Arvid Franzen (1899–1961) was a Swedish-born accordionist and bandleader, whose live performances and numerous recordings made him a household name in Scandinavian communities throughout the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Career

A native of

Gothenburg, Sweden Gothenburg ( ; ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gubernatorial seat of Västra Götaland County, ...

, Franzen settled in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

area and fronted a large ensemble that performed on stage and at dances and social events for over four decades until his death in 1961.''Nikolina: early Scandinavian bands and entertainers'' (Minneapolis: Banjar Records, 1983). Accordion pioneer

Pietro Frosini Pietro Frosini (9 August 1885 – 2 September 1951) professionally known mononymously as Frosini, was an Italian vaudeville performer, musician, and composer. Based in the United States, he was one of the first famous "stars of the accordion." B ...

played many concerts with Franzen and as a token of his esteem gave him an autographed photo with the following inscription: "To my 'old pal' Franzen with my greatest admiration for his efforts to place the accordion before the public in an artistic manner."

Recordings

Franzen's first recordings were made in 1919, and over the years his music was released on the Colonial, Columbia, Scandinavian, Standard and Victor labels. Many of the records featured two accordions, and his long list of duet partners included Eric Berg, Walter Eriksson, Harold Freeman, Ture Gadde, Einar Holt, Eddie Jahrl, John Lager and Ragnar Sundquist.''Ethnic music on records: a discography of ethnic recordings produced in the United States, 1893-1942'' by Richard K. Spottswood, (University of Illinois Press, 1990) LCCN 89-020526. Volume 5, pp. 2651-2653. Franzen also toured with accordionists Eric Olson and Ragnar Sundquist and with the comedian

Hjalmar Peterson Hjalmar Peterson (7 February 1886 – 24 June 1960) was a singer and comedian from Sweden, who achieved great popularity during the 1910s and 1920s. His stage name was Olle i Skratthult (Olle from Laughtersville). Life Career Hjalmar Pete ...

. Between 1927 and 1929 the

Hjalmar Peterson Orchestra Hjalmar Peterson (7 February 1886 – 24 June 1960) was a singer and comedian from Sweden, who achieved great popularity during the 1910s and 1920s. His stage name was Olle i Skratthult (Olle from Laughtersville). Life Career Hjalmar Pete ...

released eighteen instrumental tracks on

Victor Records The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

. Peterson's own band did not appear on the records, which were made by studio musicians in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Among the session players were country music singer

Carson Robison Carson Jay Robison ( – ) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although his impact is generally forgotten today, he played a major role in promoting country music in its early years through numerous recordings and radio appear ...

on guitar and Arvid Franzen on accordion. In 1929 Franzen played on six

recordings and on six

recordings. The same year he was a guest artist with

Peterson's Peterson's is an American company that has print and digital products and services, including test preparation, memory retention techniques, and financial aid and scholarship searches. Peterson's is currently headquartered in Denver, Colorado. ...

traveling company of singers, dancers and musicians on a tour of the

Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a northern subregion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed upon, the region is usually defined to include the states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wi ...

. The newspaper in

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wrote of an upcoming visit by "Arvid Franzen, the celebrated accordion artist, whose Victor and Columbia records are found in tens of thousands of

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n homes." Fifty years after his death Franzen's recordings are still sold by vintage music stores and online retailers. They can also be found at video-sharing websites and other digital archives. In 2011 the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

opened its National Jukebox website with streaming audio for fourteen songs by Arvid Franzen.National Jukebox
''loc.gov''. Retrieved July 7, 2013.

Gallery

File:Arvid Franzen.jpg, Arvid Franzen in Victor catalog File:PietroFrosini21YearsOld.jpg, Pietro Frosini 1906 File:OlleGustavNyberg1919.jpg, L to R: Gustav Nyberg and Olle i Skratthult 1916 File:Ragnar sundquist.jpg, Ragnar Sundquist 1920

References

External links

Book excerpt
''A Passion for Polka''
at the

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

.
Eddie Jahrl in a ''A Passion for Polka''
Historic American Newspapers
Arvid Franzen
Image files
Photo inscribed by Pietro Frosini to Arvid FranzenArvid Franzen and Walter Eriksson
Discographies
Arvid Franzen
on

.
Franzen-Holt Instrumental Quartet
on

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Eric Berg
on

.
Einar Holt
on

.
Eddie Jahrl
on

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Eric Olson
on

. Swedish music and film
Arvid Franzen

Streaming audio at the Library of Congress
Arvid FranzenEric BergJohn Lager
Streaming audio at the Internet Archive
Arvid FranzenScandinavian old-time

On tour with Olle i Skratthult
Video *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Franzen, Arvid 1961 deaths American accordionists American bandleaders Columbia Records artists Musicians from Gothenburg Swedish accordionists Swedish emigrants to the United States Swedish-American culture in New York (state) Victor Records artists 1899 births 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century accordionists