The quote “a gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but chooses not to” is often attributed to the “Lundensian” prominent cultural figure, Sten Broman, but how certain can we really be that he was the one who coined the phrase? Fredrik Tersmeden, Honorary Doctor of Philosophy and Archivist at Lund University, digs deep into the matter.
There exists today an internet-based company whose business idea might be described as ingenious—at least if one wishes to make a decent amount of money for the least possible amount of personal creativity. The concept involves taking short, out-of-context quotes from various well-known individuals, setting them in a slightly humorous font (albeit one that can be found on virtually any computer), and then selling prints of these quotes in various sizes—from 13 x 18 cm to 70 x 100 cm—for between 119 and 499 SEK apiece (note: frame not included!).
One of the “motifs” one can choose to decorate one’s home with is the quote: “A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but chooses not to.” The remark is attributed to one of Lund University’s more familiar alumni of the 20th century: the composer, music critic and media personality Sten Broman.
Since Broman passed away in 1983 and has thus been dead for less than 70 years, one might ask to what extent his estate is receiving royalties from the company’s poster sales. On the other hand, one might also ask whether they should be receiving anything at all. For there is considerable doubt as to whether it was really Sten Broman who coined these words. This was noted by someone I occasionally interact with on social media, after discovering that the American musician Tom Waits has allegedly said exactly the same thing (albeit in English). And although, chronologically, it would have been possible for either Broman to quote Waits or Waits to quote Broman, neither scenario seems particularly likely. And did either of these gentlemen actually coin the phrase in the first place – or even utter it at all? I decided to get to the bottom of the matter.
Embarrassing Wheezing Noises
Let me, at this point, state that it is not Broman’s aversion to the accordion itself that I intend to question in this text, as that is well documented – including in his own memoirs Upplevelser av 1900-talet (Experiences of the 20th Century). As early as page 9, Broman recounts how, at the age of twelve, he visited his grandfather Jöns – a tailor who also came from a long line of folk musicians – for the first and only time:
As an old expert, he approved of my suit, and to test whether the musical tradition remained, he placed an accordion in my hands. This turned out to be an embarrassing experience for me. The wheezing noises of the accordion immediately made a horribly unpleasant impression on me, and I have unfortunately never been able to come to terms with it.
But did Broman thereby, by definition, believe that his grandfather – and the long line of his forebears – were not gentlemen? Let’s consult the sources!
Fortunately, there is already some prior research to build upon – specifically the work done in the United States by one Gregory F. Sullivan, a former computer technician at Johns Hopkins University, who for some reason often goes by the name Garson O’Toole. He writes under this name on his website Quoteinvestigator.com – a platform dedicated to investigating the true origins of the various bon mots and so-called “winged words” that circulate in our modern, especially digital, world. Concerning the claim that a gentleman is someone who refrains from playing a certain instrument, Sullivan has discovered that the quote has been attributed not only to figures such as Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, but has also been applied to far more instruments than just the accordion – including the ukulele, saxophone, bagpipes and banjo.
In the very oldest version Sullivan has been able to trace – in an issue of the Kansas-based newspaper The Atchison Weekly Globe from January 1917 – the phrase is credited to a local wit named Frank Fiest, who is said to have remarked: “My idea of a gentleman is he who can play a cornet and won’t.” The phrase was evidently catchy, for other American newspapers quickly began quoting it – initially with explicit reference to Frank Fiest, but soon also without attribution – and with the cornet replaced by other instruments.
Saxophones, Bagpipes and Twelve-Tone Music
What, then, of the Swedish version of the quote? Here, I have conducted a similar investigation using the Royal Library’s database of digitised Swedish newspapers. With the caveat that the phrase may be worded in various ways – such as that the gentleman “refrains”, “abstains” or “doesn’t do it” in reference to playing – the earliest example I could find in the Swedish press appears in Aftonbladet on 9 July 1936. The instrument whose non-use is praised in that instance is the saxophone. The phrase quickly gained traction in Sweden too: just a few days later, it appears in Falu Länstidning. As in the U.S., the instruments vary: everything from the bagpipes to the more conventional piano is mentioned. There are also clear trends over time. In the mid-1950s, for example, several newspapers comment on refraining from playing the lute (accompanied by singing), which makes one wonder whether parts of the Swedish press had by then suffered an overdose of Evert Taube. During the pop music wave of the 1960s, it is instead the guitar that bears the brunt. There are also versions of the phrase that elevate the idea beyond individual instruments. In March 1960, for instance, the newspaper Arbetartidningen asserts that: “A gentleman is a composer who can write twelve-tone music but chooses not to.”
But what about the accordion? Based on what I’ve found, it doesn’t appear in this context until Dagens Nyheter on 24 September 1997 – fourteen years after Broman’s death. And even then, the quote is attributed to jazz musician Zoot Sims! The earliest link I’ve found between this musical gentleman-definition and Sten Broman appears in Skånska Dagbladet just over eleven years ago: on 27 June 2014 – a time when the quote generally begins to explode in popularity in the Swedish press, and is now more and more frequently attributed to Broman.
What had happened in the meantime? Well, in 2009, comedian Robert Gustafsson had imitated Broman on the TV programme Allsång på Skansen, and during the sketch had put a Swedish version of Frank Fiest’s old remark into the mouth of his thoroughly deceased impersonation subject!
From all this, three conclusions may be drawn:
1) It is highly unlikely that Sten Broman coined the phrase about what a gentleman refrains from playing – unless, as a 15-year-old, he successfully led a double life in Atchison, Kansas under the name Frank Fiest.
2) It is almost certainly much cheaper – and probably more accurate – to print and frame one’s own Broman quotes than to buy them online.
3) If one wishes to assemble an orchestra consisting only of gentlemen, the available instrumentation will be rather limited.
Fredrik Tersmeden
Honorary Doctor of Philosophy, Archivist at Lund University