BANDONEON

According to Oscar Zucchi (El Tango, el Bandoneon y sus Interpretes, Ediciones Corregidor 1998):

Ernst Louis Arnold (1838-1910), founded his company ELA in Carlsfeld, in 1864.
His sons were:
- Ernst Hermann, who worked in his father's company;
- Paul and Alfred (1877-1933), who started the "Alfred Arnold" company in 1911. Bandoneons made
by Alfred Arnold were, by technical and marketing reasons, highly appreciated in Rio de la Plata. The
company was affected by World Wars I and II.
Both sons of Paul and Alfred: Arno and Horst lead it until it declined and was finally expropriated in
1949.
Bandoneons made by "Alfred Arnold" company came to Rio de la Plata under different brands:
Alfred Arnold, AA, Premier, and others, unmarked, that were named by big local distributors, as
"America" (Casa America, Buenos Aires) and "Campo" (Palacio de la Musica, Montevideo).
There were also other makers and brands: 3B, made by Meinel & Herold (Klingenthal); 3D, made by
Georg Nelges (Hannover); Germania, Tango and Cardinal, made by Hohner (Trossingen)
Ernst Louis Arnold, first in a bandoneon dynasty.
Our special thanks to Petra Reissig, for this valuable information about her forefather.
Ernst Louis Arnold was born on 09.03.1838 in Carlsfeld, a little village in the mountains Erzgebirge.
He worked in the factory of Carl Zimmermann as a foreman. In 1864 Carl Zimmermann saled his
factory to Ernst Louis Arnold, Petra's forefather.
In this year, Ernst Louis Arnold started his production of bandoneons. The name of the factory was
E.L.A. (Ernst Louis Arnold)
Ernst Louis died on 31.08.1910 in Carlsfeld.
In 1911 Alfred Arnold with his brother Wilhelm Paul promoted the factory Alfred Arnold (double AA).
Ernst Hermann was the boss of the factory E.L.A.
Many people worked in these two factories. Many bandoneons were sold to South America, specially to
Argentina and Uruguay.
The brothers Ernst Hermann and Alfred were competitors, but this fact was very good for the
development of bandoneons,.

Ernst Hermann was born in 1859 and Alfred was born in 1877.
Alfred died on 05.11.1933.
Ernst Hermann died on 19.02.1946.
After world war II, the factory E.L.A. was continued by
Klingenthaler Musikinstrumente. In this factory they built only accordions.
The production of the factory Alfred Arnold shift to Obertshausen. The son of Wilhelm Paul, Arno
Arnold was the boss of this factory.
The link www.arno-arnold.de provides information about the Arnold family.


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