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12 mins

GONE… BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Respected during his lifetime, Ludwig Bausch was almost unknown just a few years after his death – and his bows were considered unremarkable junk. Josef P. Gabriel reveals why the maker and his family were almost lost to history, and why his work deserves to be listed among the greats

Above and below right Violin bow made during Ludwig Bausch’s early period in Dessau

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY JOSEF P. GABRIEL

Below left Portrait of Bausch by Steffen Wert

On 1 November 1898, an article ‘in memory of the bow and violin maker Ludwig Bausch’ appeared in the Leipzig Magazine for Instrument Making. It begins:

‘Anyone who looks in works and writings about the violin, and the masters of violin making in German, French and English, will search in vain for notes about the life and work of violin and bow maker Ludwig Bausch. In the rich English and French violin making literature the name is not mentioned at all, and we could only find two references in the relevant German works, which are limited to a brief mention of the name “Bausch in Leipzig”, with no more information about his life or his importance as a violin maker.’ How could it have been possible, just 27 years after his d eath, that the name of Ludwig Bausch had apparently been forgotten?

I was completely unfamiliar with Bausch’s work when I started out as a bow maker around 30 years ago. In conversation I often heard people asking whether Bausch even made bows at all, or just traded them as part of his work as a violin maker and dealer. I can think of only one reason for this lack of knowledge of Bausch bows: since he was so well known during his lifetime, a large number of bows stamped ‘Bausch’ were sold shortly after his death, or perhaps even while he was still alive. These bows were often very simply made, and were not even copies of his models. Unfortunately, for this reason the name ‘Bausch’ has become associated with cheap, mass-produced goods. With this article, I hope I can help restore the name and achievements of the Bausch family to the history of bow making.

Ludwig Christian August Bausch was born in Naumburg an der Saale, close to Leipzig, in 1805. When he was 13 he moved to Dresden, 100 miles to the east, to serve an apprenticeship as an instrument maker with Johann Benjamin Fritzsche. He remained there until 1822 when he joined Andreas Engleder in Munich, spending three years as an employee in his workshop. He then returned to Dresden, where he became a self-employed instrument maker for a further three years. No bows are known from his time in Dresden, although a guitar he built in 1825 still survives.

In 1828 Bausch moved to Dessau, north of Leipzig, where ten years later he was appointed instrument maker to the Dessau court. His first son, Carl Friedrich Ludwig Bausch (Ludwig Bausch Jr), was born in 1829, and he was followed two years later by Maximilian Adolph. Ludwig Jr grew up to follow in his father’s footsteps (see box, page 35) while Maximilian studied law in Leipzig and Heidelberg.

In his 1972 book The Life of J.B. Vuillaume, Roger Millant states that Bausch worked at the Vuillaume workshop in Paris around 1840, along with Jean Pierre Marie Persoit, Pierre Simon and Joseph Fonclause. If this was the case, then Bausch could only have been in Paris for a very short time, as he was listed in the Leipzig address book as an instrument maker from 1839 onwards. He remained at his workshop at the city’s Johannesgasse 25 until 1861.

His time in Leipzig began well: in 1841 his third son Otto Julius Bausch was born, after Ludwig won the ‘Small’ Silver Medal at the Industrial Exhibition in Dresden a year earlier. The description of his bows listed in the exhibition directory (above right) is very interesting: ‘A silver-plated violin bow with a silver engraved lyre on each side of the frog’ and ‘a silver cello bow with a golden cross on each side of the frog’. Unfortunately I have not yet been able to track down these bows with unusual frog decorations.

‘In 1861 Bausch moved his business to Wiesbaden and put the following announcement in the 9 January 1862 edition of the Signale für die Musikalische Welt (see right): ‘From Leipzig to Wiesbaden. I hereby sincerely announce that I have relocated my instrument shop from Leipzig to Wiesbaden, and at the same time recommend my assorted stock of real Italian, as well as self-made, stringed instruments, bows, colophony, spun strings etc. Repairs, as known, will be done with utmost care. Wiesbaden, November 1st, 1861. Ludwig Bausch sen.’

This relocation, however, only lasted for a year, as from the end of 1862 he was back in Leipzig at a new workshop with the address Wintergartengasse 14 where he remained until he died in 1871. His death announcement was published on 30 May in Signale für die Musikalische Welt: ‘On 26 May, the famous bow and string instrument maker Ludwig Bausch senior, who was famous in the musical world, died in Leipzig at the age of 66.

He was a master of his art, and of honourable character.’

