IV. Instrument Making

1. Bell Founding

The sound of pealing bells was closely linked to the everyday life of the people in many ways. Church bells called them to divine services and prayer, announced weddings and deaths (“Schiedungläuten”). They rang in the feast days and the end of work for the day, proclaimed the arrival of high-ranking guests, warned of upcoming storms, fire, and war, and summoned people to the theater on the market square. Regulations determined the sequence of tones for the respective occasion. At the time of the dissolution of the Damenstift (religious institution for ladies of rank) in Hall (1783) five bell ringers were in their service.[1]

The bell founding trade in the Tyrol is documented back to the middle of the 14th century. Innsbruck is one of the major casting sites of Austria.[2] Emperor Maximilian appointed Hans Selos of Füssen to the post of bell founder in Innsbruck in 1498. Peter Löffler (commonly known as Laiminger) (1468-1530) established a foundry for bells and ornamental casting towards the end of the 15th century in Büchsenhausen, which was carried on by his sons Gregor Löffler (1490-1565) and Alexander Löffler (†before 1543). Gregor Löffler worked at times with his sons Elias (†1610) and Hans Christoph (ca.1530-1595). The casting activities of the Löffler family ended with the son of the latter, Christoph (1568-1623). Peter Löffler, for example, supplied a bell in 1491 for Sterzing, Hans Christoph Löffler in 1585 for Deutschnofen. Quite a few of the bells by the Löffler family have survived to this day.[3]

Heinrich Reinhart (†1629) came to Innsbruck in 1595 and bought the Löffler workshop in 1614. In 1609, 1611 and 1620 he supplied one bell each for Wilten Abbey. His nephew Friedrich Reinhart (1604-1638) took over the operation, in which Bartlme Reinhart was still working in 1640. Bartlme Köttelath (Kettelath) the Elder (*1608) married the widow of Friedrich Reinhart in Büchsenhausen in 1641. Bartlme Köttelath the Younger, probably a son of the Elder, was successful with his complaint submitted in 1682 to the Tyrolean government because the municipality of Grins had ordered a bell from a bell founder in Kempten instead of from a local one. Matthias Köttelath (*1680), a son of Bartlme the Younger, provided a bell for St Georgenberg as had Bartlme the Elder. Franz Josef Köttelath (*1712, son of Matthias) worked from 1733 on as a founder in Büchsenhausen. Johann Paul Schellener, a son of the Bozen bell founder Georg Schellener (†1679), had his workshop in Innsbruck in the first decades of the 18th century. In 1734 he supplied two bells for St Georgenberg. In 1735 he carried out repairs on a bell for Wilten Abbey.[4] Georg Zach (*1672) may have been a journeyman of his. Stefan Zach worked in Innsbruck in the mid-18th century for, among others, Wilten Abbey in 1763. He was followed by his son Sebastian Zach (*ca.1740-1816) and his presumed grandson Josef Zach. Augustin Vital transferred his foundry in Büchsenhausen in 1774 to Simon Peter Miller (Müller) (*ca.1747-1804). His son Josef Georg Müller (*ca.1778-1854) was the last bell founder in Büchsenhausen. Father and son cast bells for, e.g. the parish church of Zirl.

Bell founders with resident status had lived in Brixen for centuries, such as Johann Löffler (†1577), Johann Weilander (†1588), Georg Walser (documentary evidence dated 1591), Adam Sterzer (†1633), and the Grassmayr family, who soon established business in Habichen and Wilten and still have a location in Innsbruck-Wilten. In Brixen the following Grassmayrs carried on the bell founding trade: Benedikt (†1688) with his sons Lukas (1632-1692) and Oswald, Georg (1661-1720) and his son Josef (1690-1765), Johann (mentioned in 1758 and 1763), Franz Anton (1763-1824) and his son Josef Alois (1805-1858), and Jakob (1802-1873). Bartlme Grassmayr (1670-1722) learned the trade in Brixen and moved at the end of the 17th century to Habichen. He was succeeded in Habichen by: his son Jakob (†ca.1742) and his grandson Bartlme the Younger (*1724), the latter’s sons Johann Nepomuk (1754-1822), Jakob and Konrad. Johann Grassmayr (1801-1883), one of Konrad’ssons, moved the operation from Habichen to Wilten in 1836. Johann’s nephew Josef (1839-1899) ran the enterprise there from 1870 on. The widow of Josef Grassmayr, Emma, carried on the business with her brothers Otto and Nikolaus Knitel. Around 1840 Jakob Anton Grassmayr of Feldkirch cast bells in Bozen, e.g. for Petersberg (1840), Deutschnofen (1843) and Lengmoos (1844).[5]

