Martin Skowroneck

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martin Skowroneck, 2013
Soundboard of a two-manual Flemish harpsichord by Martin Skowroneck (1961)

(Franz Hermann) Martin Skowroneck (born December 21, 1926 in Berlin-Spandau ; † May 14, 2014 in Bremen ) was a German harpsichord , clavichord and flute maker and a pioneer in the construction of modern harpsichords based on historical principles.

Life

Skowroneck lived in Bremen since 1934. He was drafted into military service in World War II and fled from Soviet captivity. In 1947 he made up his Abitur and graduated in 1950 from the Bremen Music School with a diploma as a private music teacher for flute and recorder. Since he was not satisfied with the instruments available at the time during his studies, he began to build his own recorders from 1949 (initially from baseball bats). He continued making recorders until the early 1990s. In addition to his teaching activities, Skowroneck gave concerts, gave lectures and published on instrument making.

In 1952 he was commissioned to restore a Clavichord von Merzdorf from the 1930s, which had been badly damaged in World War II. Working on the instrument prompted him to build a clavichord for himself, and later also for other lovers. His first harpsichord dates from 1953.

Skowroneck had no training as an instrument maker and acquired his skills autodidactically through a thorough analysis of received instruments. The internal construction and disposition of his first harpsichords often followed modern models at first, but he soon developed a strong interest in historical construction principles, which prompted him to examine historical harpsichords in detail , for example in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin . He also researched historical documents that shed light on the construction of the old instruments. Skowroneck began his pioneering work at the same time as the comparable American instrument makers Frank Hubbard and William Dowd, but did not know their research and achieved a largely independent performance. The harpsichord researcher Edward Kottick describes Skowroneck's work as follows:

"[His instruments] were built uncompromisingly in the mode of the antiques, with practically no concessions to modernity. His cases were made of plank wood, with classical case framing; he used wood, rather than brass or plastic for his upper and lower guides, and like the antiques, his jacks had no adjustment screws; His keyboards were light and of harpsichord proportions, and he rejected the use of pedals. Skowroneck, in other words, immersed himself in the building practices of the antiques and did his best to emulate them. He succeeded brilliantly. "

“[His instruments] were built uncompromisingly in the style of the historical, with only minor concessions to the modern. Its housings were made of solid wood with a historical interior construction; he used wood instead of brass or plastic for his upper and lower register racks, and as with the old instruments, the jumpers had no regulating screws; his keyboards ran smoothly and had harpsichord proportions; he refused to use pedals. In other words, Skowroneck immersed himself in the architecture of the ancients and emulated them. He succeeded excellently. "

- Kottick : A History of the Harpsichord. 2003, p. 444.

Skowroneck quickly gained a good reputation. In 1957 he created an Italian harpsichord for the Concentus Musicus Wien . The two-manual harpsichord after Dulcken (harpsichord No. 19), built in 1962 for the famous harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt , was used for numerous recordings and made Skowroneck world famous.

“For years he [Leonhardt] labored to find the most authentic replica harpsichord; his favorite, by Martin Skowroneck of Bremen, which had pride of place in his huge drawing room, was made of 18th-century woods. That may have been why it sounded better than any other, but he could not exactly tell. "

“For years he was looking for the most authentic replica of a harpsichord. His favorite piece, a work by Skowroneck from Bremen - it was given a special place in his large salon - was made of wood from the 18th century. That could have been the reason why it sounded better than other instruments, but he couldn't explain it exactly. "

- Obituary for Gustav Leonhardt . 2012

Skowroneck generally worked alone and produced his instruments quite slowly without employees (two two-manual harpsichords per year), so that demand exceeded the production volume. The harpsichordist Ketil Haugsand reports 17 years of waiting, but it was worth it.

