Richard Jacob

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Richard Jacob at work (around 1935)

Herrmann Richard Jacob (born February 11, 1877 in Markneukirchen ; † July 17, 1960 there ) was a German guitar maker . He is known by the name of his workshop as Richard Jacob "Weißgerber" .

Life

Richard Jacob lived and worked in Markneukirchen in Vogtland and is considered one of the outstanding guitar makers of the 20th century. "He learned zither making from 1891 to 1894 (on the advice of his father) from Ernst Rudolf Glier (1862-1930) and only after his military service - He worked as a guitar maker with Wilhelm Voigt from 1899 to 1905. In 1905 he started his own business as a guitar maker and worked until 1911 in the workshop of his father Karl August Jacob (1846–1918), learned guitar making with Johann Friedrich August Paulus (1806–1870) in Markneukirchen RJ had the brand name “Weißgerber” protected and began to set up its own sales department in 1921. Previously, as is customary in Vogtland, he had delivered his products anonymously - ie without the manufacturer's signature - to local wholesalers (so-called “forwarders”). After 1921, he only limited cooperation with dealers, only to end it completely around 1930.

Richard Jacob moved the workshop several times: until 1911 he worked in his father's workshop, from 1911 to 1919 at Breitenfelder Strasse 77 in Markneukirchen, for the next ten years (1919–1929) at Klingenthaler Strasse 888 and from 1929 up to his death in Goethestrasse 2. The house in Goethestrasse was a new building in a row of houses, the Jacob family lived in the apartment on the ground floor. At first the workshop was in the kitchen, later it was moved to a larger room with a view of the street. Advertising postcards from the Weissgerber workshop show the cramped conditions and the amount of instruments built and stored.

Richard Jacob was extremely productive in his 55 years as a self-employed guitar maker and manufactured more than 3,700 instruments, mainly concert guitars in various shapes, but also double-choir instruments such as vihuelas, baroque guitars or historical lutes. There are hardly any instruments that are completely alike; he continuously experimented with models, shapes, constructions (such as a double resonance guitar with two tops) and decorations.

Christof Hanusch describes him as “headstrong and imaginative, disciplined, hardworking and thoughtful, but above all determined and obsessed with his work”.

Jacob Richard's son Arnold (1917–1944), whom he had trained in guitar making from 1932, died in the war. His eldest son Martin (1911–1991), who had initially taken up the teaching profession, began his apprenticeship with his father in 1945 and passed the master's examination as a plucked instrument maker in 1949 with distinction.

legacy

After Richard Jacobs death, Martin Jacob took over the "art workshop for guitars white tanners" and completed many of the instruments left unfinished by his father.

The workshop equipment of the Weissgerber workshop was acquired by the Museum for Musical Instruments at the University of Leipzig in 1998. It consists largely of Richard Jacobs tools, although the existing machines are from Martin Jacob. Both the Museum for Musical Instruments at the University of Leipzig and the Markneukirchen Musical Instrument Museum have instruments from the Weissgerber estate in their museum holdings.

In 2010, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Richard Jacobs' death and the publication of the book Weissgerber - Guitars by / Guitars by Richard Jacob by Christof Hanusch, a special exhibition was organized in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Markneukirchen . From July 16 to 18, 2010, a colloquium of the Markneukirchen musical instrument making course entitled Richard Jacob Weißgerber - Life, Work and Effect took place.

literature

  • Christof Hanusch: Weissgerber - Guitars by / Guitars by Richard Jacob . Markneukirchen, 2011, ISBN 978-3-00-033924-0
  • Instrumentarium Lipsiense - Weißgerber guitars collection, Museum for Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig, Ed. Andreas Michel

Recordings with Weißgerber instruments

  • Christof Hanusch: The Weißgerber guitars of the musical instrument museum in Markneukirchen . Association of friends and sponsors of the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Markneukirchen e. V., 2008
  • Thomas Müller-Pering : Guitars by Richard Jacob "Weißgerber" (1877–1960) - sound documentation . Raumklang, RK 2006 (project of the musical instrument making course in Markneukirchen, Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau), 2000
  • “Without my tulip I'm going astray” Documentary by Christian Ziewer, with the participation of Christof Hanusch, Musikinstrumenten-Museum Markneukirchen, H.-Christian Koehn, Frank-Peter Dietrich, Ulrike Meinel and others. a.
  • Volker Höh and Cantomano Quartet: SoloDuoTrioQuartett. German guitar music by Heinrich Albert , Bruno Henze and Simon Schneider. Naxos 8.551291, 2012

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christof Hanusch: "In the shadow of a genius - Martin Jacob 'Weißgerber'". Guitar current , 32nd year, No. 113, p. 54ff.
  2. ↑ a b c Bruno Henze: "A life for guitar making". In: The Guitar Friend, No. 5/6/7 p. 11 (1960)
  3. ↑ “But I had the courage u. I said to these gentlemen: You won't get any more instruments from me after they tried to press. ”Letter to Robert Treml dated February 9, 1930
  4. ↑ a b http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de/MUSEUM/weissg_werkst.htm
  5. ^ Exhibition of Weißgerber guitars in Leipzig. In: Guitar & Laute 8, 1986, issue 5, p. 39.
  6. ↑ Wolf Moser: “My favorite thing is the guitar I'm playing on” - a conversation with Christof Hanusch about “Weißgerber” guitars and Richard Jacob. Guitar current , Volume 32, No. 115, p. 24ff.
  7. ↑ http://www.studia-instrumentorum.de/MERZ/projekte/2010_weissgerber.htm
personal data
SURNAME Jacob, Richard
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weissgerber, Jacob Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German guitar maker
DATE OF BIRTH February 11, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Markneukirchen
DATE OF DEATH 17th July 1960
Place of death Markneukirchen