Josef diligence
Josef Fleiß (born February 19, 1906 in Unterdrauburg , † July 1978 in Vienna ) was an Austrian instrument maker .
Life
Josef Fleiß was born in 1906 in Unterdrauburg (today Dravograd , Slovenia ). During the Carinthian defensive battle in the spring of 1919, Fleiß joined a combat group as porter, with which he stormed to Windischgraz (today Slovenj Gradec , Slovenia). However, the liberation attempt failed.
job
Fleiß went to Klagenfurt with a Slovenian certificate of discharge and started an apprenticeship with the harmonica manufacturer Lubas & Sohn . From 1925 he worked alternately in Klagenfurt and in the branch in Laibach ( Ljubljana ), where his bilingualism benefited him. In 1932 he took over the management of the branch in Ljubljana. He later bought this branch and employed up to 40 people.
He had buyers for his harmonicas in the USA, France and Holland, he also repaired harmonicas for the Yugoslav royal family, and he built an instrument for Crown Prince Peter.
Since he was an Austrian citizen , he had to enlist in the German Wehrmacht in 1943 and was taken prisoner by the Americans . After the war, he was unable to return to Slovenia. In 1945 his company was expropriated and renamed Melodija Mengeš .
After the war
Josef Fleiß went to his brother in Bad St. Leonhard in Lavanttal in Carinthia , who was the school director there. As a subtenant with his brother, he started repairing instruments again. A little later he started building accordions again in rented rooms. He managed to place an advertisement in a Canadian newspaper, which meant that he was more than covered with orders. Although he was unable to fully satisfy the orders, he never aimed to enlarge his business. He worked until around 1972, mostly with a journeyman and an apprentice. According to a conversation with Herfried Zernig on October 6, 2006, Josef Fleiß only trained three apprentices in Austria. The third person, Hans Tirof, is currently working at Harmonikabau Georg Öllerer in Freilassing .
student
Peter Müller
Peter Müller and Herfried Zernig learned the trade from him.
Peter Müller took over the business from Josef Fleiß in 1975. After his death in 2014, his wife Edith took over the company with their two children Marcel and Janine. Harmonika Müller is currently the largest company that produces Styrian harmonica . The annual production is about 1300 pieces, he employs 45 people (2016). Before Peter Müller started his own business, he worked for two and a half years at Hohner as a design engineer and then for three years for a Schwyzerörgeli producer.
Herfried Zernig
Zernig is a relatively small harmonica manufacturer with few employees, the annual production is currently (2006) around 50 pieces of instruments. After completing his apprenticeship, he was a master craftsman at Lang (Steirerland brand) for a few years; after Lang went bankrupt in 1983, Hermann Jamnik bought the bankruptcy estate and started producing Styrian harmonicas himself, which he had previously obtained from Lang. He temporarily employed Herfried Zernig for a year until he became self-employed in 1985. Hermann Jamnik has been working with his nephew Karl Fekonja, who has been trained in the meantime, since 1985.
Schrammel harmonicas
Herfried Zernig now also builds Schrammel accordions, as do some other accordion makers who primarily produce Styrian harmonicas.
His Schrammel harmonicas are based more on the Styrian harmonica. Construction, appearance and treble keyboard are closely based on the template. The bass keys are not on the bass floor like the original. The assignment of the bass keys corresponds to the Schrammel harmonica. Some other distinctive deviations are: The reed plates are waxed up, the valves are only made of leather on some basses, the dimensions of the reed plates are slightly different, the key construction is different, the corner connections of the housing parts are different, no bone glue is used, the bellows has no veneer inlays and is not made with leather edging. These adjustments may be justifiable and in some cases may also be requested by the customer. This list is not intended to constitute an assessment, but only to clarify that there are many differences to historical instruments.
swell
- Helmut Gutleder: The development of harmonica production in Austria. Master's thesis (University Mozarteum Salzburg), Salzburg 2006, pp. 72–73.
- Personal conversation with Ms. Ina Ulzer on June 16, 2006 and October 25, 2006.
- Furthermore, repeated personal conversations with all living and named persons.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Diligence, Josef |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian instrument maker |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 19, 1906 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Unterdrauburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 1978 |
| Place of death | Vienna |