The first bell founder of Bozen settled there in 1613: Hans Schellener (Schelener) the Elder (I) (†1651) of Petersberg had learned the “bell and gun casting” trade in Innsbruck; in 1637 he worked with Benedikt Grassmayr. Hans Schellener the Younger (II) (1619-ca.1664) took over the foundry of his late father in 1651. After his own death the city council transferred the foundry to his brother Georg Schellener (†1679) in 1665. In 1679 the bell founder journeyman Thomas Zwelfer (1650-1704) of Innsbruck was admitted as a master in Bozen on the condition that he marry the widow of Georg Schellener. Anton Zwelfer (†ca.1738) was permitted to live and establish himself as a bell founder in Bozen in 1716 against “marriage to the Calovi widow” and payment of “Incolat” (resident) taxes and licence fees. Simon Calovi (†1716), a native of Bozen, had taken up the work of a master in his native town in 1704. As Thomas Zwelfer’s successor, he recast the “Weinglocke”that had cracked in 1713 and cast a new “Ziegnglöggl” (“passing bell” rung as a parishioner lay dying) in 1714 for the Bozen parish church. In 1708 he made a bell for St Helena near Deutschnofen. The bell founder journeyman Joachim Michael Reis (†1760) of Brieg (Silesia) was admitted as a provisional resident in Bozen in 1740, a permanent one in 1741. He had learned his trade in Munich and Salzburg. His widow married the Nuremberg bell founder journeyman Georg Sebastian Gerstner (†ca.1774) in 1761, who was then granted permission to stay in Bozen as a resident and stucco molder and bell founder. After that Josef Reis (†ca.1788), a son of Joachim Michael Reis, took over the operation; the municpal council certified him as a master in 1775. Johann Michael Zach (†1830) of Gösting near Graz married the widow of Josef Reis in 1789 and was very productive in the Bozen region. His son Johann Zach carried on the foundry from 1830 on.[6]

A good two dozen bells by southern and northern Tyrolean bell founders Georg Schellener, Joachim Michael Reis and by the Grassmayr family have survived down to this day in the Val Müstair.[7]

Working in Trent since 1783 at the latest was the Chiappani family of bell founders. Its first representative was Bartolomeo Chiappani (1728-1804), working at first with Giuseppe Ruffini (ca.1721-1801), who ran a bell foundry in Rovereto, among other activities. The last family member to be active in making bells was Carlo Chiappani (1853-1928), who supplied bells for several European countries, India and America. In the Tyrol his bells used to sound in St Nikolaus in Eggen (1874), St Agatha in Deutschnofen (1885), among other places, and from the towers of the Jesuit church in Innsbruck, for which he made a bell weighing 9,906 kg in 1901. In 1911 he made six new bells for the parish church in Schwaz. Carlo Chiappani worked until 1915. After the destruction of his enterprise in the First World War he did not rebuild it but devoted himself to his private musical interests instead, not the least of which was composing.[8]

In Mühlen in the Tauferertal Sebastian Feichter (1760-1816) and his son Martin Feichter (1796-1871) as well as Karl Franz Feichter (1798-1854) worked on making bells. The Dengg family of bell founders had their operation in Jenbach for three generations, among them Johann Josef Dengg (1815-1859). A bell founder from Brixlegg named Johann Wolfgang Köchl is mentioned in 1729.[9]

2. Organ and Piano Building

The history of organ building in the Tyrol is of significance far beyond the borders of the land. A organ builder from Innichen is said to have been called to Rome as early as towards the end of the 9th century. The first substantiated information about organ builders living in the Tyrol dates from the second half of the 15th century.

Balthasar Streng, who repaired organs in St Jakob’s in Innsbruck (1501/02), Schwaz (1504/05) and Bozen (1508) lived in Pettneu near the Arlberg from 1487 to 1508.[10]

In Innsbruck the organ builder Josua Pock (Joas Peck) worked for the court, the Damenstift, and Schwaz around 1580. In 1597 Georg Gemelich (†1611), possibly from Gunzenheim near Donauwörth, was admitted as a resident. He made repairs in Innsbruck, Bozen, Meran and built new organs in Sterzing and Bruneck. Daniel Herz (1618-1678) of Munich acquired the right to be a resident in Brixen in 1646, where he built three organs for this city alone. He soon had an excellent reputation. In 1656 at the latest he was appointed court organ maker in Innsbruck, after he had already been working for the Innsbruck court from Brixen. Finally, he opened a workshop in Wilten in 1671. Herz is considered one of the most important organ builders of the Tyrol. He usually designed his new organs as smaller instruments, for example in Stilfes and Trens (1656), Toblach (ca.1659), Matrei in the eastern Tyrol (1663), Meran (1671), Wilten Abbey (paid for in 1676), as well as positives such as in Maria Waldrast (1659) and Sterzing (1664). He also delivered abroad, such as to Partenkirchen, Belluno and Jerusalem. His son Anton Franz Herz (*1660) moved as an organ maker to the archbishopric of the Electorate of Mainz.[11]

Johann Hackhofer (1645-1688), who was born in Toblach and probably a journeyman under Daniel Herz, bought the organ maker’s house in Wilten from Herz’s heirs in two parts in 1678 and 1684. Hackhofer’s pupil Johann Caspar Humpel (ca.1669-1728) married the widow of his master and took over the Wilten organ workshop. The city of Innsbruck denied Humpel the right to become “admitted as a burgher,” whereupon he bought himself a house in Meran 1702 and was registered there as a resident and organ maker in the same year. Humpel built organs in Terlan (1697), St Georgenberg (1702), Sand in Taufers (1711), at Sonnenburg Monastery (1714), the Church of St Jakob in Innsbruck (1725) and in Spiss, and elsewhere. His son Caspar Humpel (1695 - after 1732), who took up the name of Josef as a Dominican in Bozen, carried out several organ repairs, for instance in 1732 on the instrument built by his father in Sonnenburg.

