Shock (violin maker)

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The family impact of feet coined by the early 18th century to mid-19th century the southern German and Viennese violin . After the progenitor Hermann Joseph Stoss, 14 descendants from four generations exercised the craft .

The first two generations were based in Füssen . With the significant deterioration in the economic and social situation at the end of the 18th century, so did the pressure to emigrate . In the third generation, two of the four violin-making brothers went abroad. In the fourth generation, all but Joseph Alois Stoss had emigrated or worked abroad. The places of emigration were all in the old Habsburg dominion . The focus was on Vienna and the surrounding area. The period of this wave of migration was between 1786 and 1813, between the French Revolution and the Congress of Vienna . The heyday of violin making in Vienna is associated with the famous name of Johann Martin Stoss .

The four generations of the violin-making family of Stoss

1st generation

Herrmann Joseph Stoss

(* around 1681 in Bernbeuren ; † February 24, 1765 in Füssen)

When the "progenitor" of this violin maker "dynasty" Herrmann Joseph Stoss was born in the parish of Bernbeuren in 1681, the most important violin maker in the German-speaking area Jakobus Stainer died two years later in Absam near Innsbruck .

When he started his violin making trade in Füssen in 1705, the large construction site of the Benedictine monastery of St. Mang dominated life in the city. A splendid, modern baroque building was erected in front of the eyes of the citizens and craftsmen living in modest circumstances: an expression of absolutist rule architecture and counter-Reformation creed.

Joseph Hermann Stoss also carried out his trade at the same time as the "golden period" of Antonio Stradivari , who died in Cremona in 1737 .

He had been a member of the city council since 1728, and he was given the honorary title "Lord" in the citizens' list. His income and wealth situation developed very well, and he was among the wealthiest third of the population. It is therefore a bit surprising that only one five-string viola of his is known in the Richard Wagner Museum in Lucerne-Tribschen.

2nd generation

Joseph Anton Stoss

(* February 13, 1707 in Füssen; † March 4, 1787 ibid)

With whom he learned, presumably in his father's workshop, and where his wanderings led, nothing has come down to us. There is also no known instrument from him. Like his father, Joseph Anton Stoss was also elected to the honorary position of councilor and court lord. All four sons, Franz Anton, Magnus Bernhard, Magnus Stephan and Eustachius, learned their father's craft.

Franz Urban Stoss

(* May 25, 1711 in Füssen; † August 21, 1783 ibid)

Franz Urban Stoss is registered as a citizen and master in Füssen from 1739. Between 1738 and 1743 he lived in Innsbruck . In 1739 he asked for the "court liberation" and is then called "court lute maker". Shortly afterwards, however, he returned to Füssen.

Apparently he was later mainly involved in the violin trade to France, to Paris. In 1741 there were 12 lute makers in the city of Füssen, which at that time only had 216 tax-assessed households, which also paid trade tax. But the economic situation of the traders in Füssen was very modest, the violin making trade lived mainly from exports.

War times like the Spanish and Austrian Wars of Succession made these sales opportunities difficult or even prevented it in general. So it is not surprising that the handicraft alone was not enough for Franz Urban Stoss to make a living. That's why he later took on the role of goalkeeper.

3rd generation

Franz Anton Stoss

(* May 6, 1737 in Füssen; † February 3, 1814 ibid)

Presumably he learned the trade in Füssen, probably from his father, and worked for him as a journeyman at least until 1759. Georg Piegendorfer reports on his work:

“Franz Ant. Stoss made many instruments, including several double basses; the latter are particularly valuable because they are made of the best wood and are sturdy and have a powerful and very noble tone. "

Two double basses, both of which are fragmentary, and a viola are in the holdings of the Museum of the City of Füssen. The violins made by Franz Stoss differed from those made by the other violin makers in Füssen in that they had a slimmer, less arched outline with the same wood thickness. This gave these violins a soft tone. A violin by Franz Stoss was given to the Latvian National Opera in Riga as a donation by the New York “Latvian National Opera Guild” in 2000.

