John Friedrich (luthier)

John Friedrich (1858–1943) was a German-born violin maker who worked in the United States.

Biography

Friedrich was born 26 June 1858 at Kassel. He was a pupil of Oswald Möckel, a prominent German violin maker and repairer. Friedrich came to the United States in 1883, and in a short time ranked among the American leaders in his profession. His older brother William (1855–1911) joined him soon and they established the company "Friedrich, John, & Bro." on 5th Avenue in New York City. In addition to violins, Friedrich also made bows, violas, and violoncellos. He received the highest award bestowed for violins, violas, and violoncellos at the World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893. One of his violins was also granted the highest awards, Grand Prize and gold medal, at the St Louis World's Exposition in 1904. Another one of his violins was used by the concert violinist Franz Wilczek. ^[1]^[2]

Friederich became known among collectors as an expert in the identification and valuation of rare instruments. In the early 1900s, four of the choicest specimens of his violins were in the possession of Frank Waldo, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He married the Kassel native Emma Brenzel (1869–1950), with whom he had one daughter. Friedrich died July 8, 1943, in Peekskill, New York, and is interred with his wife at Cortlandt Manor, New York.

References

^ "Music and Drama". The Brantford Daily Expositor. April 26, 1902. p. 3. The extremely pure sweet and yet powerful tone of Wilcek's instrument excited the curiosity of lovers of the violin, and it was learned that the violin was made in America of American wood—and wood with a history. A few years ago John Friederich, the maker of this violin, received an old table from a friend in Corning, New York. He had bought it from a family in which it had been handed down for generations as being authentically the table made by North American Indians and given by them to the first white child born after the Wyoming Massacre."
^ "A Rare Instrument". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. September 13, 1902. p. 2.

Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1906). "Friedrich, John" . New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

[1] "Music and Drama". The Brantford Daily Expositor. April 26, 1902. p. 3. The extremely pure sweet and yet powerful tone of Wilcek's instrument excited the curiosity of lovers of the violin, and it was learned that the violin was made in America of American wood—and wood with a history. A few years ago John Friederich, the maker of this violin, received an old table from a friend in Corning, New York. He had bought it from a family in which it had been handed down for generations as being authentically the table made by North American Indians and given by them to the first white child born after the Wyoming Massacre."

[2] "A Rare Instrument". Honolulu Star-Bulletin. September 13, 1902. p. 2.

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