Another son, Josef Balthasar Humpel (1701 - after 1732) built the organ in Cavalese in 1732, whereas his brother Franz Blasius Humpel (1703-1756) did no organ building on his own.[12]

In the 18th century, members the Fuchs family of organ builders were residents in Innsbruck. The legal administrator of the market town, Josef (I) Fuchs (1678-1750) lived in Matrei on the Brenner Pass and practiced organ building on the side. He built an organ for Stams Monastery in 1718. His son Anton (I) Fuchs (1711-1794), a teacher and organist, was already living in Innsbruck when he died. His major achievement must have been an organ in the basilica of Wilten built around 1755. Anton (I) Fuchs’s son Johann Anton (II) (1737-1796), the most skilled member of the family, was admitted in Innsbruck in 1769 as an organ and piano builder. He completed new organs in, among other places, Gossensaß (1771), Hall in Tirol (1780/82), Brixen im Thale (about 1783), at the abbey church of Gries near Bozen in 1787/88, and in Kirchbichl (1794). A clavichord by him is signed: Innsbruck 1781. He made pianos based a model by Johann Andreas Stein with a Viennese mechanism. Franz (I) Xaver Fuchs (1739-1803), a brother of Johann Anton (II), worked as a schoolmaster in Gries on the Brenner Pass and as an organist in Vinaders, where he also set up a new instrument. South of the Brenner there are organs by him in Mareit (1758), Dorf Tirol (1789), and Albeins (after 1790). Franz (I) Fuchs had two sons who continued to practice the trade of organ maker: Josef (II) (1766-1843), an organist at St Nikolaus in Innsbruck, ran an organ building workshop in the city from about 1795. He rebuilt the organ of the church of the Servites in Innsbruck and completed one in Huben in the Ötztal in 1820. Franz (II) Fuchs (1776-1831), a teacher and organist in Gries on the Brenner Pass like his father, constructed a small instrument in Vahrn near Brixen.[13]

Josef (II) Fuchs defended himself fiercely, but without success, against establishment of Johann Georg Gröber (1775-1849) of Pettneu in Innsbruck in 1806. Gröber signed a contract with Wilten Abbey in 1837 to build a new organ. The largest instrument he made resounded for the first time at mass in the abbey church in 1839. Besides other organs in Obsteig, Imst, and Biberwier, he manufactured pianos and a terpodion. His second eldest son Johann Franz (1812-1848) and his youngest son Josef Philipp (1817- ca.1921) learned their father’s craft. Josef Philipp Gröber continued to run his father’s business until 1902 and also made a name for himself as a watercolorist.[14]

Antonio Martinelli (1798-1874) built pianos in Caldonazzo that were similar to those by Johann Georg Gröber.[15]

When Josef Morherr (1807-1870), who was from Umhausen and trained in Munich, tried to establish himself in Innsbruck, Johann Georg Gröber would not allow him. Josef Morherr therefore acquired a joinery in Innsbruck, where he was eventually granted a licence as a piano and organ builder after all in 1834. A grand piano by Alois Morherr of Innsbruck was declared to be on a par with a Viennese Streicher grand piano in 1861. Franz Morherr and Engelbert Morherr were still building pianos in Innsbruck up to the beginning of the 20th century.[16]

The organ maker Nikolaus Harter (†1654) from Alsace settled in Hall in 1636. His pupil Sebastian Achamer (1623-1694) took over the workshop and found plenty to do in North and South Tyrol as well as in Bavaria. Johann Evangelist Feyrstein was domiciled in Hall temporarily around 1765. Josef Wohlfartstetter, who was born in Hall in 1865, moved his workshop originally in Hall first to Mühlau, then to the Glurnhör property near St Lorenzen. In 1887/88 he carried out a repair in the Hall parish church, in South Tyrol he distinguished himself with the new organs he built in St Lorenzen (1891), Niederolang (1892) and Sexten (1895).[17]

Josef Aigner (1809-1887) of Gasteig near Sterzing established his trade in Schwaz around 1840 and employed several journeymen but also traveled to all parts of the land to build and set up his organs. They belonged in both quantity and quality to the leading productions of Tyrolean organ building art of the 19th century.[18]

In his home town of Kapfing (Fügen township) the organ builder Andreas Mauracher (1758-1824) worked for the South Tyrol, the Upper Inn Valley and Graubünden (the Grisons). His son Karl Mauracher (1789-1844) helped him, while also building on his own even during his father’s lifetime. Mathias Mauracher (1788-1857) belonged to another line of this family of organ builders from the Zillertal. He was self-taught and had his enterprise in Oberbichl near Zell at the Ziller. Albert Mauracher (1858-1917) and Matthäus Mauracher (1859-1939) suppied the South Tyrol from Salzburg. Georg Hochmuth (1800-1885) built organs in his native town of Bruck at the Ziller, for example for the parish churches of Ranggen and Unterlangkampfen.

