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 59
Scan 59
The arts and crafts book of the worshipful Guild of violin-makers of Markneukirchen, from the year 1677 to the year 1772, 1894
4 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 51. See the scan on archive.org.
1The four original parent stocks already named produced 19 masters, and later, up to the year 1723, the four newly-added parent stocks produced 24, thus making 43 altogether, out-balancing the whole 24 other families, which together only produced 38 new masters. On the whole in spite of the almost doubled number of masters, only about the same number of families as before (30—32) were really actively engaged in the pursuit of the art. Besides the 45 families recorded in the Guild Register, others afterwards wandered thither, not counting the seven emigrant families of the year 1677. There were six from Klingenthal, two from Schöneck, one from Wohlhausen, one from Wernitzgrün, and one from Dörpersdorf. Only a comparatively small number out of the 45 original families, have become entirely extinct. Such has been the case (I am informed) with the families of Poller, Pöpel and Rudert, who took part in the founding of the Guild. Descendants of the founder families Hopf and Schönfelder still live in Klingenthal and Wernitzgrun, as violinmakers. Of the rest, with few exceptions, it would be easy to find descendants (in the case of most of the families) in such numbers as could hardly be equalled for magnitude by the noble families of the lowlands, or the patrician houses of the oldest and most celebrated towns.
3As far as riches, fame, and family standing were concerned the Markneukirchen violin-maker families at first could not attempt to measure themselves with the celebrated violin-maker families of Cremona and other Italian centres of artistic industry.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.