Stephen Foster 1850 Soiree Polka on 1864 foot pump melodeon

Artis Wodehouse plays Stephen Foster's 1850 Soiree Polka on an 1864 foot pump melodeon. The foot pump melodeon was the most popular keyboard instrument in the USA before the American Civil War. Cheaper and lighter than the then-costly piano, melodeons came in different sizes and their cases often resembled a square piano.
A melodeon sounds musical tones by metal reeds -- like an accordion -- that are powered by air forced into a bellows by the player foot pumping a single pump lever with their right foot. When the player depresses a key, air captured through pumping flows through a corresponding reed, which then vibrates and sounds the pitch.
The melodeon was invented in 1846 in the USA. Very quickly, many melodeon manufacturers arose including Treat & Davis, a firm based in New Haven, Connecticut that built Wodehouse's 1864 instrument. Wodehouse's melodeon has two sets of reeds that are activated by pulling the brass levers on either side of the keys. When two sets are pulled together, a larger, more brilliant sound can be created.
Stephen Foster (1826-1864) was perhaps the USA's most significant 19th C. composer. His many iconic, quintessentially American songs continue to be sung and performed worldwide. Soiree Polka was marketed as a piano piece, but readily adapts to the melodeon, an instrument on which it was surely played from the time of its publication in 1850.
A good shorter biography of Foster can be found from Britannica online at: www.britannica...
Wodehouse's melodeon was restored by Hans Herr of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

[@Ampico]

It is a great plasure to hear this on the melodeon, very lively and Stephen Foster is a great favorite. Thank you!

[@ArtisWodehouse]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@KeepingtheMagicAlive]

It is remarkable to hear of this instrument. I had never heard of the melodeon and I enjoyed reading your history. I'm a fan of live history, and it fascinates me to know that this is exactly what music sounded like in 1864! Thank you for posting this.

[@ArtisWodehouse]

Thanks for listening