Mathias Weber (1777-1848) in Oberperfuß had been remarkably successful at organ and piano building. His son Franz Weber (1825-1914) succeeded in managing a respected organ building workshop with several co-workers, including his brother Alois Weber (1813-1889). The largest organ he built was in Bruneck.[19]

Josef Reinisch (1776-1848), born in Gries on the Brenner Pass, learned the craft of joinery and was introduced to organ building by Franz (I) Fuchs. In 1823 he assisted Franz (II) Fuchs in the construction of an organ in Vahrn. His sons Franz (I) Xaver Reinisch (1801-1888), Johann Benedikt Reinisch (1803-1880), Andreas Reinisch (1804-1836) and Thomas Reinisch (1805-1837) pursued the crafts of joinery and organ building in their turn. Franz (I) Reinisch set up his own workshop in Steinachon theBrenner Pass in 1833 and developed the unmistakable types of front-pipe layout (three to eight axes with a central dip) that are typical for his work. His instruments were much in demand in the Eisack and Puster Valleys, in Gröden, in the Bozen region and in the Vinschgau. His son Franz (II) Reinisch (1840-1921), in order to remain competitive and to meet organists’ higher demands, began to manufacture cone-chest organs. He also already equipped the organ of Maria Weißenstein (1900, “opus 70”) with a pneumatic device for registration.[20]

Martin Bauer (1720-1769) of Schattwald built a new organ for the Tannheim parish church around 1760.[21]

Burkhard Dinstlinger (Distlinger, Tischinger) created several artistically perfect new organs in the Tyrol around 1480. His organ of 1490 in Sterzing was examined and approved by Paul Hofhaimer. Dinstlinger ran a large-scale enterprise with a number of journeymen and apprentices that was also very busy in Bavaria, Vienna and Saxony. Kaspar Zimmermann (†ca.1539) came to Brixen from Murnau and completed the large cathedral organ there in 1531. From 1532 to 1536 he built a much-lauded instrument with two manuals in Santa Maria Maggiore in Trent. Georg Friedrich Händel is also said to have played it. The Brixen cathedral organist and canon Andreas Andre“Casletanus” died in 1592 while he was working on the construction of an organ for the bishop. In 1580 he had made a harpsichord (clavicembalo) for Archduke Ferdinand II. Jakob Köck (Keck) (1630-1673) of Sillian worked around 1650 with Daniel Herz in Brixen and Innsbruck. He acquired resident’s rights in Brixen in 1660 and opened a workshop there himself. Through his marriage to the widow of Jakob Köck, Ursus Neinlist (†1702), who came from Switzerland and had learned organ building in Salzburg, became the stepfather and organ-building master of her children Franz Anton Köck (1661-1719) and Johannes Köck (1666-1721). Franz Anton Köck took down the old organ in the presbytery of the Hall parish church and finished building a new one on the organ loft in the chancel in 1692. He set up other organs in Kaltern (Franciscan church, 1683), Vahrn (entry into the contract 1685), St Andrä near Brixen (1698), as well as positives in Bruneck (1704), Klausen and Sterzing. Johannes Köck went down in organ building history under his Franciscan name Marinus (profession in Schwaz 1686). He worked not least for Franciscan churches in the province of the order, such as in Innichen and Waldsee. Helping him build a new organ at the Franciscan church in Reutte (1714/15) was his nephew Hans Jakob. Hans Jakob Köck (1691-1744) also became well known as an organ maker under his monastic name Gaudentius. He was a son of Franz Anton Köck and made his profession at the Franciscan monastery in Reutte in 1717. Gaudentius Köck, a lay brother like his uncle Marinus Köck, made a name for himself particularly with the organ in the Schwaz parish church as well as his work in Telfs and Neustift. The convent of the Poor Clares in Brixen and the Franciscan monastery in Innichen purchased clavichords from him.[22]

Johann Götz (1734-1797) from Lower Franconia established himself in Toblach around 1765. He rebuilt several organs: in St Lorenzen (1769), Ehrenburg, and Maria Luggau. He built new ones for his home parish (about 1770) and Matrei in eastern Tyrol (1782).[23] The organ builders of the Volgger family were domiciled in Arnbach a bit farther upriver on the Drau. As the first of this clan, Peter Volgger the Elder is documented as a “wood joiner and organarius” in 1783. Johann Volgger (*1791) built organs in the vicinity, for example in Anras and Abfaltersbach. His sons Peter Volgger the Younger, Johann [II] Volgger, and Josef took up their father’s trade. Peter Volgger the Younger was the most successful, especially in his area in the eastern Tyrol (e.g. Sillian, Innervillgraten, Strassen, Kartitsch, Obertilliach).[24] The organ builder Alois Hörbiger (1810-1876) settled in Lienz in 1830. A farmer’s son from Thierbach/Wildschönau, he had helped the organ maker Josef Mitterer (ca.1767-1844) in St Gertraudi/Reith in the Alpbachtal at work for two weeks as a nineteen-year-old and worked on Italian organ building from that time on. He was still living in Lienz with his brother Bartlmä Hörbiger (1813-1860) in 1836, from where both of them undertook organ repairs and rebuilding in South Tyrol until Alois Hörbiger moved to Atzgersdorf near Vienna and built important organs for Vienna and Graz. In 1890 Alois Fuetsch (1860-1935), who was born in Mitteldorf/Virgen, came to Lienz after his apprenticeship with Franz (II) Reinisch. In almost five decades he rebuilt and built about 80 organs and was able to make technical progress in pneumatics. The organ builders Hermann Eiter in Jenbach and Johann Platzgummer (1874-1968) in Naturns (from 1907) were trained by him.[25]

