The fact that violin making in Vienna looks back on an exceptionally long history and that Viennese lute and violin makers have been known by name since the late 14th century is proof of the musical-historical rank that the Austrian capital on the Danube could claim centuries before the time of Haydn and Mozart. If Viennese musical culture of the late Middle Ages was sustained not least by the prosperous citizens of the trading city, violin making also found the best conditions after Vienna's rise to become the Habsburg residence – a situation that would remain in place until the end of the First World War and shape the history of Viennese violin making.
Violin making in Vienna, overview:
- The Viennese School of Violin Making in the 17th and 18th Centuries
- The limited influence of Italian models on violin making in Vienna
- The New Viennese School and Industrial Violin Making in the Habsburg Monarchy
- Viennese violin making between craftsmanship and manufacturing
- Contemporary Violin Making in Vienna
- Revival of violin making in Vienna
The Viennese School of Violin Making in the 17th and 18th Centuries
Considering the rich musical life in the flourishing royal capital, it may come as a surprise that Viennese violin making did not develop into an independent tradition in the 17th and 18th centuries, but instead became probably the most authentic representation of the Füssen style in Europe. 
By the 17th century at the latest, the dominant influence of Füssen on violin making in Vienna is documented in the names of numerous masters who settled in the vicinity of the Wiener Hofkapelle (founded in 1498), the diverse chamber music ensembles and the bands of the nobility – often to found dynasties of craftsmen, some of which flourished for generations. Among them were Thomas Epp, who was active in Vienna by 1630 at the latest, and his son-in-law Magnus Feldtle (also: Veltl, Feltl); in the following two generations, the brothers Mathias Fux and Johann Jakob Fux, Andreas Bär (Beer) and the violin makers of the Hollmayr family.
The limited influence of Italian models on violin making in Vienna
With the founding of the Lute and Violin Makers' Guild in 1696, Viennese violin making also reached a new level of development in institutional terms. Although the city quickly became a major European cultural and musical centre, its violin makers initially took little notice of the groundbreaking innovations of the old Italian masters throughout the 18th century. The violin model of Antonio Stradivari arrived in Vienna comparatively late, and masters such as Andreas Leeb, Mathias Thier, Sebastian Dallinger and Michael Ignaz Stadlmann exemplify the decisive influence of the South German, Tyrolean school – which also produced the famous Mozart violin, one of its most prominent instruments, which was probably built in Mittenwald as a faithful copy of a Stainer violin, right down to the label. Only Nikolaus Leidolf, who, unlike a large number of his contemporaries, probably came from Switzerland rather than from Füssen, was a lone representative of Italian violin making in Vienna in the early 18th century, oriented towards Testore. This conservative orientation of the old Viennese violin-making school, including instrument-historical peculiarities such as the baryton or five-string, fretted double basses, which enjoyed lasting popularity in Vienna – should not be seen as a bizarre anachronism; rather, the sound ideal of the Stainer tradition perfectly met the needs of the predominantly courtly musical culture with its strong focus on chamber music.
The New Viennese School and Industrial Violin Making in the Habsburg Monarchy
The transition to the newer standard of the Viennese School is represented by Franz Geissenhof, whose work shows a particularly clear influence of the Italian design principles from the turn of the 19th century, the violin makers Michael Ignaz Stadlmann, Johann Martin Stoss and Carl Nicolaus Sawicki (Savicki), who were among the best masters of their generation, followed by the equally talented Matthäus Ignaz Brandstätter, Gabriel Lemböck, Anton Hofmann and his student Wilhelm Theodor Gutermann.
In the 19th century, Viennese violin making was characterised by increasing interaction with the other centres of the Austrian Empire, particularly in Bohemia and Hungary. The most important exponent of this was the Geissenhof student Johann Baptist Schweitzer, who settled in Pest in 1825 and became famous for the outstanding musical quality of his instruments far beyond his adopted country and beyond his death. He had a considerable influence on violin making in his time, not only through his own work but also as the teacher of many excellent masters.
Viennese violin making between craftsmanship and manufacturing
At the same time, the factories in Schönbach and Graslitz also captured market share in Vienna over the course of the 19th century and ensured in their own way that Viennese violin making retained a strong artisanal orientation in the 19th century – by largely and seamlessly meeting the demand for affordable instruments, preventing the establishment of industrial stringed-instrument making in Vienna for the time being. This is not contradicted in any way by the fact that respectable, well-trained masters such as Franz Hoyer and his student Ignaz Lutz also found their way from Schönbach to Vienna – and not only opened acclaimed workshops there, but also acted as bridge-builders for a wide range of business relationships between the Vogtland and the capital.
Contemporary violin making in Vienna
In the period following the world wars, Viennese violin making experienced a period of stagnation due to the poor economic situation, but also to global changes in the market; both the music industry and the trade in top-quality historical instruments – and with it the demand for high-quality restoration services – changed within the geopolitical framework, and not to the advantage of Viennese violin making.
Revival of violin making in Vienna
However, a renewed interest in traditional Alpine instruments and the revival of historical performance practice from the 1980s onwards led to a slow revival of violin making in Vienna, so that today the city has a new and highly interesting scene of artisanal violin-making workshops. Most of the internationally trained masters such as Carl von Stietencron, Gerlinde Reutterer, Julia Maria Pasch, Marcel Richters and Hans Rombach belong to this scene.
