Carl Friedrich Uhlig (1789–1874) was a German luthier, known for inventing the German family of

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

s, from which are descended variants such as the

Anglo concertina The Anglo or Anglo-German concertina is a member of the concertina family of free-reed instruments. History The Anglo originated as a hybrid between the English and German concertinas. The button layouts are generally the same as the original 2 ...

bandoneón The bandoneon (or bandonion, es, bandoneón) is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, the bandoneon is held ...

Carlsfelder concertina The Carlsfelder concertina (german: Carlsfelder konzertina) is a member of the German concertina family developed by Carl F. Zimmerman, based on the earlier Chemnitzer concertina of Carl Friedrich Uhlig. Zimmerman, a native of Carsfeld, Saxony, un ...

, and

Chemnitzer concertina A Chemnitzer concertina is a musical instrument of the hand-held bellows-driven free-reed category, sometimes called '' squeezeboxes''. The Chemnitzer concertina is most closely related to the bandoneón (German spelling: ''Bandonion''), mor ...

. Uhlig produced his first concertina in 1834, being dissatisfied with the early accordion keyboard developed by Cyrill Demian. Uhlig took the right-handed keyboard of Demian, and split it between the two hands, resulting in an instrument which had two separate keyboards producing individual notes. While Uhlig's development of the concertina is very parallel to that of

Charles Wheatstone Sir Charles Wheatstone FRS FRSE DCL LLD (6 February 1802 – 19 October 1875), was an English scientist and inventor of many scientific breakthroughs of the Victorian era, including the English concertina, the stereoscope (a device for di ...

, the founder of the English family of concertinas, there is no definite indication they were aware of each other's work.

References

External links

''Bandoneon - Fra bergmannspel til tangosjel -- Bandoneon – from miner’s squeezebox to tango soul''
Bergen Museum
''An Annotated Catalogue of Historic European Free-Reed Instruments from my Private Collection''
Stephen Chambers, Concertina.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Uhlig, Carl Friedrich Concertina makers Inventors of musical instruments 19th-century German inventors 1789 births 1874 deaths Businesspeople from Saxony