Pietro Frosini
Pietro Frosini (9 August 1885 – 2 September 1951) was one of the first famous "stars of the accordion." He was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1885 and began to play the chromatic button accordion at the age of six. In 1905 he emigrated to San Francisco and was discovered by a talent scout for the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit. Frosini made one of the first accordion recordings on a cylinder record for Edison in 1907 and made his first Victor recording in 1908. He traveled extensively on the vaudeville circuit in America and abroad and even performed for the King of England. On the vaudeville circuit, Frosini met and became friends with another great accordionist, Guido Deiro. After seeing the great success Deiro had with his audiences, Frosini adopted some of Deiro's methods: (1) he began playing popular music along with classical and operatic selections, and (2) he pasted a dummy piano accordion keyboard over his buttons, as audiences wanted to hear the more novel and unfamiliar piano accordion. Frosini gave up vaudeville in 1932 when the "talkies" closed most vaudeville companies; he then became a staff accordionist for WOR radio in New York, a position he held until his death in 1951. Throughout his career, he performed, taught, composed and arranged music for the accordion. He wrote more than 200 original compositions for the instrument. Today there is a "Frosini Society" based in Sweden which was established in 1984 by Swedish accordionist Lars Ek. |
Birth and Death Data: Born August 9, 1885 (Mascalucia), Died September 29, 1951 (Woodside)
Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1909 - 1934
Roles Represented in DAHR: accordion, composer, arranger, concertina
= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.
Recordings (Results 51-62 of 62 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Edison | 7398 | 10-in. | 6/10/1920 | Valse caprice, no. 1 | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion, composer | |
Edison | 7404 | 10-in. | 6/1/1920 | The four jacks march | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Edison | 7405 | 10-in. | 6/10/1920 | Medley of old time tunes | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with orchestra | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Edison | 8076 | 10-in. | 6/17/1921 | Just because | Earl Fuller's New York Orchestra | Jazz/dance band | composer | |
Edison | 12034 | 12-in. | Apr. 1927 | Italian fantasia | John F. Burckhardt ; Pietro Frosini ; Imperial Marimba Band ; United States Marine Band ; Fred Van Eps ; Rudy Wiedoeft | LP compilation : Instrumental | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Edison | 12040 | 12-in. | May 1927 | A ragtime episode | John F. Burckhardt ; Pietro Frosini ; Imperial Marimba Band ; United States Marine Band ; Fred Van Eps ; Rudy Wiedoeft | LP compilation : Instrumental | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Decca | 38709 | 10-in. | 9/22/1934 | Carnival of Venice | Pietro Frosini | instrumentalist, accordion | ||
Decca | 38710 | 10-in. | 9/22/1934 | Valse chromatique | Pietro Frosini | instrumentalist, accordion | ||
Decca | 38711 | 10-in. | 9/22/1934 | Accordionmania | Pietro Frosini | instrumentalist, accordion | ||
Decca | 38712 | 10-in. | 9/22/1934 | Hot fingers | Pietro Frosini | instrumentalist, accordion | ||
Decca | 38713 | 10-in. | 9/22/1934 | Cardinella | Pietro Frosini | instrumentalist, accordion | ||
Decca | 38714 | 10-in. | 9/22/1934 | Bubbles | Pietro Frosini | instrumentalist, accordion |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Frosini, Pietro," accessed November 1, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281.
Frosini, Pietro. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 1, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281.
"Frosini, Pietro." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 1 November 2024.
DAHR Persistent Identifier
External Sources
Wikipedia: Pietro Frosini
Linked Open Data Sources
LCNAR: Frosini, Pietro, 1885-1951 - http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2004003826
Wikidata: Pietro Frosini - http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2756232
VIAF: http://viaf.org/viaf/70147245
MusicBrainz: Pietro Frosini - https://musicbrainz.org/artist/15157771-d60c-4b0a-903c-f960cd47604f
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