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| Hermann
Richard Pfretzschner, son of the bow and string maker
Carl Richard Pfretzschner, established 1880 the company
H. R. PFRETZSCHNER in Markneukirchen, the bohemian-saxonian
"Musikwinkel", where the craft of bowmaking
in Germany has its origin. |
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Hermann
Richard learned the craft of bowmaking from his father
Carl Richard in Markneukirchen. After the finish of his
apprenticeship he decided to study the craft of bowmaking
in Paris, where the bowmaking was very high developed
at that time. He became 1873 the last pupil of the famous
violin- and bowmaker Jean
Baptiste Vuillaume (1798-1875) in Paris. Vuillaume
worked after the tradition of the great french master
Franz X. Tourte (1747-1835) who gave bows the todays form
and used at first time pernambuco wood. |
This short
time of learning should give Hermann Richard new ways of influence
for his following life and should influence the whole german
bowmaking.
Hermann
Richard founded his own company in Markneukirchen 1880, which
he had been leading very successfully. He received in 1901
the famous title "Königlich
Sächsischer Hoflieferant" (purveyor to the court
of Saxony). From now on he was allowed to stamp the "king's
coat of arms" on the frogs of his bows. 1911 he also
received the title "Großherzoglich Sächsischer
Hoflieferant" from the "Großherzog of Sachsen
Weimar".
He probably had been the only master of bowmaking ever, who
received those kind of titles.
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The
bows from his early working period (before 1900) usually
show the influence of the models from F. N. Voirin.
After this time, he made bows following a number of
French and English models without, however, losing his
own style.
A
number of his many bow models were named after famous
musicians of this time and he was particular fond of
his so-called Wilhelmj-model. The completition of the
violinbow found Hermann Richard Pfretzschner in cooperation
with the famous violinplayer Prof. August Wilhelmj (1845-1908).
Together they developed the Wilhelmj-model after their
meeting in 1903.
Later on, Hermann Richard patented this model name.
In
the year 1914 he turned over his firm to his two sons
Hermann and Berthold Pfretzschner; both learned the
craft of bowmaking from their father.
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In the workshop at that time, there were made a remarkable
amount of bows of different quality and pricecategories. Additionally
from the beginning on there were made a lot of bassbows after
different models, which have still been requested a lot until
today.
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After
the death of his uncle Hermann, Horst Pfretzschner, who
learned the craft of bowmaking from his father Berthold,
took over 1958 the company.
After the more and more difficult development for independent
craftmen in the former eastern part of Germany DDR, Horst
was forced to put his company in the PGH Sinfonia, which
was a organisation led by the state.
This organisation turned over in 1972 to the VEB Sinfonia,
a so called "Volkseigener Betrieb" (company
controlled and lead by the government), which joined together
1985 to the VEB Musima.
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The
brothers Heinz and Richard learned then from their father
Horst and grandfather Berthold in the family workshop
in Markneukirchen the craft of bowmaking.
The bows of the workshop have always been stamped from
generation to generation with the traditional familystamp
"H. R. PFRETZSCHNER" and the Saxonian
king's coat of arms in the frog.
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