PARISIAN SPLENDOUR

Having perfected his skills in the French capital, German bow maker Richard Otto Gläsel was much inspired by the work of his Gallic forebears, from Voirin to Vigneron. Gennady Filimonov tells his story and examines several of his finest works

The city of Paris as Gläsel would have known it in 1913

Markneukirchen, the Mirecourt of Germany, dominated the international market of musical instrument sales in the second half of the 19th century. It proved to have better access to exotic woods and was at one time one of the most affluent cities in Germany – it even had its own US consulate general. Nevertheless, while much of the town focused on mass production of musical instruments, a few dedicated makers pursued their craft elsewhere. The advances made in French bow manufacturing by luminaries such as François Xavier Tourte, Étienne Pajeot, Dominique Peccatte and François Nicolas Voirin (known as the ‘modern Tourte’), attracted many of Germany’s finest makers, such as George Gemünder, H.R. Pfretzschner and Johann Christoph Nürnberger, who for five years worked as assistant to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume. From that time onwards, many of Germany’s best and brightest makers looked to Paris to broaden their knowledge of the French bow making tradition.

Richard Otto Gläsel was one such disciple of the craft. He was an assistant of Claude Thomassin in Paris before returning to Germany just before the outbreak of war in 1914. The experience apparently left him an avowed Francophile, as his bows frequently display the brand ‘O. GLÈSEL’ – the ‘Frenchified’ version of his name.

Gläsel, most frequently known by his middle name ‘Otto’, was born in Markneukirchen on 24 October 1885. According to the records of the town’s St Nicholas Church, his father Heinrich Wilhelm Louis Gläsel (d.14 April 1922) was a maker of brass instruments, as well as a ‘factory worker’ according to the Markneukirchen address books. On 17 May 1877 he married Friedericke Emma Schneider (d.18 October 1932) and the couple had seven children: Heinrich Max, Emil Paul, Richard Otto, Theodor Walter (b.3 March 1889) and three others. Since there is no record of their names, it is possible those three died at birth.

It would be easy to assume that Heinrich’s family was connected to the famous Gläsel family of Markneukirchen instrument makers. However, detailed research in the archives indicates that this is not the case. The town’s church register indicates he was a ‘spurious’ (i.e. illegitimate or pre-marital) child of Maria Magdalena Gläsel from Dürngrün, a town just west of Schönbach, who immigrated to Saxony from Bohemia. This was common labour migration in Germany at the border region in the 19th century. Maria later married into the Pöllmann family of makers. Heinrich’s grandfather, Johann Andres Gläsel, was a stocking maker in Oberschönbach, so there was no obvious familial connection to instrument making there.

According to the records, only two of Heinrich’s four surviving children followed their father into instrument making. They were the two younger sons: Theodor Walter, who was born deaf, became a violin maker. Richard Otto, meanwhile, studied the craft of bow making with Ernst Robert Knorr Sr., a Markneukirchen maker for whom he worked after his training. Knorr was an excellent bow maker himself and spent many years as an independent maker before forming a partnership in 1906 with his brother-in-law Ernst Wilhelm Strobel, co-founding the firm Knorr & Strobel. Their bows are branded ‘A.K.’ after Knorr’s son Arthur, who was also a superlative bow maker.

By 1911 the 25-year-old Gläsel had decided to further his knowledge and try his luck in Paris. He was following in the recent footsteps of Hermann Richard Prell, who had spent two years at the workshop of Eugène Sartory (1897–98), as did Gläsel’s contemporary Albert Otto Hoyer, who joined the atelier in 1911 (and, like Gläsel, preferred to use his middle name ‘Otto’; his bows are even stamped ‘OTTO A. HOYER’ rather than ‘A. OTTO’). Years later Paul Weidhaas followed suit, working with Victor Fétique. Richard Otto secured a position at 37 Rue de Paradis to work as an assistant to Claude Thomassin, one of the most prolific and important bow makers of his generation, whose influence is apparent in many details of Gläsel’s bows.

Richard Otto Gläsel octagonal violin bow branded J. PADEWET CARLSRUHE on the handle, branded O. GLÈSEL A PARIS under the winding. c.1922-25

PADEWET BOW PHOTOS ALEXANDRU DUMITRACHE, COURTESY OF JONATHAN FROHNEN. ALL OTHER PHOTOS GENNADY FILIMONOV

Violin bow c.1925–30 stamped ‘O. GLÈSEL A PARIS’. Highly flamed round pernambuco stick mounted in silver; plain ebony frog, with a silver-capped button and a second cut at the collar.

It must have been a very exciting time for Gläsel and his colleagues to have been working in Paris. Looking at the 1913 address book (below) we see many familiar names such as Sartory, Charles Peccatte, André Vigneron, Prosper Colas, Louis Bazin, Charles Claude Husson, Alfred Lamy and Paul Jombar.

As the Industrial Revolution paved the way to progress, it brought monumental changes in art, music, science and politics. And while Paris was introduced to the premieres of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (1912) and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (1913), political tensions and events were leading up to the worst war the world had ever seen.