However, the earning potential was extremely poor at the end of the 18th century. A tax assessment from 1808 states: “Does not work much because of age, and also has poor earnings from his profession”.

On February 3, 1814, Franz Anton Stoss died in impoverished circumstances.

Magnus Bernhard Stoss

(* August 18, 1746; †?)

As a 13-year-old, he learned the lute-making craft from his father's home. So at that time the not yet married Bernhard Stoss was at the age of 39 as a journeyman abroad. Nothing more is known about his further life.

Magnus Stephan Stoss

(* October 18, 1747 in Füssen; † July 25, 1815 ibid)

Magnus Stephan was born on December 11, 1748 and, like his two older brothers, learned the violin-making trade. On May 12, 1777 the handover and marriage of Magnus Stephan Stoss is documented. A state investigation into the state of the trade in Füssen in 1804 came to the following conclusion with Stephan Stoss:

“If the profession fails, and the abolition of the monasteries is also to blame. Mostly grows with agriculture. "

With the secularization of 1803, a centuries-old culture of church music was abruptly interrupted. Then there was a lack of trained instrumentalists due to the discontinuation of the monastery schools with their distinctive music lessons. This immediately had a direct impact on violin making: the need for strings, repairs or even new instruments abruptly broke off, and this need was previously solely through monastery and church music, quite apart from music in the cities and court music originated.

Eustachius push

(* September 20, 1752 in Füssen; † September 4, 1804 in St. Pölten )

The twelfth child of Joseph Anton and Maria Regina Stoss was baptized on September 20, 1752 in the name of Eustachius. He also learned his father's craft and emigrated to St. Pölten , where he received citizenship in 1786.

Today the “Stossgasse” in St. Pölten commemorates the city's famous violin maker, and two instruments signed by Eustachius Stoss are preserved in the St Pölten City Museum: a violin and a so-called “Bassettl”. A 7/8 cello from 17 (96) owned by the cellist Renata Musa is also known. The almost black coloring of his instruments is typical. Walter Hamma assesses his instruments as: "elegant work in the Füssen style, mostly based on a Stainer-like model." Two of his sons also learned their father's craft.

4th generation

Magnus Benedikt Stoss

(* November 9, 1770 in Füssen; †?)

On November 9, 1770, the married couple Franz Anton and Maria Juliana Stoss were born as the third child and first son Mang Benedikt. So far, only very few archival sources document his life. Accordingly, the 33-year-old, unmarried Füssen citizen son "Mang Benedict Stooß" stayed in 1803 as a "violin maker in Vienna ". In the research literature is a Benedict impact as a violin maker journeyman in the Transylvanian Sibiu , today Sibiu , mentioned, where he was the 1,803th A viola by Benedikt Stoss was found in Mitterbach near Mariazell.

Franz Joseph Stoss

(* September 25, 1778; †?)

We received the first message about Franz Joseph Stoss since his birth from the year 1803. His current whereabouts are given as: “Violin maker in Vienna ”. Later he was on his journeyman's journey to the Moravian capital Brno .

In 1805 his father Franz Anton Stoss submitted a request to the “Kurpfalzbairische Landes-Direction in Schwaben” to hand over his house and business to his son Franz Joseph. Despite these reasons, Franz Anton Stoss's request was not granted. His son was seen in the military and was finally called up on September 7, 1805. He evaded this by deserting over the border into Tyrol.

The traces of Franz Joseph Stoss are then lost in the Füssen archive. In the specialist literature, however, a Franz Stoss, who is mostly identified with our Franz Joseph Stoss, is mentioned as a violin maker in Klosterneuburg near Vienna. Willibald von Lütgendorff already mentions a signed and dated instrument in Klosterneuburg : “A good viola of his is in the collection of Father Haas in Herzogenburg”.

