The History of German Bow Making in Markneukirchen

Nestled on the border of Saxony and Bohemia (modern-day Czech republic), Markneukirchen was already a thriving violin-making center by the 18th century. Its remarkable output gave the region its nickname: the “Musikwinkel,” or music corner.

What set Markneukirchen apart was a commitment to international commerce and a well-established luthiers’ guild, dating back to 1677, that upheld rigorous standards of training and production. As violin-making continued to flourish and the guild refined its regulations, the local string instrument industry saw a greater division of labor. Artisans became more specialized, and a bow-making tradition emerged.

Markneukirchen archetiers have a rich history of producing high-quality bows. For modern audiences, their combination of playability and affordability attracts players and collectors alike.

The Rise of Bow-Making in Markneukirchen

The first recorded archetier in Markneukirchen was Josef Strötz (1715-1760). Originally from Bavaria, Strötz was primarily a musician and carpenter, but he combined these two skills to become a bow-maker. He drew business away from Schmalkalden, Germany’s earlier bow-making mecca, to Markneukirchen.

In the decades after Strötz’s death, bow-making took root in Markneukirchen. Local records show that there were 18 active bow makers, and between 1784 and 1789, they produced an impressive output of 41,000 bows.

By 1790, Markneukirchen bow-making had advanced to such an extent that local archetiers tried to establish their own guild. Based on the list of artisans who proposed the guild–“a cloth maker, a joiner, a butcher, 4 violin-makers, and 10 further craftsmen”–bow-making was still considered more of a complementary skill than a full career. The violin-makers’ guild blocked the creation of specific bow-makers’ guild; however, despite this setback, the art of bow-making continued to thrive.

By 1828, Markneukirchen’s archetier population had nearly tripled, and that year, a local archetier, Gustav Adolph Wettengel (1801-1878), published Vollständiges Lehrbuch der Geigen- und Bogenmacherkunst (The Complete Textbook of Violin- and Bow-Making). Wettengel’s treatise helped solidify Markneukirchen as the center of German bow-making, and by 1888, the Markneukirchen bow-makers’ guild was finally established.

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were truly the golden age of Markneukirchen bow-making. Markneukirchen’s status as a trading hub gave German archetiers unique access to Brazilian Pernambuco wood. The city also responded to growing industrialization by further specialization, a boon to the already specialized bow-makers. This successful pivot turned Markneukirchen into the number one supplier for the world’s string instruments and bows.

Markneukirchen’s many workshops produced bows at such a staggering rate that they have earned an unfair reputation for mass-production. Many Markneukirchen bows are impeccably hand-crafted by master makers. However, the large quantity of Markneukirchen bows produced make them less rare and therefore more affordable than some of their famous French counterparts.

Major Markneukirchen Bow-Makers

Markneukirchen shaped generations of archetiers, but individuals and their artistry are what make Markneukirchen bows so highly prized.

The Knopf Family

Johann Gottlob Knopf (1731-1786), a tailor turned bow-maker, was one of Markneurkirchen’s earliest archetiers, but his son, Christian Wilhelm Knopf (1767-1837), truly perfectd the craft. The Knopf dynasty would last for over a hundred years, working alongside and eventually intermarrying with Markneukirchen’s other most famous bow-making family, the Herrmanns.

Christian Wilhelm’s innovative approach to bow-making combined the latest advancements by John Dodd and François Xavier Tourte into a unique German style. He also invented the metal frog eyelet. Other notable members of the Knopf family include Carl Heinrich (1839-1875) and J. Wilhelm (1836-1915).

The Herrmann Family

The Herrmann family’s archeterie tradition began with Johann Gottfried Hermann (born circa 1740), who founded a bow-making workshop in Markneukirchen in 1760. He created the Herrmann family monogram that is found on many of their bows–a truly unique feature, as many bows of the period were not stamped.

The family continued making bows, and one descendant, Chr. Friedrich Herrmann found his way to Christian Wilhelm Knopf’s workshop. After completing his apprenticeship, Chr. Friedrich rose to become one of Knopf’s principal collaborators, creating bows for the firms of Nikolai Kittel, Ludwig Bausch, and Charles Bruno. While spending so much time with the Knopfs, Chr. Friedrich eventually fell in love with Carolina Wilhelmina Knopf, and the pair married in 1861. Their three sons, Friedrich August (1863-1945), Karl Ludwig (1866-1945), and Franz Albert (1868-1960) continued both families’ archeterie legacy.

Hermann Richard Pretzschner (1857-1921)

Born into a violin-making family, Hermann Richard Pretzschner traveled to Paris to work in Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume’s workshop. There, he created bows alongside François Nicolas Voirin, and he brought the latest French bow-making techniques back to Germany.

The Nürnberger Family

Generations of the Nürnberger family had been making violins and bows in Markneukirchen since the eighteenth century, but Franz Albert Nürnberger II (1854-1931) formalized the family’s reputation for archeterie. Franz Albert is recognized as one of Germany’s finest bow-makers, and his sons, Carl Albert (1885-1971) and Phillipp (1882-1946), used business savvy to bring the brand international acclaim.

August Rau (1866-1951)

August Rau’s work embodies the best of Markneukirchen’s bow-making legacy. The son of a shoemaker from Siebenbrünn, a small village near Markneukirchen, he apprenticed under the Nürnberger family before traveling to Dresden to work for another Markneukirchen native, Wilhelm Knopf, and A.R. Weichold. When he came home, Rau displayed exceptional craftsmanship and artistic innovatio. His workshop also provided a training ground for the next generation of Markneukirchen archetiers, including Hermann G. Fischer II, Hermann Wilhelm Prell, and Adolf Curt Schuster.

Despite significant political upheaval in the twentieth century, Markneukirchen’s long history of bow-making continues to exist in the form of the Markneukirchen Instrument Museum, the international instrument-making competition, and, of course, it’s fine antique bows that grace concert stages around the world.