Skowronecks was a pioneer in the field of the historically oriented building of stringed keyboard instruments. However, his work was not without controversy, since Germany was then the center of the dominant industry of factory-built, ahistorical harpsichords, which were widely used. Skowroneck justified his approach to harpsichord making in publications. However, his words fell largely on deaf ears. The fact that the number of replicas of historical instruments for the performance of early music in Germany nevertheless increased, is thanks to the influence of Skowroneck and like-minded people like Klaus Ahrend and Rainer Schütze.

In July 2012, 85-year-old Skowroneck was still making harpsichords. Martin Skowroneck died on May 14, 2014 in Bremen at the age of 87. Skowroneck lived with his wife Susanne (1930-2016) in Bremen. His son Tilman Skowroneck (* 1959) is a harpsichordist, fortepianist and musicologist.

Works

Harpsichord by Martin Skowroneck (1976) after Christian Zell (1728). Base by RJ Regier (Freeport, Maine) based on the original
Decoration of a Franco-Flemish two-manual harpsichord by Martin Skowroneck (1982)

Martin Skowroneck created harpsichords, clavichords, spinets and virginals based on English, Italian, early ( Ruckers ) and late Flemish (Dulcken), French and German models. A large number of one and two-manual German harpsichords follow models by Christian Zell and Michael Mietke or are hybrid models. His early French instruments are based on Jean-Antoine Vaudry, the later harpsichords cover five octaves. There are also some bentside spinets based on English models and a large number of clavichords based on various models.

At first he did not build consistently according to historical models, but from 1957 he turned away from the modern peg construction and only made instruments with box bodies. Some of the materials used, such as boar bristles and bird feathers, were considered archaic by some. In 1991 he began building a total of three fortepianos ; He continued building recorders and transverse flutes well into his later years. In addition, Skowroneck restored old instruments, such as the world-famous Hamburg cell harpsichord from 1728, and restored their playability.

Contrary to occasional demands for careful, faithful reproductions of historical originals, Skowroneck's instruments were original reinterpretations according to historical construction principles. He did not build any instruments in series, only one-offs, the construction of which he was constantly developing with unconventional ideas. Skowroneck described his philosophy as follows:

“A new building in which an instrument maker expresses himself, solves the task with all his skills and knowledge, and relies on his judgment instead of on precisely specified dimensions will be more successful and authentic in the overall sense. It doesn't matter how closely he follows a role model or whether he works freely. Only if it leaves the historical framework will it go astray, like the harpsichord making at the beginning of the 20th century. "

- Skowroneck : making harpsichords. 2003, p. 135.

His article The Harpsichord of Nicholas Lefebvre 1755 (2002) documents an unusual project initiated by Gustav Leonhardt, who asked whether a new harpsichord could be made old enough to withstand expert scrutiny. The article documents the ingenious work steps in order to produce the most “authentic” modern harpsichord possible; Skowroneck even “restored” his own work. As the title indicates, the perpetrator confessed his act to avoid possible fraudulent intent. In 2003 he published his book Cembalobau ( Harpsichord Construction , bilingual text in German and English), a compendium of the knowledge that he had acquired over many years as a harpsichord maker.

