The Carlsfelder concertina (german: Carlsfelder konzertina) is a member of the German

concertina A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It consists of expanding and contracting bellows, with buttons (or keys) usually on both ends, unlike accordion buttons, which are on the front. The ...

family developed by Carl F. Zimmerman, based on the earlier

Chemnitzer concertina A Chemnitzer concertina is a musical instrument of the hand-held bellows-driven free-reed category, sometimes called '' squeezeboxes''. The Chemnitzer concertina is most closely related to the bandoneón (German spelling: ''Bandonion''), mor ...

of Carl Friedrich Uhlig. Zimmerman, a native of Carsfeld,

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, unveiled his instrument at the 1849 Industrial Exhibition in Paris, the 1851 London Industrial Exposition, and the 1853

Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations The Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations was a World's Fair held in 1853 in what is now Bryant Park in New York City, in the wake of the highly successful 1851 Great Exhibition in London. It aimed to showcase the new industrial achievements ...

in New York. Zimmerman expanded on Uhlig's early 1- and 2-row square concertinas, developing a 3-row chromatic bisonoric instrument, eventually selling his business to instrument maker

Ernst Louis Arnold Ernst is both a surname and a given name, the German, Dutch, and Scandinavian form of Ernest. Notable people with the name include: Surname * Adolf Ernst (1832–1899) German botanist known by the author abbreviation "Ernst" * Anton Ernst (1975-) ...

and emigrating to the United States, where he later became famous for his string instrument invention, the

autoharp An autoharp or chord zither is a string instrument belonging to the zither family. It uses a series of bars individually configured to mute all strings other than those needed for the intended chord. The term ''autoharp'' was once a trademark of ...

References

{{reflist Concertina 1849 introductions