PAUL DÖRFEL

WRITTEN BY BRUCE BABBITT

Lutherie

Adolf Paul Dörfel’s birth in 1878 coincided with the rise of a second generation of modern violin-making greatness in the village of Markneukirchen. Born within a decade of Dörfel were Paul Wilhelm Heberlein, his brother Albert heodor Heberlein, Ernst Heinrich Roth and Paul Knorr.

Paul Dörfel served an apprenticeship with his father, Adolf Dörfel, then assisted Adolf Zeitler before moving to Warsaw in 1898. He worked there with Michael Kannich until 1910, when he became an independent craftsman. From 1914 to 1921 he worked in Orenburg, Russia, after which he returned to Markneukirchen.

As with many of his contemporaries he was able to enter into a trade agreement with a firm in the US, in this case William Moennig & Son, then growing in prestige. Keeping with a trend to Italianise some of these fine products from Germany, the Moennigs called this artist-grade violin an ‘Eulo Dorino’.

According to my friend and colleague Philip J. Kass, the commercial relationship continued into the 1930s, with the personal relationship between the Moennig and Dörfel families remaining close throughout their lifetimes. After the Second World War, Dörfel, who had already suffered great personal hardships, found himself behind the Iron Curtain, which severely curtailed his career. He died in Markneukirchen in 1967.

FORM AND CONSTRUCTION

By the time this violin was made in c.1920, Markneukirchen makers had drawings and plans of violins by the great Cremonese makers, and had also observed the instruments in person. All of the measurements of this Dörfel are within the parameters of violins made by Guadagnini; the f-holes are a little reminiscent of his Parma period and the wood selection is something like the narrow lame chosen for the 1749 ‘Antonievitch’ and the 1772 ‘Wishart, Krasner’. The pins in the back and neck graft are both original features from when the violin was made.

MATERIALS

The wood for the back and ribs has been carefully chosen, and is very uniform in its narrow-curled, bold maple. The scroll and pegbox have matching maple. The wood for the top is book-matched, very straight-grained spruce.

PURFLING

Dörfel used maple for all three of the purling strips. The two outer strips have been blackened.

HEAD

The scroll and pegbox are very symmetrically carved and well executed, but as a whole are more similar to his Markneukirchen counterparts than to the master he was copying.

VARNISH

The violin has a beautiful orange–yellow varnish. he back and ribs show no signs of deliberate shading, while the top, scroll and pegbox are shaded, with an added darker shade of orange–brown strategically applied.

LABEL

This violin bears the original ‘Eulo Dorino’ label used by William Moennig & Son.

MAKER

PAUL DÖRFEL

NATIONALITY

GERMAN

BORN

1878

DIED

1967

INSTRUMENT

VIOLIN

DATE

c.1920

ALL PHOTOS NATHAN TOLZMANN

The author wishes to thank Natalie Cunningham, Philip J Kass, James Warren and Frederick Oster for their help with this aricle