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 1-25 of 62 records)
Company | Matrix No. | Size | First Recording Date | Title | Primary Performer | Description | Role | Audio |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Victor | B-8357 | 10-in. | 11/5/1909 | Amoureuse waltz | Pietro Frosini | Concertina solo | instrumentalist, concertina | |
Victor | C-8776 | 12-in. | 4/15/1910 | Poet and peasant overture | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8776 | 10-in. | 4/1/1910 | Poet and peasant overture | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | C-8777 | 12-in. | 4/1/1910 | The wedding of the winds | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8778 | 10-in. | 4/15/1910 | Spring flowers waltz | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | C-8779 | 12-in. | 4/1/1910 | Hungarian fantasy | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8780 | 10-in. | 4/15/1910 | An operatic 'rag' | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | C-8805 | 12-in. | 4/7/1910 | The 4th of July parade | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8806 | 10-in. | 4/7/1910 | Echoes from Naples | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | C-8807 | 12-in. | 4/7/1910 | Love's remembrance waltz | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8808 | 10-in. | 4/7/1910 | Through the park | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8809 | 10-in. | 4/7/1910 | An aristocratic coon | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | B-8855 | 10-in. | 4/15/1910 | Naila intermezzo | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | C-8856 | 12-in. | 4/15/1910 | Waltz caprice | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-43920 | 10-in. | 4/26/1928 | Aida | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | arranger, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-43921 | 10-in. | 4/26/1928 | Silver moon | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-43922 | 10-in. | 4/26/1928 | Vision of love | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-43923 | 10-in. | 4/26/1928 | Beautiful heaven | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | arranger, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-47707 | 10-in. | 10/5/1928 | Carmen | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | arranger, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-47708 | 10-in. | 10/5/1928 | Fior d'oliva | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | arranger, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-47709 | 10-in. | 10/5/1928 | Serenata primaverile | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-47710 | 10-in. | 10/5/1928 | Coquette | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with banjo | instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-57157 | 10-in. | 11/20/1929 | Dizzy accordion | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with piano | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-57158 | 10-in. | 11/20/1929 | Mazurka italiana | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with piano | composer, instrumentalist, accordion | |
Victor | BVE-57159 | 10-in. | 11/20/1929 | Fragrant flowers | Pietro Frosini | Accordion solo, with piano | composer, instrumentalist, accordion |
Citation
Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Frosini, Pietro," accessed November 21, 2024, https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281.
Frosini, Pietro. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved November 21, 2024, from https://adpprod1.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281.
"Frosini, Pietro." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 21 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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