Zither by Schulz & Kerschensteiner Made In Regensburg, Germany w/ Wooden Case

Description

Extremely Rare Zither by Schulz & Kerschensteiner Made In Regensburg, Germany w/ Wooden Case.
Franz Xaver Kerschensteiner (born May 7, 1839 in Parsberg (Upper Palatinate); † December 22, 1915 in Regensburg ) was a violin maker, but above all a zither maker, and for many years a member of the city council, councilor and member of the city of Regensburg in the Upper Palatinate district administrator. With the help of his employees, more than 5000 numbered instruments have been created in his workshop.
life and work
Nothing is known about his parents today. Kerschensteiner last attended the royal study and music seminar at St. Emmeram Castle in Regensburg for four years , before he decided in
1858 to study with the violin maker Petrus Schulz , with whom he stayed for four years. He is described as extremely talented and hardworking
. Until 1865 he went on the usual wanderings, including to the then famous violin makers Tiefenbrunner and Echinger in Munich , to Strotzinger in Linz , to Bittner in Vienna and to Meindl in Würzburg. In that year
he married the daughter of his former teacher, Euphrosina Schulz, and became a partner in his company. For this purpose, the city council had to approve the request made on July 18, 1865 for “acceptance as a protective relative and permission to marry Euphrosina Schulz, a citizen and instrument maker”, which he did with a resolution of August 1, 1865. On March 4, 1870, Kerschensteiner received citizenship.
After Schulz's death in 1871, Kerschensteiner continued to run the business at Pfarrergasse 10 alone
. In it both easy use instruments and skilfully with were inlaid technology made violins , violas , cellos , harps , guitars and counterpoint guitars made.
Kerschensteiner's zithers in particular became increasingly popular because he knew how to improve both the sound and the design. This also meant that he achieved a freer vibration of the soundboard . He had this patented on September 21, 1883 by the newly founded Imperial Patent Office in Munich. Instead of a rigid connection from the soundboard cover to the soundboard, the construction consisted of a bar that was not directly connected to the floor using a bridge under the fingerboard. He apparently had the suggestion for this from the zither virtuoso Curt Schulz, who in a publication demanded that the instrument makers should take on the problem of the small sound volume, especially for concert events.
Another innovation was the so-called piano back zithers, which had a second bottom in the body to improve the resonance. He probably got the suggestion for this from his colleague Franz Schwarzer from Missouri , who is considered to be the inventor of the piano back and whom he presented at the world exhibition in 1873met in Vienna. In Kerschensteiner's price list from 1898 it says: “After a lot of effort and many attempts I have succeeded in producing a direct sound generation with these zithers by connecting a free-standing bridge with the soundboard, which the latter is modeled on the piano. The vibrations of the struck strings are transmitted directly to the actual soundboard through a bridge that goes through the ceiling without touching it, causing it to vibrate as much as possible. This creates a certain, clear tone, which has the same strength and tone color in all registers, which is only inherent in perfectly perfect instruments. ”This catalog contains numerous letters of thanks from all over the world.
Kerschensteiner received many awards for his achievements as an instrument maker, and he was also allowed to call himself “Royal Bavarian Court Supplier”. Lütgendorff writes: “In Kerschensteiner, violin making reached its most beautiful development in Regensburg, and Kerschensteiner's violins, which are valued far and wide and even in England, are works of art in the true sense of the word. His zithers are no less valued, and are paid for with prices like no other. "
His son Franz Seraph Peter, (born November 9, 1869 in Regensburg; † February 2, 1935 of pneumonia in Berlin ), had been a co-owner of the instrument manufacturing company since 1908 at the latest and continued the business after his father's death. Various external influences led to the decline in business success, which the son continued with the same range. From over 200 zithers annually in the years 1890–1895, production fell to around 100 at the beginning of the First World War in 1914 due to lower demand, and to around 15 instruments in the early 1920s.
On April 1, 1935, the carpenter and music company Konrad Weidlich bought the business, part of the workshop equipment went to the Regensburg City Museum. The last instruments that were so highly valued at the time were sold in 1951, while the last remaining instruments were also transferred to the Regensburg Museum in Germany.
FX Kerschensteiner, who also made a name for himself as a violin maker in the 19th century, experimented with an improved zither construction in 1880 and finally specialized in the construction of so-called Arion zithers. He made these zithers specially with a piano soundboard and a bridge that transfers the vibrations of the strings directly to the soundboard. This creates a shorter and stronger tone than in conventional construction. There is evidence that over 5,000 zither were built in Kerschensteiner's workshop. Today, Kerschensteiner zithers are among the rarities and are particularly popular among folk musicians!
Franz Xaver Kerschensteiner was born on May 7th, 1839 in Parsberg in the Upper Palatinate. After attending the elementary and Latin school in the Royal Study and Music Seminar in St. Emmeram, Regensburg, he started an apprenticeship with the well-known violin maker Petrus Schulz in Regensburg (1808 - 1871) at the age of 16. As Baron von Lütgendorff reports in his book on violin and lute makers, Petrus Schulz was " not only naturally gifted, but also extremely meticulous and had on the wanderings that took him ... [to] Holland, used every opportunity to perfect oneself on all sides ". In 1834 he took over the instrument making workshop in Regensburg from his teacher Joseph Fischer, which had been in existence since 1790.
