guitars, drum kits, synthetizers and the like. But Gagné accordions are still being made and sold in the shop alongside Hohners and Saltarelles.

by Yves Le Guével.

Notes
1. Collection Archives des Ursulines du Québec [CAUQ], Livre des dépenses, N° 10, 1 avril au 30 novembre 1843.
2. CAUQ, Prospectus, Objets d'enseignement, 1847.
3. CAUQ, decription of the object, from the Ursuline museum.
4. Although the inside row seems to have 11 buttons, there are actually twelve as the seventh button is a bit larger and is split into two buttons.
5. Collection Musée des Ursulines de Trois-Rivières, N° 1195-1033.
6. S.G.D.G [Sans garantie du gouvernement (with no garantee from the government)].
7. Zeilo Frati, Beniamino Bugiolacchi e Marco Moroni, Castelfidardo e la storia della fisarmonica, Castelfidardo, 1988, p. 70.
8. L'Artisan, Québec, vendredi 24 mai 1844.