Playing the Petersburg accordion in the North East of Aukštaitija
The Petersburg accordion, also called pete(r)bur(g)ska, petaburska, piterska, trieila, pataburska, petrogradska, is a keyboard, free-reed, German tuning instrument, which production started in the 1880s in Saint Petersburg. It had spread in Lithuania in the beginning of the 20th century. Each button plays different note depending if the bellows are being expanded or compressed. In the post-war period and in recent decades the instrument spread to the North East of Aukštaitija: Zarasai, Utena, Molėtai, Ignalina, Švenčionys, Anykščiai, Ukmergė, Širvintos, a bit less in Rokiškis and Kupiškis. Accordion makers and musicians used to make, repair and improve their two and three rows diatonic instruments and also play them. A great achievement of the long-year craft mastery was creation of a Lithuanian variant of three-row three-voiced accordion. Lithuanians preferred Petersburg accordions to their forerunners – Viennese accordions – for its beautiful sound and decorative exterior.
The ethnographic records compiled from the second half of the 20th century testify that in the interwar period the Petersburg accordion used to be the major instrument at outings, get-togethers, weddings, christenings, calendar festivals, rites in the North East of Aukštaitija. It could be a solo instrument, but most often the accordion was played along the ensemble of the violin, the clarinet and the drum, eventually becoming the leading instrument. Playing the Petersburg accordion has its unique style characterised by rich accord consonances, their harmonic interchange, distinctive ornamentation of melodic line and rhythm.
The Petersburg accordion has survived by the virtue of bright and brilliant musicians who have been intensively and skilfully performing at various events promoting the tradition. Currently there are around 50 musicians playing the instrument, the number expands gradually thanks to field work, events, dissemination of training materials and the growing interest of the society in the revived tradition.
Submitter – Utena Regional Museum, 2018
Custodians – musicians of the North East of Aukštaitija