Description of the Bausch bows submitted at the 1841 Dresden Industrial Exhibition

Bausch announced his relocation to Wiesbaden in the 9 January 1862 edition of Signale für die Musikalische Welt

IN 1838 LUDWIG BAUSCH WAS APPOINTED INSTRUMENT MAKER TO THE DESSAU COURT

Bausch’s craftsmanship developed throughout his career, and he had a gift for innovation. The bows from his earlier period, stamped ‘L. Bausch, Dessau’, have very idiosyncratic heads. I have noticed certain similarities between these ‘Dessau period’ bows and those from Munich stamped by his former employer Andreas Engleder, and by Stephan Thumhart, another Munich-based maker of violins and guitars. It is very likely that these bows by Engleder and Thumhart originated in Mittenwald: there is evidence that bows were built there until around 1850, and the violin maker Wolfgang Zunterer has shown that Engleder and Thumhart bought them from the Mittenwald-based Baader violin company. These bows can easily be recognised by their distinctive head shape, and often also by a very small frog. Photos of these bows can make them look very simple, but the workmanship is in fact topquality. Above all, Bausch’s frogs are very reminiscent of those stamped with Engleder’s name; their precision has always impressed me.

On 24 October 1838, the Leipzig Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung published an article referring to Bausch’s bows:

Mr Bausch, court instrument maker in Dessau, is such an excellent violin bow maker that, according to the testimonies of the best violinists, he far surpasses the most famous from abroad. His bows are far better than those which the old, now almost retired, Mr Tourt [sic] supplies in Paris (the young T. by no means reaches the level of his father). Mr Bausch has, as has been requested, improved the frog considerably; it fits more firmly and does not break as easily as Tourt’s. B. has done this with silver linings, which do not make the bow any more heavy than old Mr T.’s best. It should be noted that Mr T. charges 100 francs for the lowest quality of his bows and up to 400 francs for the best: Mr Bausch on the other hand charges for his much more excellent and durable only 8 Thalers. 8 Gr[oschen]. This notice – for which all violinists we spoke to, including Karl Lipinski and Aug. Pott, confirm to be true – deserves the widest circulation because of its manifold usage.

Obviously the author is a great admirer of Ludwig Bausch’s work. What I find more important, however, is the line about the frog: ‘It fits more firmly and does not break easily.’ Here the author can only have been referring to the underslide. It seems that Tourte never used metal underslides on his frogs. Who actually invented them is still unknown. But it is indisputable that the silver strips around the pearl slide and the silver eye are Bausch’s invention. These strips and the small silver eye have proved to be good protection for the frog: since the mother-ofpearl is easily corroded by sweat, there is almost always heavy wear on the ebony, and making the protective silver linings requires a high level of craftsmanship.

Above A cello bow made during Bausch’s early period in Dessau

Above Head, frog and brand of a bow by Andreas Engleder of Munich

The announcement of Ludwig Bausch’s death appeared in the Signale für die Musikalische Welt on 30 May

BAUSCH’S FROGS ARE VERY REMINISCENT OF THOSE STAMPED WITH ENGLEDER’S NAME

LUDWIG BAUSCH JR

Carl Friedrich Ludwig Bausch (1829–71) was the eldest of three sons, and is mentioned in many articles as a very good violin maker. Aged 21 he received the ‘Grand’ Gold Medal for Violins at the 1850 Industrial Exhibition in Leipzig. His name can be found in the Leipzig address book from 1856 to 1871, where he is listed as an instrument maker at his father’s workshop at Johannesgasse 25. It seems that when Ludwig Sr left for Wiesbaden in 1861, and even after he returned to Leipzig, Ludwig Jr remained at the original workshop.

An advertisement found in an 1859 edition of the New York Musical Review and Gazette (right) shows that Bausch also had a shop on Broadway at the time. It is possible that father and son co-owned the business, and Bausch Jr was the one charged with running it, although this has yet to be proven.

On 14 April 1871 the Musikalisches Wochenblatt published this notice (right): ‘…violin and bow maker Ludw. Bausch jun., famous for his own production as well as repairs of old, good instruments, passed away during a spa stay in Saxon Switzerland, a major loss for his art.’