Pius Bernhard Stoss

(* March 10, 1784 in Füssen; † May 1, 1854 in Vienna )

The youngest child of the married couple Franz Anton and Maria Juliana Stoss, Pius Bernhard, was born on March 10, 1784 in Füssen. As a 19-year-old journeyman violin maker, he stayed in Vienna in 1803 . In 1813 he took the Viennese oath and lived in Vienna with his cousin Johann Martin. Between 1823 and 1854 he lived in the Grüne Angergasse 838 and in 1849 was appointed string instrument valuer. His tonally good instruments, mostly built according to the Stradivarius model, are very much appreciated.

Johann Martin Stoss

(* September 12, 1778 in Füssen; † September 9, 1838 in Vienna)

Johann Martin was born as the son of the married couple Magnus Stephan and Maria Viktoria Stoss on September 12th, 1778. He was the only surviving child from the first marriage of the violin maker Magnus Stephan and lost his mother at the age of three. In the marriage agreement between his father and his second wife, the rights of the child Johann Martin are laid down. a. An apprenticeship for his father's profession or another craft that he showed pleasure was guaranteed.

As early as 1803, as a 25-year-old violin maker, he was in Vienna . In 1814 he was given the office of court violin and lute maker and for two decades he held the position of head of civil lute and violin makers in Vienna (according to Wolfgang Buennagel: "is one of the outstanding personalities of Viennese violin making"). Johann Martin Stoss died in Vienna on August 9, 1838.

Johann Baptist Stoss

(* February 18, 1784 in Füssen; † July 8, 1850 in Prague )

Johann Baptist Stoss was the second child from Magnus Stephan's second marriage. Archival evidence shows that he was 19 years old on his journeyman's journey in Vienna , but was back in Füssen in 1807. Since 1816 at the latest he worked in the old town in Prague and died there of cholera in 1850 .

According to Lütgendorf's assessment, he is to be assessed as a rather weaker representative of the Prague School, "even if he also made very good guitars." (Lütgendorff, Volume II: 1922, 491.)

Joseph Alois Stoss

(* April 5, 1787 in Füssen; † April 12, 1866 ibid)

In 1803 he was an apprentice to his father Magnus Stephan Stoss. By buying a house in 1817, he was accepted as a citizen and ran a master workshop. But already in 1835 Alois Stoss gave up his craft, as his violin making craft was without any merit. Now he made his living as a bailiff.

He died on April 12, 1866 and was buried in the St. Sebastian cemetery in Füssen. The Füssen Hospital Foundation covered the costs of the funeral. With his death the great tradition of Füssen lute and violin making died out.

Two of his Biedermeier guitars are exhibited in the museum of the city of Füssen.

Florian Stoss

(* May 3, 1788 in St. Pölten ; † after 1825)

Ignaz Georg Stoss

(* July 27, 1789 in St. Pölten; † June 16, 1823 there)

literature

  • Wolfgang Buennagel u. a .: Old violins and bows: selected masterpieces from the German cultural area . International Association of Master Violin Makers and Bow Makers, Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-00-001441-1 .
  • Walter Hamma: Violin maker of the German school of the 17th to 19th centuries . Schneider, Tutzing
  • 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 ), pp. 262-277, (on Martin and Bernhard Stoss).
  • Willibald Leo von Lütgendorff-Leinburg : The violin and lute makers from the Middle Ages to the present . Schneider, Tutzing 1975 (Repr.d. Edition Frankfurt / M. 1922)
  • Georg Piegendorfer: Swabian violin making from 1600 to our time, along with a brief description of your work . Verlag de Wit, Leipzig 1895 (special print from the magazine for instrument making )
  • Ferdinand Prochart: Viennese violin making in the 19th and 20th centuries . Schneider, Tutzing 1979, ISBN 3-7952-0305-8 .

Web links

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  1. ^ A master violin for the Latvian National Opera
  2. ^ Friedemann Hellwig: The lute instruments in the Germanic National Museum in Nuremberg. In: Guitar & Laute 1, 1979, 6, pp. 8-15; here: p. 9 (label of a repaired lute: "Martin Stoss, Imperial Royal Court of violins and lute makers in Vienna. repaired 1835")