Martin Junkhans (1648-1728) was able to establish himself in Bozen in 1673 by building, among others, an instrument for the Bozen parish church. When he built the organ in Sarnthein he was assisted by his son Josef Antoni Junkhans (1675-1718). Also working in Bozen were Franz Ehinger (†1740) and Josef Antoni Aichholzer (1697-1763), who also built in Innsbruck. Ignaz Franz Wörle (1710-1778) of Vils became a resident in Bozen in 1743 and ran a sizeable workshop there. He is the leading exponent of Tyrolen organ building around the mid-18th century. His organ in Maria Weißenstein (1754) was set up with donations from Empress Maria Theresia. He undertook several repairs in Sonnenburg Monastery in 1772, with recommendations from “the gentlemen at Neustift” and the Bozen organist Felix Stainer, with his journeyman Josef Wernle, “both of them decent, quiet and hardworking people.” Dominikus Wörle (1748-1781) and Simon Wörle (1753-1809) were nowhere near having the skillfulness of their father Ignaz Franz. The organ maker Johann Conrad Wörle (1701-1777), another native of Vils, was very successful at his craft in Rome from about 1730 on under his italianized name Giovanni Corrado Verlé. Several instruments in the Bozner Unterland around 1850 made by Josef Sies (Siess, Süß) (1818-1886) of Schnann had turned out well. Perhaps that is why he decided to stay in Bozen in 1855 and later in Völs by the Schlern. He carried on his trade in North, South and Italian Tyrol (Welschtirol) and in the Grisons (Graubünden).[26]

The master organ builder Carlo Prati (ca.1617-1700) of Trent was called to work up in the north of the Tyrol as far away as Innsbruck and Stams. He had particularly close ties with Marienberg Monastery, for which he had fabricated a magnificent instrument. In Trent the Silesian Eugen Casparini (1623-1706), after a longer sojourn in Italy, had rebuilt the organ of Santa Maria Maggiore in 1686. He settled in St Pauls/Eppan around 1687 and in Brixen around 1690.[27]

Besides the local organ builders, masters from abroad were repeatedly given commissions in the Tyrol. Primarily Hans Schwarzenbach of Füssen stood out in South Tyrol around 1600 for organs in Marienberg (1595), Schlanders (1597), Tramin (1598), St Pauls/Eppan (1599), and Kaltern (1603), among others. Francesco Doria (1716-1758) of Desenzano and his son Giovanni Antonio Doria (1717-1792) were working in the Trentino in the 18th century.[28]

A few musicians who were talented in both artistry and craftsmanship made organs themselves for their own use. Canon Florian Zoller, in the Neustift Monastery of Augustinian Canons since 1723 and Father Martin Ritsch OSB (1802-1859) of Marienberg Monastery built small instruments. A “Sagschneider” (owner of a sawmill) in Eggen, who was also able to play the organ, Peter Eisath (†1899), constructed a few organs for domestic use. The teacher and organist of Wiesen, Franz Sailer (1814-1868), repaired the organ by Ignaz Franz Wörle in Wolfsthurn Castle in 1842. The organist and sexton Franz Überbacher (1795-1853) in Lengmoos helped his brother Peter Überbacher (1789-1852), who was a self-taught organ builder, with his work.[29]

Another self-taught instrument maker was Robert Lechleitner (1840-1920) of Stanzach, who worked in his native town and later in Vienna as a mechanic. He invented the Pansymphonion, a combination of piano, harmonium (reed organ) and organ, which was awarded a prize at the World’s Fair in Vienna in 1873, and the Triphonium, a zither that sounded like a combination of zither, harmonium and flute.[30] Father Peter Singer OFM (1810-1882) was born in Häselgehr and his activities in the Tyrol included working as an organist in Bozen and Innsbruck, writing over 300 compositions of church music, and working as a music pedagogue. Towards the turn of the century, he also taught Father Hartmann (Paul) von An der Lan-Hochbrunn OFM (1863-1914) of Salurn, a church musician and composer of sacred oratorios inspired by Liszt and Wagner and who was a great succes for some time in both Europe and America. Singer had also tinkered with further developing the harmonium while still in the Tyrol, and he constructed a Pansymphonikon at the Franciscan Monastery in Salzburg in 1845. His father Josef Alois Singer (†1833), a miller by trade, had worked as a bell founder, flute and clarinet maker on the side.[31] Besides farming, Siegfried Pfennig, the director of music of the Ehrwald orchestra (Musikkapelle) from 1830 to 1857, engaged in the manufacture of harmoniums with his brother Johann Michael Pfennig.[32] Father Viktrizius Nestl OFMCap (1869-1910) was awarded an honorable mention for a piano he built “according to his own system” at a trade fair in Sterzing in 1907.[33]

3. Violin Making

The so-called Tyrolean School of violin making (Tiroler Schule) flourished from the middle of the 16th century down to the middle of the 18th. It was as much at home in Füssen as in Mittenwald and, with the increasing migration of Tyrolean masters, it determined violin making in Franconia, Vienna, and Bohemia. Its high repute is based mainly on the violin maker Jakob Stainer (ca.1617-1683) of Absam. Even into the 19th century, his instruments were rated as superior to the most famous Italian ones from Cremona. After Stainer had spent journeyman’s years of travel selling his instruments, carrying out repairs and obtaining commissions in southern Germany, South Tyrol and upper Italy, his renown was so great that he not only supplied instruments for the royal Spanish court orchestra but he was also raised to the rank of “archducal servant” (erzfürstlicher Diener) by Archduke Ferdinand Karl in Innsbruck in 1658 and honored by Emperor Leopold I with the title of “imperial servant” (kaiserlicher Diener) in 1669 because no one wanted to do without his work at court.[34]