Kerschensteiner did an apprenticeship with Schulz for four years and then, as was customary at the time, went on a hike. He worked at Tiefenbrunner and Echinger in Munich, Strotzinger in Linz, Bittner in Vienna and Meindl in Würzburg. Returning to Regensburg in 1865, he entered the business of his former teacher Petrus Schulz as a partner and married his daughter Euphrosina. The request made on July 18, 1865 at the municipal authorities of the city of Regensburg for " admission as a protective relative and for permission to marry Euphrosina Schulz, the daughter of a citizen and instrument maker"was complied with on August 1st, 1865. He was granted citizenship on March 4th, 1870. Schulz and Kerschensteiner worked together in the company until 1872; Violins, violas, cellos, zithers, guitars and bass guitars as well as zither strings were made. Whether “simple” or “artistically high quality” - the manufactured instruments were always made with the greatest care to the most beautiful instruments in zither making!
On September 21, 1883, Kerschensteiner was granted patent no. 24075 at the Imperial Patent Office for the construction of a concert zither for his “new zither design”. In his instrument catalog these zithers are referred to as " concert zithers according to an older patent ". The impetus for the construction of an improved zither was probably the article "The Zither of the Future" by the London zither virtuoso Curt Schulz in the "Centralblatt deutscher Zithervereine" in 1879, in which a technical improvement of the zither by the instrument maker, so that the previously too weak zither get more power and volume and thus be able to appear in public and together with other instruments, was demanded.
The Arion shape of the zither, which Kerschensteiner decided to use, allowed an audible improvement in volume due to the design. Kerschensteiner himself wrote in his price list in 1898: " As so many new and good things have come to us from the new world, the first improved zither with a round body and a bridge attached to the ceiling was actually just an imitation and Improvement of the old double-bellied zither, as it was made very often in the first decades of this century in Oberbaiern and Munich. "With the" new world "Kerschensteiner refers probably to his colleagues Franz Black in Missouri, USA, with whom he met at the World Exhibition in Vienna 1873rd He continued" ... with a round body, in which the vibrations of the Strings are transferred directly to the top, producing a more even and powerful sound than the zithers of conventional construction. But that even a top stiffened due to the very significant tension of the strings cannot sound like a soundboard almost completely freed from tension and pressure of the strings, as it is used in my Arion and harp zithers according to my own invention, is in the nature of things . "
Probably at the suggestion of Schulz in London, Kerschensteiner then developed the well-known zither shape in the years 1883 to 1887 based on piano construction, which is still so valued today in zither player circles. Kerschensteiner describes his own development as follows: "After a lot of effort and many attempts, I have succeeded in producing a direct sound generation with these zithers by connecting a free-standing bridge with the soundboard, which the latter is modeled on the piano. .... The vibrations of the struck strings are transmitted directly to the actual soundboard by a bridge that goes through the ceiling without touching it, causing it to vibrate as much as possible. This creates a specific, clear tone, which has the same strength and tone color in all registers, which is only characteristic of perfect instruments. "
This construction combines the basic idea of the patent claim from 1883 of the free oscillation with the requirement of Schulz. The patent from 1883 was applied for and granted only for a concert zither and not, as is often wrongly assumed, for an Arion zither or piano floor zither. A patent for the design with the piano back is not known. In the USA, Franz Schwarzer is considered to be the inventor of the piano back. Although parallels to the Kerschensteiner instruments are unmistakable, Arion zithers with piano back by Franz Schwarzer can only be proven from 1891.
On the basis of the second, preserved "order book for zithers", in which orders and details of the zithers produced between 1907 and 1951 are written down, one can deduce the type and quality, number of pieces and who ordered the instrument. For example, between 1908 and 1914, 100 to 110 zithers were completed annually. In the period up to 1907, for which unfortunately there are no more documents, about 200 zithers must have been made annually according to the numbering. The instruments were mainly delivered to Germany and all of Europe, but also to the USA, South America and Australia.
Kerschensteiner received many awards as an instrument maker and was allowed to call himself "Royal Bavarian Court Supplier". Lütgendorff reports: " Violin making in Regensburg reached its most beautiful development in Kerschensteiner, and Kerschensteiner's violins, which are valued far and wide and even in England, are works of art in the true sense of the word. His zithers are no less valued Prices are paid like no other . " He was also given numerous honors in his civil life. For many years he was a city councilor, councilor and member of the city of Regensburg in the Upper Palatinate district. FX Kerschensteiner died on December 22, 1915
To the further history of the company Xaver Kerschensteiner
The son Franz Seraph Peter Kerschensteiner, born on November 9th, 1869 in Regensburg, who had been co-owner of the father's business since 1908, continued the workshop after the death of his father, but could no longer build on the earlier sales successes, which m. E. Mainly due to the lost First World War and the subsequent worldwide social ostracism of the German Reich. The global economic and currency crisis as well as a strengthening of the competitors in the zither construction and a changed demand behavior are also likely to have led to further impairments in sales. From 1921 the number of orders was only 9 to 19 zithers per year. After the death of Franz Kerschensteiner on 02.02.1935 in Berlin, the workshop was opened on 01.04. Taken over in 1935 by the Regensburg joinery and music company Konrad Weidlich. Part of the workshop equipment was given to the Regensburg City Museum and has been in the depot there ever since. Hardly any Arion zithers were ordered after 1938, although they were still available. The Weidlich company itself existed as a music business until around 1990.
Kerschensteiner zithers are very much valued again today and are also newly made by the zither maker Reinhard Herrmann. The renaissance of the Kerschensteiner piano back zithers is probably due to the Wegscheider musicians, especially Hans Kraus and Josef Riesch, who acquired a zither in 1929 and 1930 and became very famous in the 1970s. But also Roman Messerer and some well-known folk musicians deserve thanks and recognition that the name "Kerschensteiner" is a household name again today. Kerschensteiner's achievements as a zither designer, the development and perfection of an outwardly mostly simple, but technically modern instrument, is still relevant even after more than 110 years.