Violin bow made by Ludwig Bausch Jr

Cello bow made by Ludwig Bausch Jr

ONE REASON WHY THE BAUSCH NAME WAS QUICKLY FORGOTTEN COULD BE THAT LUDWIGS SR AND JR DIED IN THE SAME YEAR, AND OTTO JUST THREE YEARS LATER

Bausch Sr’s methods of inserting these linings into the frog evolved over time, and make it possible for us to create an estimated timeline of manufacture. With the bows from the Dessau period, the silver strips next to the slide are only held (probably glued) to a ledge under the frog ring and heel plate (figure1). After Bausch moved to Leipzig in around 1839, he also embedded the strip ends under the frog ring in the ebony (figure2). Over time, he began to embed the strips in the ebony directly at the end of the frog ring (figure3). Finally, from around 1865, he completely wrapped the pearl slides in nickel silver (figure4).

Conversely, when we examine the heads, there is an abrupt shift from the bows of the Dessau period to those of Leipzig. The shape changes from a stiff, upright head to a round, soft one. Both head shapes are crafted to the highest level, but they have a completely different character. I can only explain this drastic change through external influence: if Bausch did indeed spend a short time at Vuillaume’s workshop, it is possible he picked up a new, flowing sense of sculptural design from his colleagues working with him at the time.

OTTO JULIUS BAUSCH

There is little to be found about Otto Bausch (1841–74) as an instrument maker. Apparently he was not that successful. We know of two letters written by him to Heinrich Knopf (dated 8 December 1873 and 22 April 1874), asking for bows to be delivered as soon as possible.

In 1871 he founded the company ‘Ludwig Bausch sen. & Son’ – perhaps unfortunate, given that Bausch Sr died in April that year. The company is listed in the Leipzig address book under a new address: Neumarkt 12, although it relocated to Wintergartengasse 14 in 1873. Otto Bausch died the year after, and it was left to his brother Maximilian to sell the company to local luthier Adolph Paulus (below).

FIGURE 1 The silver strips next to the slide are held to a ledge under the ring and heel plate

FIGURE 2 The strip ends are embedded under the frog ring in the ebony

FIGURE 3 The strips are directly embedded in the ebony itself

FIGURE 4 The pearl slide is completely wrapped in nickel silver

On 11 January 1851, the following advertisement (below) appeared in the Rheinische Musik-Zeitung:

Violin bows made by Ludwig Bausch Richly decorated with silver: 10 thaler Elegantly decorated with silver: 8 thaler Simple (i.e. without decoration) on the outside: 6 thaler NB. Particularly sumptuous bow decoration increases the price, depending on the order, from 5 to 100 thaler.

Violin bows adjusted by Ludwig Bausch Decorated with new silver: 3 thaler 15 groschen

If nothing else, this advertisement disproves the theory that Bausch never built bows himself. Here he makes a clear distinction between those he made, and the ‘prefabricated’ bows he bought in and subsequently adjusted, which were clearly much lower in value. Evidence to substantiate this can be found in another advertisement from 16 November 1860 (below) in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik: ‘The undersigned hereby announces that, thanks to a particularly fortunate purchase of pernambuco wood in America, he is now able to deliver very exceptional bows. These excel particularly in their extraordinary lightness and elasticity. Leipzig, October 1860. Ludwig Bausch.’

One of the reasons why the Bausch name was so quickly forgotten could be the fact that Ludwigs Sr and Jr died in the same year, and Otto just three years later. This left only Maximilian, who was not an instrument maker, and so the Bausch era came to an abrupt end.

When I hold a Bausch bow in my hand, I feel the same sense of excitement I get from examining a bow by one of the great old French makers. I appreciate Bausch’s clear sculptural sense and the high degree of craftsmanship he needed to realise it.

In my eyes, Ludwig Bausch Sr is one of the most important and innovative bow makers of the 19th century.

The author is currently preparing a book about the Bausch family and would welcome any feedback on this article or further information on the subject.

THE BAUSCH LEGACY

The biographies of several 19th-century German violin and bow makers mention time in the Bausch workshop, such as those of August Riechers (1836–93) and Carl Hermann Voigt (1850–1925). The influence of Bausch can also be detected in the work of many more makers of the period. Looking at a bow by Christian Friedrich Glass (1824–1900), one can assume that he spent some time working alongside Bausch and adopted elements of his style.

It is also said that Heinrich Knopf (1839–75) worked for Bausch in 1859, the year before he took over the Knopf family workshop in Markneukirchen. His work, too, is very similar to that of Ludwig Bausch Sr. It is therefore understandable that Bausch bows made after 1859 have often been attributed to Knopf.

It is difficult for me to imagine that Bausch bought and sold finished bows from the Knopf workshop before 1859. However, during the years that Otto Bausch ran the business, it is likely that he bought finished Knopf bows and just stamped them with the Bausch brand.