Books › The arts and crafts book of the worshipful Guild of violin-makers of Markneukirchen, from the year 1677 to the year 1772, 1894 › scan 48
Scan 48
The arts and crafts book of the worshipful Guild of violin-makers of Markneukirchen, from the year 1677 to the year 1772, 1894
2 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 40. See the scan on archive.org.
1With this epoch-making progression in the musical history of the German people the bass-makers were obliged to keep pace, but for the less expert members of the community it remained a daring undertaking to give themselves over exclusively to this branch of manufacture. Owing to the continued competition of Bohemian, Austrian and Bavarian instrument-makers, only such makers or dealers as commanded the entire field of the violin-making art were intrusted with commissions, makers whose position was a guarantee of the excellence of build and acoustic properties of the instruments, and this is a condition of things which, we see, continues to the present day. In consequence of the defective means of intercourse existing in these times (the Thurn and Taxis Courier service refusing to forward these delicate instruments) the trade in basses was by no means a simple or easy one, although they were only required singly. From all appearances, there appear to have been a number of families even then who, by preference, occupied themselves with the sale of finished instruments, persons who undertook all the difficulties incident to the transport of violins and other small instruments such as wood-horns and flutes (which were manufactured during the 10 years immediately preceding the close of the records we have under consideration) and even charged themselves with the trade in, and transport of, basses. Isolated houses of the Reichel family may, however, even earlier have devoted themselves to the business, merely dealing in the instruments; and we may infer this from the
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