The Wheatstone English concertina was enormously popular in Victorian England. Developed around 1830 by the physicist Sir Charles Wheatstone, the instrument quickly found a home on the leading concert stage and in upper-class salons. It attracted such composers as Macfarren, Benedict, Barnett, and molique, who supplied its repertory with concertos, sonatas, character pieces, and chamber works. It two great virtuosos, Giulio Regondi and Richard Blagrove, drew the
plaudits of audiences, and critics alike.

This is the first comprehensive book about the instrument, its players, audiences, and reception. An appendix contains an edition of five pieces for the instrument.