The Brothers Deiro and Their Accordions

by Henry Doktorski

The Brothers Deiro cover.

The Brothers Deiro and Their Accordions, an 85-page, 14,700-word, hardcover book by Henry Doktorski, describes in detail the fascinating lives and enduring musical accomplishments of the brothers Pietro and Guido Deiro. This important landmark work has been lauded as the first definitive and authoritative biography of the two arguably greatest piano-accordionists of the early twentieth-century. The two Italian-American brothers, Guido (1886-1950) and Pietro (1888-1954) practically single-handedly introduced and popularized the instrument to millions of people throughout North America and abroad by their vaudeville performances, recordings and published music.

The brothers were also the center of a controversy in 1935, as both claimed to be the first to play the piano-accordion in America. After examining the extensive archives of both brothers, the author has definitively solved the mystery and presented newly-discovered facts and startling conclusions.

Henry’s book is organized into two sections: (1) “The Brothers Deiro,” which describes their lives, careers and achievements, and (2) “The Deiro Brothers’ Accordions,” which describes their instruments. Part one consists of nine chapters:

Part two gives a detailed description of the two brothers’ accordions (displayed at A World of Accordions Museum in Superior, Wisconsin) built in 1917 and 1926 by the San Francisco-based Guerrini company, and includes twenty beautiful full-page (8 x 11) color photographs of the two instruments. The entire book contains 79 photographs, most in color.

Henry said, “The factual history of the two brothers Deiro might have remained forever unknown, if not for the acquisition of the substantial archives of Guido and Pietro Deiro by the Center for the Study of Free-Reed Instruments at the City University of New York. I have examined these archives and have been stunned and amazed in many ways. In my book I do not flatter the two men, but attempt to present (as much as possible) an accurate and balanced biographical history describing their accomplishments, their rich and complex personalities, their virtues and vices, and also to dispel some enduring myths about these two pioneers of the piano-accordion. My conclusions are based on source materials (newspaper clippings, recordings, etc.) in the archives, published research by scholars, as well as testimony from contemporaries who knew these two great men.”

Henry concluded, “As a musicologist and author, I am grateful for the opportunity to research and write this history of the famous brothers Deiro and their accordions, and, as a professional concert accordionist, to follow in the footsteps of those two great pioneers who served and continue to serve as inspiration for thousands of piano-accordionists throughout the world. I hope that my book will be appreciated by accordionists, musicologists, and lovers of early twentieth-century popular music.”

This book will be a truly treasured addition to the library of the discriminating accordion aficionado.

© 2005 by Henry Doktorski, revised July 2024.

Reviews

ACCORDION WORLD

    This is a fascinating book for any accordion enthusiast who has played or just admired the music of Guido and Pietro Deiro. Even the treasure trove of the accordion in America, Ronald Flynn, Edwin Davison, and Edward Chavez’s book, The Golden Age of the Accordion, does not go into much detail as does Henry Doktorski’s well-researched book.

    This book has examined very closely much that has been written about these two great accordionists and separated fact from fiction. This book is well written and, although scholarly, is easy to read and full of interesting information about the premiere accordionists in America. I can thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about these pioneers of our beloved instrument.

Peter Ayres
Uxbridge, Middlesex, England

WAIKATO ACCORDION CLUB

    Many thanks for the Deiro book which arrived today. It is very nicely done in my view and, more specifically, the writing is excellent, the layout and printing excellent and those photos are very fine! I can comment on this because in Canada I used to produce high-quality brochures and marketing communications material for my clients and wrote most of the material too.

Roger Nightingale, Secretary
Te Awamutu, New Zealand

August 4, 2024

Dear Henry,

Imagine my surprise to receive as a 90th birthday gift your wonderful book: The Brothers Deiro and Their Accordions.

I can tell you that I simply could not put it down until I had at least hurriedly read each and every page! It is wonderful to read a lot of new material about the two famous brothers, but also to read tidbits about both Guido and Pietro which I had heard several times (!) during my many years of being a student of Anthony Galla-Rini. He simply had nothing good to say about Pietro! But he thought many good things about Guido and he shared them freely.

I remember some rather ribald stories about Guido and Mae West; one was of them being caught rolled up together in a rug back stage and—well, we can imagine what was going on! Tony delighted in telling about the old vaudeville days, of course. He thought Guido was a good musician and a good man; he thought nothing good about Pietro! He said there was absolutely no way he could have written all those pieces that came out with him as the composer. He said Pietro had hired several musicians to write his compositions; and that Pietro, although a good entertainer making lots of money, was definitely not a musician and that he truly had a terrible time just reading the right hand.

I remember when Guido was sick in California and totally without money, Tony told us about all the California musicians getting together and helping him financially when it got really bad and he was sick. So many of your stories are exactly as Tony has given them to my teacher/first husband and me. Tony and Dina, his first wife, often stayed with us when he was in Kansas City to perform, conduct, give workshops, or give examinations for those of us taking the Syllabus Examinations. After Dina died, he and his second wife would also stay with us. By that time, my first husband had died and I had married Paul Sommers. So Tony could tell all those stories once again to everyone.

Your book is very well-written and I just have to tell you that I will indeed mention whenever possible. I know there is no money being made in sales of such books, but they are needed and people should support the writers.

Those of us in Kansas City were not taught many Deiro pieces, if any! We were Galla-Rini people or Magnante when it came to using arrangements or original pieces for accordion. Kansas City was just not the Italian hot-bed for Deiro compositions, although I remember teaching a few of them for my young students to learn for various competitions. We did know the name Magnante (although none of pronounced it correctly!) because of his radio broadcasts and he would judge us at AAA competitions. I have wonderful stories about Magnante. Julio Giulietti was a really good friend of mine and after my first husband died, he and my second husband had a wonderful relationship since my husband spoke perfect Italian and also liked to hunt, just as Julio did.

At any rate, thank you so very much for the wonderful book. Because I am 90 years old and know a little about accordion history in the USA due to my activities with AAA and ATG, as well as AFNA on the west coast, your stories about Guido and Pietro are very interesting to me. I have to smile and laugh a bit while reading your words.

The book was absolutely a fantastic 90th Birthday Gift! I have read it and will read it several more times, I know!

I will do whatever I can to promote it as a very interesting historical collection regarding both Guido and Pietro.

Thank you so sincerely!

Joan Cochran Sommers
Former Professor of Accordion at the University of Missouri, Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Founder/Director of the UMKC Accordion Orchestra
Prairie Village, Kansas



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