This is a one-row, five-voice accordion with two bells. The body is trimmed with two faux mother-of-pearl blue-green plastic pieces and the ends include two keyboards. The right side has twelve buttons and a leather strap for the thumb. The left side has a strap and three buttons: one for the bass and two for ringing the bells. Behind the left keyboard there is an air valve decorated with a metal lining in the shape of a lyre. The bellows are made of genuine leather, cardboard, red satin and dermatin. The centre of the bellows includes a decorative strip of white metal. The accordion is decorated with slotted metal corners and overlays, as well as carved wooden ornaments shaped like lyres and acanthus leaves, and carved strips of wood.
This accordion was given to Konstantin Fedin in Moscow in 1967 for his 75th birthday by First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR Alexei Shibaev at a celebration in Moscow, when the author was awarded the title of ‘Honorary Citizen of the City of Saratov, ” his native city. Fedin had a long relationship with the city. He travelled there frequently, participated in the literary and public life of the city, and lent a helping hand to the Saratov Writers’ Organization whenever he could. Fedin played a crucial role in the decision to base the editorial offices of the Volga region’s thick literary journal, Volga, in Saratov in 1966. The writer kept a keen eye on the city’s development. In his works, he turned time and again to the image of his native city and its unique features. One of these features was the Saratovskaya garmonika (Saratov Accordion).
Fedin’s novel Early Joys and his short story “Silence” both contain the riveting sounds of Saratovskaya garmonika with bells. The short story “Accordion” from 1944 begins with a description of a holiday in a village on the banks of the Volga River, where the accordion is the main participant and a symbol of the holiday: “The ringing and boisterous cries of the accordion echo from the oak grove through the ravine, and it seems that the whole village is playing scales on Saratov squeezeboxes''.
This accordion was given to Konstantin Fedin in Moscow in 1967 for his 75th birthday by First Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the USSR Alexei Shibaev at a celebration in Moscow, when the author was awarded the title of ‘Honorary Citizen of the City of Saratov, ” his native city. Fedin had a long relationship with the city. He travelled there frequently, participated in the literary and public life of the city, and lent a helping hand to the Saratov Writers’ Organization whenever he could. Fedin played a crucial role in the decision to base the editorial offices of the Volga region’s thick literary journal, Volga, in Saratov in 1966. The writer kept a keen eye on the city’s development. In his works, he turned time and again to the image of his native city and its unique features. One of these features was the Saratovskaya garmonika (Saratov Accordion).
Fedin’s novel Early Joys and his short story “Silence” both contain the riveting sounds of Saratovskaya garmonika with bells. The short story “Accordion” from 1944 begins with a description of a holiday in a village on the banks of the Volga River, where the accordion is the main participant and a symbol of the holiday: “The ringing and boisterous cries of the accordion echo from the oak grove through the ravine, and it seems that the whole village is playing scales on Saratov squeezeboxes''.