In 1567 the lute maker Georg (I) Gerle (ca.1520-1591) of Füssen migrated to Innsbruck and served Archduke Ferdinand II as an instrument maker and bellows-treader. His son Georg (II) Gerle (after 1548 - after 1615) gave him a hand from December 1583 on; his son Melchior Gerle (†1607) succeeded him in serving at court in 1591.[35]

Also from the Füssen area was the Seelos family, who also worked at the Innsbruck court as violin makers: Georg (II) Seelos (ca.1590-ca.1668), a cousin of the Venetian masters Giorgio and Matteo Sellas and his son Georg (III) Seelos (after 1647-1724). Georg’s (II) son Johann (II) Seelos (1654-1715) learned the craft of making violins from his father in Innsbruck but settled in Linz, while his brother Johann Georg Seelos (ca.1650-1724) took over their father’s workshop.[36]

According to historical sources, a violin maker “Johann Paul Schorn” is supposed to have worked in Innsbruck as early as 1660 until about 1690. However, the latest research has shown that the violin maker “Johann Schorn” (1659-1718) formerly identified with him was active from about 1690 in Salzburg and had not stayed in Innsbruck and that the son of the latter, “Johann Paul Schorn” (1682-1758), had only been a violinist at the parish church in Hall from 1702 to 1704.[37]

Jakob Rauch (ca.1680-1765) entered into service for Duke Karl Philipp von der Pfalz-Neuburg in Innsbruck in 1706 and made several string instruments for the court musical ensemble (Hofmusik). Because he moved to Mannheim with his lord, Franz Straubinger (1674-1724) was able to take his place from 1720 on. From 1739 to 1741 Franz Urban Stoß (1711-1783) of Füssen was the court lute maker in Innsbruck. Likewise from Füssen (-Faulenbach) was Matthias Griesser (1698-1784) who had moved to Innsbruck as a violin maker in 1725; he worked there for the rest of his life.[38] On 9 September 1732 Johann Georg (I) Psenner (ca.1680-1762) of Bozen was granted residency and his licence as a lute maker in Innsbruck. In 1752 he saw a disagreeable competitor in the joiner and “harp maker” (Härpfenmacher) Georg Kößl of Hötting. His son Johann Georg (II) Psenner (1747- after 1798) became qualified by doing his apprenticeship with Georg Klotz in Mittenwald, among other things, to take over his father’s operation in 1768, which may have been run by Ignatius Locatelli in the interim.[39] Josef Knittel (1746-1797) obtained a permit to practice the violin makers’ craft in Innsbruck in 1795; his son Franz Knittel (ca.1780-1802) had also learned violin making.[40] Even in the 19th century there were still several violin makers at work in Innsbruck, although their products were no longer outstandingly important: the organ builder Johann Georg Gröber (1775-1849) also fashioned string instruments, his son Josef Gröber (1817-ca.1921) repaired all kinds of string instruments and built new zithers based on Munich models. Johann Fritz of Pfaffenhofen near Telfs (1783 - after 1825), a farmer’s son and trained joiner, built harps and guitars and made violin repairs in his spare time, until he bound himself as a journeyman to Johann Georg Gröber. In 1816, after submitting a violin built completely by himself, he was accredited by the Innsbruck magistrate as a maker of musical instruments and permitted to set up business. Karl Eberle, documented in Innsbruck 1829, may have been an assistant of Johann Fritz, Oswald Zoller (1774-1816) his predecessor.[41]

In 1835 the joiner Jakob Kaspar Schrott (1804-1843) was incorporated in his native town of Innsbruck as an instrument maker. He built double basses, guitars, zithers and harps. Josef Gschwenter (1838-1894) of Mals had learned violin making in Mittenwald and established himself in Innsbruck in 1857. Although he was granted a gold medal for the viola of a quartet he submitted in Vienna in 1873, he focused more on repairs, building zithers and guitars, and on trading in instruments. In 1875 Otto Body (*1857 Debreczin) took up work as a journeyman under Josef Gschwenter. He set up his own workshop later, also for building zithers and guitars and reparing violins. Around 1904 he worked with his son Hans Body, who is documented as doing repair work, for instance in 1932, and was still working in Innsbruck in 1957.[42] One of Josef Gschwenter’s pupils was Ludwig Neuner, documented as a repairman in Innsbruck in 1897 and violin maker in 1906.[43] Around 1860 Josef Kluibenschädl and Andreas Müller (ca.1801-1864) were also working as violin makers in Innsbruck. Bruno Nobitschek opened a workshop in Innsbruck in 1906.[44]

The town of Vils attained supraregional importance in the history of violin making. Since the second half of the 17th century, violin makers of great renown had been established there or else trained and gone abroad. The old violin making center of Füssen with its school had a decisive influence on the tradition of the craft in the Außerfern only a few kilometers away. The Rief family furnished the leading violin makers in Vils for almost two centuries, until the craft was driven out of the town by industrial production. The founding father Anton Rief (1694-1766) built mainly violins and was the master who trained his son Matthäus Rief (1728-1794). Dominikus Rief (1759-1814) followed the example of his father Matthäus Rief, even surpassing him in both the quantity and quality of the instruments he built. His austere, yet well carved, darkly varnished and powerfully sonorous violins are considered remarkable examples of the Tyrolean art of violin making. Dominikus’ younger brother Johann Georg Rief (1765-1848) also learned under their father Matthäus and was a sexton of the parish church in Vils as a sideline. Josef Matthäus (I) Rief (1799-1848), a son of Dominikus Rief, signed his instruments as “Josef Rief,” while his cousin Josef Matthäus (II) Rief (1801-1879), a son of Johann Georg Rief, signed his full name. Anton(i) Rief (1786-1834) built violins in Vils around 1810.[45]

