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Old 03-18-2009, 02:51 PM
Joel Larsson Joel Larsson is offline
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Default History of the Pfretzschners

Does anybody have any brief info on the various Pfretzschners?

I know that the old H.R. Pfretzschner died in 1921, and that he since 1901 stamped his bows with the characteristic coat of arms of Saxony on the frog. But then, the current Pfetzschner also stamps his bow with that coat of arms and H.R. and I am currently playing one I borrowed, built in 1989. An old teacher of mine has one which is no doubt a Pfretzschner which he says is a H.R., but from the 30's. There is also this story circling around that there were two P's following H.R., of which the worse one inherited the workshop. There are also other initials around. This is all very confusing, and the current Pfretzschner hasn't bothered writing down the history of the firm, despite having a non working link on the site. It's all very confusing. Does anybody have the ability and knowledge to straighten out any of all this?
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Old 03-18-2009, 03:10 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Cool Pfretzschners..

Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Larsson View Post
Does anybody have any brief info on the various Pfretzschners?

I know that the old H.R. Pfretzschner died in 1921, and that he since 1901 stamped his bows with the characteristic coat of arms of Saxony on the frog. But then, the current Pfetzschner also stamps his bow with that coat of arms and H.R. and I am currently playing one I borrowed, built in 1989. An old teacher of mine has one which is no doubt a Pfretzschner which he says is a H.R., but from the 30's. There is also this story circling around that there were two P's following H.R., of which the worse one inherited the workshop. There are also other initials around. This is all very confusing, and the current Pfretzschner hasn't bothered writing down the history of the firm, despite having a non working link on the site. It's all very confusing. Does anybody have the ability and knowledge to straighten out any of all this?
The Pfretzschners numbered many. They were Instrument makers, Bow makers and some making both for many generations and centuries. I don't know all of the relationships between family members but I can go thru my books and try to map it out somewhat.

Here is a quote about some of the Bow makers from a website;
HERMAN RICHARD PFRETZSCHNER ( b.1857 )was first a pupil of his father, then of Vuillaume in Paris. He established himself in 1880. He created the "Wilhelmj" bow. His sticks are not varnished. ( common with German bows )

Here is another quote from another website as well, slightly more detailed;
PFRETZSCHNER, Herman Richard ( b.1857 )was first a pupil of his father, then of Vuillaume in Paris. He established himself in 1880. He created the "Wilhelmj" bow. His sticks are not varnished. ( common with German bows ). Pfretchner worked for J.B.Vuillaume for a year (1874) in Paris. In 1888 he opened his own workshop in Markneuchirchen. This full-length model perfectly demonstrates what a brilliant maker he was. The head is elegantly carved and has neat, precise chamfers. The stick is round and made from wonderful dense pernambuco that is of an attractive light brown colour. It is strong yet full of elasticity. The frog bears a royal court-of-arms brand. In 1901 Pfretchner was appointed the title of Bow maker to the Royal Saxonian Court. Bows after this date were stamped with this brand. This superbly balanced bow is a delight to use. Silver mounted.

I have Pfretzschners (at least 28 of them) listed in various books from as far back as 1675/80 (born).

This would be a huge project to map them all out. Also, not every book or source agrees with the exact birth dates or work period of each maker.
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Old 03-18-2009, 04:46 PM
Joel Larsson Joel Larsson is offline
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Thanks, Ken. As it turns out, the reason why I couldn't get to the history page at the Pfretzschner site must have been some goof on behalf of my browser... I got there all right now. Apparently, ALL their bows are stamped H.R., regardless of the actual maker. They mention bows being of many different styles and quality from the second generation... seems like you can never buy a Pfretzschner on a hunch unless you actually try it first! Perhaps some of the apparent counterfeits out there are actually poorly made originals... ge, I hate this Fender-like business where you can get anything from a gift from God to just another piece of firewood...

Here goes:



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.

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.



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 t his two sons Hermann and Berthold Pfretzschner; both learned the craft of bowmaking from their father.

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.

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.


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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Old 03-18-2009, 05:16 PM
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Ken Smith Ken Smith is offline
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Thumbs up ok..

I am glad you found what you needed. I in no way want to do all this research by myself..lol

Also, much of the information of models and such refer mainly to Violin thru Cello bows. Bass Bows I am sure was and is only a small fraction of their output.
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