peterbgreen - The Official Herbert Greene Website Herbert Greene

Introduction

Herbert Jabez Green (aka Herbert Greene) was a very talented professional musician and virtuoso of the 81 key Wheatstone Duet Concertina. He was also an accomplished player of many other different Concertina types as well as the Accordion and the Piano. He had an excellent technique and ability to exploit the full capabilities of his instrument particularly the double keyboards with his clever use of counterpoint, rich harmonies, tricky embelishments and improvisation. During his lifetime he was fairly well known for his considerable ability but never received great fame or fortune although he played in many prestigious and well known venues throughout the U.K. He performed from the 1920's through to the 1960's having worked along side and been personally aquainted with many celebrities of his time, many of whose names are still well known still today. Herbert Greene came from humble beginnings, born in Edmonton North London in 1907, growing up during the hard times of the first world war and leaving school at the age of 14. His musical talents emerged as at a young age and his dedication, hard work and love of the Concertina made him an acomplised player by his teenage years, during which he would often play at social events and local pubs. He lived through various family hardships and eventually married Bertha Skelton in 1930 who he also taught to play the Concertina so that she could become his musical partner under the stage name of Marion Vane in a popular and successful double act. They played together for many years at live events all over the U.K. and at the same time raised four children, some of whom also later performed with them on stage. Herbert Greene also played on the radio and provided background music for the films Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) and The Magic Box (1951) although this was mostly edited out in the final release version. Sadly Mrs Green died in 1962. Inspired by his great admiration for Sir Charles Wheatstone, Herbert Green went on invent the "Concordeon" a novel musical instrument constructed from part of a Concertina and part of an Accordion, and also the Electronic Concertina Organ, which allowed him through a series of electrical contacts connected to the keys of his Duet to play an electronic Organ with many interesting and incredible sounding effects. He also wrote extensive memoirs about his life and career as an entertainer describing details of his early life, how he studied and learned to play music and his experiences as a performer. He eventually died in 1980. Although towards the end of his life he became disappointed by the decline in popularity of his beloved Concertina in the U.K. and disillusioned with the direction in which the entertainment industry was heading, he would have been very happy to know how many Concertina music lovers and enthusiasts there still are out there in the world today.

About this website

This website is dedicated to preserving the memory of Herbert Greene, his life, achievements and his great musical talent, dedication and inventiveness. We also aim to promote and make available the few remaining recordings of his music and to use the internet, which was not available during his lifetime to reach Concertina enthusiasts around the world. A project is underway to release a CD of his music in 2007 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth, which will contain some wonderful playing that we would like to make available to others.

At the moment the site is under construction and we have quite a lot of material to add including old photographs and memoires. We would very much welcome any contributions to the site from anyone who knew Herbert Greene or his work.

Peter B. Green (Grandson)

NEWS !

Rob Howard is currently working on the 'An A to Z of the Accordion, Volume 4', latest in a self-published and popular series that celebrates the lives and achievements of those who play accordion, concertina and other free reed instruments and he will be including a section on Herbert Greene. We are very excited about this and we thank Rob for his interest. More information can be found on Rob's web site and the UK accordions site, links are listed below.