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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 B-8776 10-in. 4/1/1910 Poet and peasant overture Pietro Frosini Accordion solo instrumentalist, accordion  
Victor C-8776 12-in. 4/15/1910 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 instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
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 instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
Victor C-8805 12-in. 4/7/1910 The 4th of July parade Pietro Frosini Accordion solo instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
Victor B-8806 10-in. 4/7/1910 Echoes from Naples Pietro Frosini Accordion solo instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
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 instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
Victor B-8809 10-in. 4/7/1910 An aristocratic coon Pietro Frosini Accordion solo instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
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 instrumentalist, accordion, arranger  
Victor BVE-43921 10-in. 4/26/1928 Silver moon Pietro Frosini Accordion solo, with banjo instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
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 instrumentalist, accordion, arranger  
Victor BVE-47707 10-in. 10/5/1928 Carmen Pietro Frosini Accordion solo, with banjo instrumentalist, accordion, arranger  
Victor BVE-47708 10-in. 10/5/1928 Fior d'oliva Pietro Frosini Accordion solo, with banjo instrumentalist, accordion, arranger  
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 instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
Victor BVE-57158 10-in. 11/20/1929 Mazurka italiana Pietro Frosini Accordion solo, with piano instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
Victor BVE-57159 10-in. 11/20/1929 Fragrant flowers Pietro Frosini Accordion solo, with piano instrumentalist, accordion, composer  
(Results 1-25 of 62 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Frosini, Pietro," accessed March 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281.

Frosini, Pietro. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281.

"Frosini, Pietro." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/112281

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