Biographical dates of violin makers from Mittenwald

The dates of the birth and death of violin makers from Mittenwald’s are recorded in parish registers.

Birth and baptism records exist from 1615 onwards, death registers since 1668 and wedding records from 1703.

However, the baptism entries between 16 August 1657 and 12 January 1659, as well as between 21 March 1773 and 6 July 1773 are missing.

In addition, information from the Mittenwald family registry that was kept from around 1830 onwards, has also been included.

In 1803 properties in Mittenwald were given house numbers for the first time that were later altered on two occasions.

The names of all the owners of each property are listed in the ‘Mittenwald Book of Houses’ (Richard Pesl, Das Mittenwalder Häuserbuch, Mittenwald 2004).

In 1880 some of the key dates in the lives of members of the Kloz family were included in Joseph Baader’s publication Chronik des Marktes Mittenwald.

Mathias Kloz and his sons were recorded as lute makers in official documents, including church registers, by the parish scribe up until around 1800.

In 1702 the doctor of theology Johann B. Kipfinger from Weilheim became the parish priest in Mittenwald. He introduced the latin word plectropeus from around 1719 onwards to describe the profession of a violin maker. This was retained by his successors until the beginning of the 19th century. The earliest entry using this term is in the case of Joannes Dänzl in 1719, following the birth of his daughter, Veronica. The term ‘Geigenmacher’ (violin maker) was later used in church registers. There are however no records of the word plectropeus ever being used in the lute and violin making centre of Füssen.

The abbreviation ‘Archiv W.Z.’, cited as a source, refers to photographs and recordings of instruments, labels and Mittenwald violin makers collected or made by Wolfgang Zunterer for his research on violin making in Mittenwald.

‘abgebildet [illustrated] in W. Hamma’ refers to the publication: Walter Hamma, Geigenbauer der deutschen Schule des 17. bis 19. Jahrhunderts, Tutzing 1986

The reference GBM Nr. 111, for example, stands for Geigenbaumuseum Mittenwald inventory number 111

William L. Monical, Shapes of the Baroque. The Historical Development of Bowed String Instruments, New York 1989

Revised: October 2018

family trees

violin makers