Johann Georg Stauffer
Johann Georg Stauffer (also Johann Georg Staufer; January 26, 1778, in Vienna – January 24, 1853) was an Austrian luthier[1] and the most important Viennese luthier of his time.
Life
Stauffer was born in the Viennese suburb of Weißgerber, the son of Mathias Stauffer, a labourer from Weyregg am Attersee. He studied under the luthier Franz Geissenhof. In June 1800 he took the Vienna oath of citizenship and in May 1802 he married Josepha Fischer in the Schottenkirche, Vienna. He took over the workshop of Ignaz Christian Bartl.[2] Initially he built instruments modeled after the Italian guitar masters Giovanni Battista Fabricatore and Gaetano Vinaccia, he then developed several variants, typical of his own guitar style (see section Instruments).
In 1813/14, he applied for the vacant position of Court Luthier ("Hofgeigenmacher") but Johann Martin Stoss was preferred. From 1830-1836 Stauffer was also active as a music publisher. He devoted more time to his inventions, which is probably the reason for the beginning of his serious financial problems. In 1829 he made representations to the City Council for an advance of 1,000
Johann Georg Stauffer had three sons:[4]
- the pianist Franz Stauffer (March 25, 1803 - after 1846).
- the luthier and pianist Johann Anton Stauffer (June 12, 1805 - October 28, 1871), who took over his father's workshop in 1833, but from 1836 onwards built under his own name.
- Alois Stauffer (June 7, 1806 - June 23, 1806)
Instruments
The "Viennese guitar" as built by Johann Georg Stauffer is a gut string guitar with a curved back, narrower waist and
By 1825/30, the instruments usually had a
In 1823 J. G. Stauffer built his
Stauffer and CF Martin
Christian Frederick Martin, was born in 1796 in Markneukirchen, Germany, a centre for instrument making. Martin first studied with his father, Johann Georg Martin, a cabinet maker. At 15 years of age, he went to Vienna for an apprenticeship with Stauffer, and in 1825, Martin married Ottilie Kühle, the daughter of the Viennese harp maker Karl Kühle.
Martin remained in Vienna until at least 1827,
Criticism
- Guitarist Wulfin Lieske has stated: "if you play a Stauffer guitar from Vienna, it doesn't have this dimension like a Torres... it's a 2-dimensional guitar."[11]
Further reading
- earlyromanticguitar.com, "Builders of the early 19th Century: Johann Georg Staufer" [1], 2013
- Rudolf Hopfner: "Johann Georg Staufer", in: Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Personenteil, Band 15, Kassel, 2006, S. 1350f.
- Erik Pierre Hofmann, Pascal Mougin, Stefan Hackl: Stauffer & Co. - The Viennese guitar of the 19th Century, Germolles sur Grosne, 2011 (Editions Les Robins) [2] Archived 2020-02-20 at the Wayback Machine
- Stefan Hackl: Die Gitarre in Österreich - Von Abate Costa bis Zykan, Innsbruck/Wien/Bozen, 2011
- Michael Lorenz: "Stauffer Miscellanea", Vienna 2014
References
- ^ "Jahrbücher des kaiserlichen königlichen polytechnischen Institutes in Wien, 4. Band". C. Gerold. 1823.
- ^ Stefan Hackl: Die Gitarre in Österreich – Von Abate Costa bis Zykan. In: Die Wiener Schule des Gitarrenbaus. Innsbruck, Wien, Bozen 2011, S. 79.
- ^ Helga Haupt: Wiener Instrumentenbauer von 1791 bis 1815. In: Studien zur Musikwissenschaft. 1960, S. 120–184.
- ^ Michael Lorenz:"Stauffer Miscellanea", Vienna 2014
- ^ Kaiserl.-königl. Allg. Hofkammer: Beschreibung der Erfindungen und Verbesserungen, für welche in den kaiserl.-königl. österr. Staaten Paente ertheilt wurden und deren Privilegiumsdauer nun erloschen ist. Erster Band, Wien 1841, S. 277
- ^ http://www.yotke.hr/en/instruments/t-cetveroglasne.php
- ^ "Glazbeni Ansambl Tresnjevka".
- ^ "Stauffer Style Tuners".
- ^ "Stauffer Mechanics".
- ^ Lorenz 2014
- ^ Youtube Video: The Leona Series - Interview on "La Leona" with Wulfin Lieske, guitar (at tracktime 5:30)