Scan 77
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 61. See the scan on archive.org.
1Cattle-raising is scarcely profitable: the cultivation of the soil is hardly possible. The greater part of the dwellers in and around Mittenwald have become, on account of the start made by Klotz, engaged in fiddle making. The noble forests all around, as is the case with Ammergau further to the west, keep almost the entire population employed in some kind of wood carving. Klotz made the beginning; everybody knows what mainly supports the Mittenwald folk in the present day.
3Besides Matthäus Klotz, there were several other Klotzes who are not unknown to fame; but the accounts of them are not so thoroughly in accord as might be wished. In Gerber's work, the account of the Klotz family is confined to this curt description:—"Klotz, a fiddle maker in the Tyrol;" Schilling, in his lexicon, gives no Klotz at all; Dr. Schebek omits from his list Joseph Klotz, the son and pupil of Matthäus, whose instruments are valued even in our own day, while on the other hand he includes Michael and Karl as sons of Egidius Klotz. Of Georg Klotz, who worked in Mittenwald about 1754, and who turned out some very fine fiddles, it is not known whether he was the son or grandson of Matthäus. The most of the latter's works were made between 1670 and 1709. A Sebastian Klotz is also known.
5It is said that the later members of the Klotz family were accustomed, whenever any violins came from the factory which were better than usual, and had the right form, to put Stainer labels in them, which accounts for the vast number of false Stainers in the market.
7In Stainer's time there were several fiddle makers in the Bavarian town of Füssen; they worked, however, exclusively for Cremonese firms, and their activity only lasted as long as those firms lasted. It is to be here observed that the famous Viennese fiddle makers, Bernhard and Martin Stoss, came from Füssen.
9German violin makers have generally copied Stainer, though some have taken the Italians (but chiefly
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