9/25/2008:
What do Abe Lincoln, “Wierd Al” Yankovic and John Lennon have in common? They all played the accordion. Among the great men who played the accordion, one North Dakota man did it exceptionally well. Carl Mathisen, dubbed Norway’s first accordion player king, was born this day in 1870.
The accordion became popular in the late 19th Century, the period known as the “pioneer days” of accordion playing. The accordion was a novel instrument at the time. The first modern-day equivalent of the accordion was invented in Germany in the early 1820s and by the 1860s the instrument was being manufactured throughout Europe. The instrument quickly spread in popularity and could be heard in dance halls from Louisiana, to Germany, to Brazil. At the turn of the century Mathisen helped popularize accordion music in Norway.
Mathisen grew up in Holmsbo, Buskerud County, Norway. The City of Holmsbo, just outside of Oslo, has a rich, musical and artistic tradition, aided by the many different people who came in and out of the port city. It was common for a young man of Holmsbo to venture into Olso for a night of music and dancing. It is through these visits to the music halls of Oslo that Mathisen gained his fame, where his novel accordion added to the violin and piano-playing entertainment.
Mathisen became a well-known figure in the Norwegian and Norwegian-American music scene. The celebrated “Mathis-Waltz” is his composition. He also played for King Oscar II, toured in America, and was the first Norwegian to make a gramophone record. The popular song “Bal I Hallingdal” or “Ball in Hallingdal” was recorded in December of 1904 with ballad singer Adolph Ostbye and went on to sell many copies. However, little was seen of Mathisen and his accordian in Norway after 1906. This is due to the fact that Mathisen, like many Norwegians of the time, had decided to move to America. News of prosperity from friends and relatives already settled in America enticed many to embark on the journey west. Mathisen with his wife and four children settled on a homestead just nine miles outside Ray, North Dakota. Upon arriving in the United States, Mathisen was required to give his profession. He stated “farmer,”not “musician,” signifying a new life. However, Mathisen continued to play, although not professionally, for his friends on the prairies.
The Ray Pioneer, December 14, 1933
Carl Mathisen Papers, ND State Archives