Among the violin makers in the Petz family established in Vils were Franz (II) Petz (1702-1772) and his nephew Jakob Ägidius Petz (1742-1824), who was one of the most successful master violin makers of Vils and strove to follow the example of Nicola Amati and others. Franz (I) Petz appears as a lute maker in 1707 in Vils. Franz (III) Petz (1805-1882) learned violin making but seems to have given it up. Marianus Petz (1742-1787) of Vils took over the workshop of Josef Ferdinand Leidolff in Vienna in 1774. Johann Alois Petz (1797- after 1825) had already moved from Vils to Budapest in 1810.[46]

The most renowned violin maker clan of Vils is the Eberle family, of which, however, only Johann Anton (I) Eberle (1699-1768), native of Tannheim, remained in Vils. In Prague Johann Ulrich Eberle (1699-1768) became one of the most important viola d’amore makers ever. Thomas Eberle (1727- after 1792) worked in Naples from 1750 on; his brother Johann Anton (II) Eberle (*1736) is documented from 1769 on in Mannheim.

Johann Michael Willer (1753-1826) of Vils practiced his trade in Prague and was the head of the violin makers’ guild there from 1822 to 1826. Whether Anton Höss, who worked in Prague in 1682, actually also came from Vils cannot be demonstrated at the moment. Georg Schonger (1661-ca. 1740) went to Erfurt, Antony Posch (1677-1742) to Vienna, Georg Aman (1671-1741) to Augsburg, Josef Doser (1770-1836) to Freising. The violin makers of the Wörle family born in Vils all migrated in their youth to Bavaria, Vienna and Czechoslovakia.[47]

Johann Georg Kleinhans (1681-1716) of Pinswang set up business as a violin maker in Füssen-Faulenbach. Towards the end of the 19th century, members of the Alber family of joinersin Weißenbach began to fashion plain string instruments, mainly violins: Franz Alber (1868-1966), his brother Josef (I) Alber (1869-1919), and later his grandson Josef (II) Alber (1899-1979). Anton Hauser (1726-1806) worked in Reutte.[48] Johann Georg Frick was working as a lute builder in Grän around 1757. Johann Hueber (1758-1821) of Namlos worked in Füssen before establishing himself in Munich as a violin maker in 1794.[49]

In Scharnitz, Josef (I) Schäffler (†1758) of Mittenwald and Josef (II) Schäffler (1759-after 1792) pursued violin making. Not far away, in Seefeld, were Conrad Zunterer (1717-1778) and his brother Leopold Zunterer (1722-1792); their father Anton Zunterer had already carried out violin repairs as a joiner.[50] Vitalis Haslberger OESA of the Augustinian Monastery in Seefeld built a double bass for Stams Monastery in 1777.[51] Amideus M. Grasser OSM (1810-1886) of the Innsbruck Servite Monastery renovated the neck and belly of a violin belonging to the monastery in 1841.[52] In Seefeld a violin maker established an enterprise again in 1807: he was Kaspar Hornsteiner (1778-1857) a native of Mittenwald. Around 1835 he moved into the Kreuzhäusel, an property he had bought in Volderwald/Tulfes, where his son Josef Hornsteiner (1809-1889) also built violins and zithers, though he did only repairs later.

Simon Gföller, who for instance supplied a violin to St Georgenberg in 1649, had been working in Schwaz since 1637. In the 17th century the violin makers Christoph (I) Klingler (†1677) and his son Christoph (II) Klingler (1657-1702?) worked in Rattenberg.[53] Josef (I) Sappl (1862-1925) of Kundl was apprenticed under Franz (II) Reinisch from 1884 for three years as an organ builder. He worked in this trade at first, but then shifted to guitar and mainly harp making in his home town. He built over two hundred harps with pedal action, for which buyers were found as far away as Dresden and Leipzig. His son Josef (II) Sappl (1909-1986) was apprenticed to the trade of “instrument maker” in Brixlegg under Franz Bradl (1882-1963), the master of Tyrolean harp building. Harp makers named Six and Halterer lived in the Lower Inn Valley towards the end of the 19th century.[54] Michael Stecher (1810-1864), after his violin maker’s apprenticeship in Mittenwald, made violins, cellos, basses and mandolins in Ried in the Upper Inn Valley.

Self-taught craftsmen engaged in building violins in northern Tyrol were Johann Isser (1791-1852), a farmer at Horeben near the Volderberg; Johann Spiß (ca.1805 - after 1861), joiner and wood turner in Zell near the Ziller (violins, zithers, guitars, later flutes and clarinets); Simon Kreutner (1846-1912) in Hart in the Zillertal (zithers, harps, guitars, violins); Jakob Wallensteiner (ca.1809-1865) in Alpbach around 1849 (harps, violins). The joiner Josef Steiner (1862-1908) in Lengberg/Nikolsdorf soon changed over to manufacturing violins and zithers.

