Franz Geissenhof
Franz Geissenhof (born September 15, 1753 in Füssen , † January 1, 1821 in Vienna ) was an Austrian violin maker .
Live and act
Franz Geissenhof was a student of the Viennese violin maker Johann Georg Thir , whose workshop he took over and continued after his death in 1781. At first he worked entirely in the style of his teacher after the Vienna School. He adopted his model with a high arch. The dark, thinly applied varnish is also typical for this time and region.
In the 1890s, Geissenhof increasingly got to know the Italian master instruments and was so impressed by their tonal size and their aesthetic execution that he continued to change and develop his model.
From around 1800 his works were created entirely in the style of Antonio Stradivari . As the first Viennese violin maker, he worked on the Italian model. The outline of the sound box , the model of the snail and the flat curvature show that he was able to study several violins made by the great Cremonese violin makers . The varnish is mostly dark purple-red and typical for him, later he also used lighter varnishes. Geissenhof was occasionally nicknamed the Viennese Stradivarius .
His wife died 14 months after him. Both were buried at the Sankt Marxer Friedhof .
One of his apprentices was Johann Georg Stauffer , who later came to fame and honor as a guitar maker and controversial inventor of the arpeggione .
See also: Viennese violin making
literature
- Walter Senn: Geißenhof, Franz. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 158 ( digitized version ).
- Rudolf Hopfner: Franz Geissenhof and his time = Franz Geissenhof and his time . Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna. With biographical contributions by Rita Steblin . PPV Medien, Bergkirchen 2009, ISBN 978-3-941532-00-7 , ( Edition Bochinsky ), (In German and English).
Individual evidence
- ^ Peter Kastner: The Stradivarius of Vienna. Article, Wiener Zeitung extra 12./13. December 2009, page 9.
Web links
- Peter Kastner: Entry on Franz Geissenhof in the Austria Forum (in the Heimatlexikon)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Geissenhof, Franz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian violin maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 15, 1753 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Feet |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 1, 1821 |
| Place of death | Vienna |