Khromka

a diatonic Russian accordion with two keyboards. Each reed of the khromka produces a single tone whether the bellows are compressed or expanded; the instrument thus resembles a chromatic accordion—hence the name khromka. The khromka was developed in the 1860’s in Vologda Province and until 1900 was called the severianka (literally, “northerner”). It had 21 keys for the right hand and 12 for the left; later a version with 25 keys for each hand came into use. The compass of the right keyboard extends from C of the great octave to C of the four-line octave, with D sharp, F sharp, and G sharp added to the upper end of the range. The left keyboard extends from F sharp of the great octave to F of the one-line octave. Bass notes sound in several octaves simultaneously. The khromka has gradually been going out of use since the mid-20th century.