Otto Hoyer left Sartory’s shop in 1913 to return to Markneukirchen, while Gläsel came back the following year. He set up shop in the family home at Lindleinstrasse 603, Markneukirchen, where he spent the war years. His brothers were not so lucky. As the Great War erupted, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, Richard Otto’s two elder brothers were mobilised to the front lines. Heinrich Max was killed, and Emil Paul was reported missing in action.

The 1925 Markneukirchen address book shows that (Richard) Otto, (Theodor) Walter Gläsel and their widowed mother Emma Gläsel all resided at the same address. Otto was listed as a bow maker and Walter as a violin maker. In 1929 Lindleinstrasse 603 (Lindleinsweg 603) was renumbered to Lindleinstrasse 4, where again we find Otto, Walter and Emma Gläsel.

In view of the politics of the time, and especially considering the horrors of the war, Richard Otto came back with a very French perspective on bow making. He was not deterred by the radically ‘German’ culture of the Weimar Republic, and his business cards read Ex ouvrier de C. Thomassin à Paris (‘Former employee of C. Thomassin in Paris’). He also branded his bows ‘O. GLÈSEL A PARIS’, implying that his work was more French than German.

His colleague Otto Hoyer must have had a similar sentiment as he earned the nickname Pariser (‘the Parisian’), which he proudly branded on his bows on his own return to Germany, where he put his training and experience at Sartory’s workshop to good use. His business cards and letterhead clearly state ‘Schüler von E. Sartory à Paris’.

As I examined some of their personal work, I got a sense that Richard Otto and Albert Otto must have known each other and may have shared ideas about their work. Not only were they in Paris at the same time, but back in Markneukirchen they lived within a few blocks of each other. I posed this question to Otto Hoyer’s grandson Willi, but unfortunately his reply was: ‘I cannot answer your question. My grandfather was the only person who could know this, but he died last November.’

Gläsel’s house at Lendleinstrasse 4 in Markneukirchen

HOUSE PHOTO ENRICO WELLER BOW PHOTOS ALEXANDRU DUMITRACHE, COURTESY OF JONATHAN FROHNEN

Otto Hoyer ‘Pariser’ in his workshop, taken during the 1920s Below Otto Hoyer’s letterhead

Violin bow c.1925 branded O. GLÈSEL Á PARIS. Highly figured pernambuco mounted in silver ebony with Parisian eyes fit into the flanks. Silver-capped button with a second cut at the collar

Gläsel’s work branded ‘O. GLÈSEL’ is splendid, especially the heads and the rest of the stick, which epitomise the ideal of the French working style. The frogs are more Germanic in style. One can find a considerable number of bows stamped ‘O. GLÈSEL A PARIS’. The bows from the early 1920s, branded ‘OTTO GLÈSEL’ (his other brand stamp) and those marked ‘TUBBS’ bear resemblance to Otto Hoyer’s work from the same period, especially at the frog. They have an elongated sloping thumb grip (perhaps an exaggerated Sartory influence), Parisian eyes and the French-style silver-capped buttons. Gläsel also incorporated a rounded-off ferrule (à la Thomassin) on his bows.

On the right, we can see the typical Hoyer model that we are familiar with, the ‘swan head’ and a frog with a deep sloping thumb grip with Parisian eyes fitted into the flanks and a silver cap button. The two bows below it, both by Richard Otto Gläsel, are biult on a similar model.

I have examined two Gläsel bows branded ‘C. THOMASSIN À PARIS’ (with the authentic Thomassin stamp). One is indicative of his Paris period, while the other is from the early 1920s and is similar to the ones branded ‘TUBBS’ and ‘OTTO GLÈSEL’.

Gläsel was also a violin maker, whose customers included the Hamburg maker Georg Winterling (1859–1929). I have come across one particular Gläsel violin made for Winterling which contains the label (below right): ‘Charles Gaillard, No. 20, Rue Notre Dame-de-Recouvrance, No. 20, Paris, 1865.’

But inscribed in the inside top plate are the words: Fait par Luthier et Archetier O. Gläsel, avant la Guerre a Paris. Ouvrier de C. Thomassin et G. Winterling (‘Made by luthier and archetier O. Gläsel, before the War in Paris. Worker of C. Thomassin and G. Winterling’) and O. Gläsel geb. 1885, Markneukirchen, Lindleinstr. 603 (‘O. Gläsel born 1885, Markneukirchen, Lindleinstr. 603.)

Gläsel also produced bows for his colleague Johann Karl Padewet (1887–1971) in Karlsruhe, Germany. These bows were made between 1922 and 1930 and stamped ‘J. PADEWET CARLSRUHE’ on the handle near the button, and ‘O. GLÉSEL A PARIS’ under the winding.