South of the Brenner Pass, too, trained joiners liked to carve serviceable violins, for example Sebastian Pircher (1859-1934) in Schweinsteg in Passeier and Pietro Floriani (1787-1870) in Riva.[55]

In 1671 the farmer’s son and “violin maker from Caltern” Matthias Alban (1634-1712) was admitted as a resident of Bozen. He was the most famous Tyrolean violin maker after Jakob Stainer. His violins were close to those of the latter in tone; their masterly execution recalls the Füssen school. Matthias Alban’s violin bows are said to have surpassed those from Cremona. Of his sons, Johann Michael Alban (1677-1730) took over the workshop of his father-in-law Wolfgang Sagmayr in Graz in 1702, and Josef (I) Alban (1680-1722) that of his father in Bozen in 1712. Josef (II) Anton Alban(i) (1720-1771) was a grandson of Matthias Alban and pupil of Johann Michael Alban. After journeyman’s years in Vienna he became a resident of Bozen in 1759 and established himself successfully in the town with his trade.

Johannes Jais (1752-after 1780) had learned the craft of building violins from his father Franz Jais in Mittenwald and worked in Bozen around 1775 in the “good Tyrolean manner.” Peter Sebastian Wirnitzer, who is known from a printed violin label “[...] Bulsani in Tiroli Anno 1693” may have stayed in Bozen only temporarily. A violin by Johan(n)es Eberhardt Steger, dated Bozen 1684, has been preserved.[56]

The lute maker Giovanni Martino Cabona (†1580) is first mentioned in documentary sources in 1571 in Trent. Giovanni Antonio Berera (1711-1799) is documented as a violin maker in Trent between 1745 and 1771, and as a dulcimer (Hackbrett) and harpsichord (cembalo) builder. In Rovereto, Antonio di Chiusole (1735-1797) built mainly double basses.[57]Josef Johann Ennemoser (1875-1953) of Obermais learned his trade in Munich, set up his own enterprise in Meran in 1902, and was a much sought-after repairer and builder of zithers and guitars.[58] Also known as the maker of a zither is Giovanni Battista Vian in Enneberg in1868. Working in Brixen around 1679 were the violin makers Rochus Gufler and Samuel Berner (†1754), who had stayed in Neustift/Vahrn earlier. Matthias Prat(h)er (1657-1697) of St Andrä near Brixen was granted burgher’s rights in the old town of Prague as early as 1681.[59] One of the most excellent violin builders of his time, Matteo Gofriller, was born in Brixen in 1659.[60] He became famous with his workshop in Venice.

4. Wind Instrument Making

In Schwaz, Andrä Hochschwarzer commonly known as “Klarinett-Anderl” (1825-1902) repaired violins, zithers and guitars and built some new string instruments, but mainly clarinets and flutes.[61] The wood turner Felix Aggstein manufactured flutes, oboes “and other musical wind stuff” in Wilten in 1721 and became a resident of Innsbruck in 1729. Franz Krismer (1790-1847) also carried on the trade of building woodwind instruments in Innsbruck. Johann Groß’smusic store in Innsbruck set up a repair workshop for wind instruments in 1833 and also employed German-Bohemian journeymen for building new ones. This is where Franz Wenzel Leibelt (1814-1856) of Kothau near Heinrichsgrün, Bohmia, worked until 1844, after which time he went into business for himself. His widow married Groß’s journeyman Anton Brambach (†1875), who carried on the workshop and produced mainly woodwind instruments. In June 1875 the musical instrument maker Anton Tutz (1842-1919) of Trinksaifen in German Bohemia (Deutschböhmen) established his own operation in Innsbruck. He had worked for Johann Groß before that and continued to do repairs for him. Rudolf (I) Tutz (1880-1952), Rudolf (II) Tutz (1909-1963) and Rudolf (III) Tutz (*1940) each took over the workshop of their respective father. Rudolf (III) Tutz is still building all kinds of wood and brass wind instruments, including excellent copies of old master instruments in Innsbruck at the present time. Anton Brein(d)l of Graslitz, Bohemia, built wind instruments in Innsbruck from 1857 to about 1875. Tyrolean musicians acquired their wind instruments not only from Bohemian makers then living in the Tyrol but could also order directly from Bohemia, for instance through Paul Fatka (†1860). He had come to Innsbruck from Bohemia in 1815 to join the newly founded imperial riflemen’s orchestra (Kaiserjägerkapelle) and was able to establish himself in town as a trader in instruments from his former homeland. After his death this trading business passed over to Johann Groß.

The following are some of the wind instrument makers active in the 19th century: Fridolin Berktold in Bichlbach (about 1826, clarinets), Hans Prockl in Schwaz (about 1900), C. Hauser in Waidring (first half of the 19th century, clarinets), Peter Eder and Mathias Seissel (about 1900) in Kufstein, Franz Mayr in Lienz (about 1800), and in Bozen there were Johann Schgaguler (mid- to second half of the 19th century) and Franz Hetfleisch (about 1850), Johann Plaschke of Graslitz (establishment of his enterprise in 1882) and the German-Bohemian Wenzel Zöttel (about 1910).[62] A local instrument builder in the Zillertal was the carpenter and joiner Franz Dreml (1825 Schwendberg - 1914 Laimach). He was a clarinetist who had learned instrument making on his own and knew how to repair church organs and even how to set up a new, small, chamber organ. He was mostly occupied with creating woodwind instruments that were, however, built like brass instruments with keys, for example a Bombardon from a piece of tree trunk and a Bombardin from fence posts. Instruments of this kind were played by the Holzknittel-Musikkapelle, a band founded by Dreml, which traveled as far as America for concerts. The instruments for the Mayrhofener Holzknittelkapelle around 1900 had been created by August Knauer.[63]