An Interesting 18th Century German Violin, School of Pfretzschner.

An Interesting 18th Century German violin, School of Pfretzschner. That is to say, built on the back in the manner propagated by the early Hopf family, but already demonstrating generous, full-bodied arching and tooling to the wings and shape of the f’s consistent with the families that evolved out of the Hopf School. There are subtle details which hint at and inform differences of age in early violins from the Voigtland region of greater Saxony, with a great number of ateliers and artisans ranging from the complete gamut of commercial production to artisan creations of triumphant craftsmanship celebrated still today. These traditions can be traced through the years to the formation of Upper Voigtland first violin making guild, established in 1669 by expatriates of Graslitz who had begun to settle in Klingenthal not even two decades prior, and followed by the Markneukirchen guild in 1677. Of the pertinent family dynasties, the details are more consistent with what I’ve seen from the Pfretzschner line than the Meisel, Meinel, Glass, Hoyer, and Voigt families. The violin presents in reasonable, well-restored condition for its age; the eyes of the volutes, flattened.