The years following World War I did incomparable damage to the German economy. In Berlin in late 1921, a loaf of bread would have cost 4 German marks. In 1922 it cost 160, and in November 1923 201 billion marks. Needless to say, it was almost impossible for the common working people to make ends meet, and many of them were obliged to take drastic measures to keep their heads above water. In the string world, there was a great temptation among bow makers to pass off their own brand new bows as the work of some of the great 19th-century archetiers.

Otto A. Hoyer frog and button

Richard Otto Gläsel frog and button (branded OTTO GLÈSEL)

Richard Otto Gläsel frog and button (branded TUBBS)

ALL PHOTOS GENNADY FILIMONOV

GLÄSEL CAME BACK TO GERMANY WITH A VERY FRENCH PERSPECTIVE ON BOW MAKING

Vuillaume-style cello bow frog, branded VUILLAUME À PARIS on the handle, O. GLÈSEL A PARIS under the winding

Cello bow branded A. VIGNERON A PARIS on the handle, OTTO GLÈSEL under the winding

Cello bow branded F.N. VOIRIN a PARIS on the handle, OTTO GLÈSEL under the winding

Violin bow branded F.N. VOIRIN A PARIS on the handle and under the winding

Violin bow branded A. LAMY A PARIS on the handle and under the winding

Violin bow branded TUBBS on the handle, OTTO GLÈSEL under the winding

Bow branded ‘J. PADEWET CARLSRUHE’ on the handle and O. GLÈSEL A PARIS under the winding

Bow branded C. THOMASSIN À PARIS on the handle

Many manufacturing companies were mass-producing cheap bows with famous brand names just to capitalise on the maker’s name, a practice that individual makers adopted owing to the economic hardship. It is hard to say whether any particular maker was motivated to produce fakes out of survival instinct, or from malicious intent to deceive, or was simply just making a bow ‘inspired by’ one of the better-known makers. There are French-model bows currently in circulation that are branded:

‘BAUSCH’, ‘DODD’, ‘KITTEL’, ‘TOURTE’, ‘VUILLAUME’, ‘EUG. SARTORY’ and ‘A. LAMY A PARIS’ – except they were produced by German makers such as Niklas Hoyer, Emanuel Schuster and Carl Albert Nürnberger.

In the US, too, unscrupulous individuals were exploiting some of the German makers’ abilities to produce fake bows. The New York wholesaler Samuel Buegeleisen became notorious for marketing bows with brands such as the wholly fictitious ‘Leon Pique’ (which allegedly were made by Otto Hoyer early on) and fake Sartorys, which caused Eugène Sartory a lot of grief financially, emotionally and physically. These certainly were made to deceive the public, as Buegeleisen went out of his way to promote them with intent to deceive (see ‘Phoney War’, The Strad, February 2019). In the opinion of bow expert Klaus Grünke, it was this practice that damaged the reputation of German bow making in general.

It is certain that, like most of his colleagues, Richard Otto Gläsel suffered the economic consequences of World War I, and was forced to make copies of the great masters’ work using fake brands, simply to make ends meet. The Great Depression, which started as an American crisis with a huge stock market crash in 1929, spread around the world and caused widespread unemployment, misery and starvation in Germany. These were the conditions that ultimately paved the way to the rise of Hitler.

Richard Otto Gläsel violin bow c.1925-30 branded ‘F.N. VOIRIN À PARIS’ on the handle and same under the winding. A refined and superb copy made of dark brown Pernambuco, mounted in gold and ebony, and fashioned with a Vuillaume-style frog and seating

ALL PHOTOS COURTESY JOHAN GROBBELAAR

The majority of Gläsel’s work was stamped with various brands of famous French bow makers, such as ‘VUILLAUME À PARIS’, ‘F.N. VOIRIN A PARIS’, ‘A. LAMY A PARIS’, ‘A. VIGNERON A PARIS’ and, ‘C. THOMASSIN À PARIS’.

However, under the winding we also often find the additional brand ‘OTTO GLÈSEL’ or ‘O. GLÈSEL A PARIS’.

Unfortunately, some of the fine copies he made for particular clients or shops were given fake brands on the handle and under the lapping, keeping him anonymous. The bow shown above is a gold/ebony F.N. Voirin copy. This is an exceptional example of his copyist skills, from the head design to the refined Vuillaumestyle frog and button, superb in its execution in every way (branded ‘F.N. VOIRIN A PARIS’ at the handle and the same under the winding).

Sadly, at the onset of the Great Depression in Germany, the 45-year-old Richard Otto Gläsel committed suicide on 29 January 1931. His mother Emma Gläsel died the following year on 18 October 1932. After her death, Walter sold the Gläsel house and moved to Wernitzgrüner Strasse 34 in Markneukirchen. Richard Otto Gläsel’s short-lived working career shows an interesting evolution in style, as he has left a considerable number of high-quality instruments and bows, some of which make us wonder if ‘they could be French’.

The author wishes to thank Enrico and Mario Weller, Bruce Babbitt, Klaus Grünke, C. Jochen Schmidt, Edward Schwen, Willi Hoyer, Jonathan Frohnen, Jeffrey Judd and Johan Grobbelaar