Fonts

  • Harpsichord making. Experience and knowledge from the workshop practice . PPVMedien, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-932275-58-6 .
  • Christian Zell's harpsichord, Hamburg 1728, and its restoration. In: Organ Yearbook. Volume 5, 1974, pp. 79-87.
  • The Harpsichord of Nicholas Lefebvre 1755. The Story of a Forgery without Intent to Defraud. In: The Galpin Society Journal. Vol. 55, April 2002, pp. 4-14, 161.
  • Wrong paths and stumbling blocks. About the difficulties in recreating historical keyboard instruments. In: Instrument making. Copy or replica? 1992, ISBN 3-89512-056-1 , pp. 81-86.
  • Musical aspects of harpsichord sound. In: The musical instrument. 7, 1971.
  • Thinking about copying historical stringed pianos. In: Monika Lustig (Ed.): The Central German Harpsichord. 2003, ISBN 3-89512-124-X , pp. 119-126.
  • Practical considerations and observations on the question of the string strength of early fortepiano. In: Friedemann Hellwig (Ed.): Studia organologica. Hans Schneider, Tutzing 1987, pp. 437-443.
  • Problems of harpsichord making from a historical perspective. In: Hi Fi Stereophony. 9, 1968, pp. 700-711; 10, 1968, pp. 781-784; 11, 1968, 875-878.
  • A Ruckers secret? Try to answer an open question. In: Colloquium Ruckers klavecimbels en copieën. Hubert Bédard, A. de Ceuleneer and others Ruckers Genootschap, Antwerp 1977.
  • For what purpose and aim, with what intention are historical musical instruments restored? In: Museum Vleeshuis, Ruckers Genootschap (ed.): Colloquium “Restauratieproblemen van Antwerpse klavecimbels.” Frits Knuf, Antwerpen 1971, p. 28 ff.

literature

  • Obituary for Gustav Leonhardt . In: The Economist, January 28, 2012, accessed May 21, 2014.
  • Frank Hubbard: Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making . Harvard University Press, Cambridge 1965.
  • Edward Kottick: The Harpsichord Owner's Guide. A Manual for Buyers and Owners . UNC Press Books, 1992.
  • Edward Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord . Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2003.
  • Howard Schott: Skowroneck, Martin (Franz Hermann). In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians . Volume 17. Macmillan, London 1980, ISBN 0-333-23111-2 , p. 367.
  • Howard Schott, Martin Elste : Harpsichord. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd Edition. Oxford University Press, 2001.
  • Tilman Skowroneck: Beethoven the Pianist . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2010.
  • Arnold Werner-Jensen: Skowroneck, Martin. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Person part. Volume 15. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2006, ISBN 978-3-7618-1135-1 , pp. 882-883.

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b c Werner-Jensen: Skowroneck, Martin. 2006, p. 882.
  2. ↑ a b Igor Kipnis (Ed.): Harpsichord and Clavichord. To Encyclopedia. Routledge, New York 2007, ISBN 0-415-93765-5 , p. 224.
  3. ^ A b Schott: Skowroneck, Martin (Franz Hermann). 2001, p. 367.
  4. ↑ a b c Werner-Jensen: Skowroneck, Martin. 2006, p. 883.
  5. ↑ As explained in Skowroneck, 2002, said instrument was built in the French tradition of the 18th century. Instead of the “timbers of the 18th century”, however, the historical building principles were consistently applied.
  6. ↑ Interview by Pamela Hickman with Ketil Haugsand: Harpsichordist Ketil Haugsand (Norway-Germany) talks about his work and early music , accessed on May 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ For a detailed discussion, see the last two chapters of Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord .
  8. ^ For example in Skowroneck: The Harpsichord by Christian Zell. 1974.
  9. ↑ Kottick: A History of the Harpsichord , S. 521st
  10. ↑ Interview by Pamela Hickman with Skowroneck's son Tilman: Tilman Skowroneck in Israel , accessed on May 20, 2014.
  11. ^ Tilman Skowroneck: Martin Skowroneck 1926-2014 , accessed on May 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ Boar bristles are used as springs for the tongues of the jumpers, so that the tongue returns to its place after the string is torn; see Kottick: The Harpsichord Owner's Guide. 1992, p. 103. Raven feathers were previously used as picks .
  13. ↑ Ludger Rémy : Musical pictures or the like , accessed on May 21, 2014.
  14. ^ Tilman Skowroneck: Beethoven the pianist . 2010, p. 140, note 56.
  15. ^ Skowroneck: The harpsichord from Christian Zell. 1974.
personal data
SURNAME Skowroneck, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Skowroneck, Franz Hermann Martin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German harpsichord maker
DATE OF BIRTH December 21, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin-Spandau
DATE OF DEATH May 14, 2014
Place of death Bremen