Johann Georg Stauffer

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Johann Georg Stauffer (also Johann Georg Staufer , born January 26, 1778 in Vienna ; † January 24, 1853 ibid) was an Austrian violin maker and the most important Viennese guitar maker .

Life

Johann Georg Stauffer was born as the son of Mathias Stauffer, a day laborer from Weyregg am Attersee in the Viennese suburb of Weißgerber . He learned violin making from Franz Geissenhof . After taking the Viennese oath on June 20, 1800 and married Josepha Fischer on May 16, 1802 in the Schottenkirche in Vienna , he took over the workshop of Ignaz Christian Bartl . Initially, he built entirely on the model of the Italian master guitarists Giovanni Battista Fabricatore and Gaetano Vinaccia , then, after perfecting their models over several variants, developed the style typical for his guitars (see section Instruments ).

In 1813/14 he applied for the vacant position as court violin maker, but Johann Martin Stoss was preferred to him. From 1830 to 1836 Stauffer also worked as a music publisher. During these years he turned more and more to his inventions, which is probably the reason for the serious financial problems that began. As early as 1829, he applied to the magistrate for an advance payment of 1,000 guilders. In 1831/32 he was impoverished in debt arrest and in 1832 he was seized. He then worked temporarily in the workshop of his son Johann Anton before settling in Kaschau (now Košice / Slovakia) for a short time . Stauffer spent the last part of his life in the Viennese public supply house St. Marx, where he could continue working on his ideas for the guitar and other instruments in a small workshop. There he developed several guitars with completely new concepts (including guitars with an oval body and double bottom), which were always labeled "Made according to the latest acoustic improvement by Johann Georg Stauffer in Vienna, Landstrasse 572". In 1853 he finally died impoverished of paralysis.

Johann Georg Stauffer had two sons:

  • the guitar maker and sound artist Johann Anton Stauffer (around 1805 – after 1871), who took over his father's workshop in 1833, but only started building under his own name from 1836, and
  • the pianist Franz Stauffer (1803–?), who appeared publicly in Vienna as early as 1812.

Instruments

The Viennese guitar model is essentially a type of guitar coined by Johann Georg Stauffer, with a longitudinally curved bottom, a narrower waist and a connector bar. In 1822, Stauffer and Johann Ertl received an imperial privilege for improvements to the guitar, including raising the fingerboard and separating it from the soundboard, developing the mechanics ("screw machine") and using embedded metal frets.

Until 1825/30, the instruments were usually equipped with an 8-shaped head plate. In 1825 Johann Georg Stauffer invented the tuning mechanism named after him : peg plate made of metal with an asymmetrical volute-like head, peg pins guided through the plate with worm gear and pegs on the side with button; the vertebrae are arranged in a row on the right side of the vertebral plate. Such mechanisms ( Stauffer style ) are still used today, e.g. B. manufactured by the companies Rodgers and Rubner.

In 1823 JG Stauffer built his arpeggione , a string instrument that combines the characteristics of the guitar and the cello. Franz Schubert (1797–1828), who also owned a Stauffer guitar, wrote his Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor (D 821) for this otherwise almost neglected instrument. Stauffer also experimented with new violin shapes and double guitars . Some of these inventions were claimed together with various structural ideas at the same time by the instrument maker Peter Teufelsdorfer , who later worked in Pest , which led to fierce copyright disputes.

The notes on his instruments either bear his initials or the name "Johann Georg Staufer".

Stauffer and CF Martin

Martin 00 Stauffer 175th

The founder of Martin Guitars , Christian Friedrich Martin Senior, born in Markneukirchen in 1796 , first learned from his father, Johann Georg Martin. At the age of 15 he went to Vienna to do an apprenticeship with Stauffer. Christian Friedrich made it to the foreman in his workshop due to his skill. The marriage with the Viennese carpenter and instrument maker daughter Ottilie Lucia Kühle obviously prompted Martin to leave Stauffer because he found a new job in the workshop of his father-in-law. He stayed in Vienna for a total of 14 years, after which he returned to his hometown and opened his own shop. After a dispute with the guild of violin makers in the city of Neukirchen, he emigrated to America . B. introduced the mechanics developed by Stauffer.

In 2008, for the 175th anniversary of the company Martin, 50 pieces of the "Martin 00 Stauffer 175th" were manufactured and sold worldwide, which pay tribute in a special way to the teacher of the company founder.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Hackl: The guitar in Austria - From Abate Costa to Zykan. In: The Viennese School of Guitar Making. Innsbruck, Vienna, Bozen 2011, p. 79.
  2. ^ Helga Haupt: Viennese instrument maker from 1791 to 1815. In: Studies on musicology. 1960, pp. 120-184.
  3. ↑ Stefan Hackl: The guitar in Austria - From Abate Costa to Zykan. In: The Viennese School of Guitar Making. Innsbruck, Vienna, Bozen 2011, p. 80.
  4. ↑ Kaiserl.-Königigl. General Hofkammer: Description of the inventions and improvements for which the kaiserl.-Königigl. Austrian states have been granted paents and their duration of privilege has now expired . First volume, Vienna 1841, p. 277
  5. ↑ Stauffer mechanics in Rogers
  6. ^ Stauffer mechanics at Rubner
  7. ^ Review of Franz Schubert: Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano D821
  8. ↑ Experimental violin 1826
  9. ^ Rudolf Hopfner: "Johann Georg Staufer", in: The music in past and present, personal part, Volume 15, Kassel, 2006, p. 1350
  10. ↑ http://www.martinguitar.com/about-martin/the-martin-story/martin-timeline.html
  11. ↑ Stauffer Instruments & History
  12. ↑ Markneukirchen Musical Instrument Museum
  13. ^ Tom and Mary Anne Evans, Guitars (1977), p. 51, ISBN 0-19-318512-1
  14. ↑ Martin Stauffer Edition ( Memento of the original from December 10, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.martinguitar.com
personal data
SURNAME Stauffer, Johann Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian guitar maker
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1778
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH January 24, 1853
Place of death Vienna