Germany released a postage stamp celebrating the 250th anniversary of the death of violin maker Mathias Klotz in 1993. In the universe of music-themed stamps, it is a rare stamp that celebrates an instrument builder. This blog previously featured another stamp of this variety: the 1973 Belgian stamp celebrating Adolphe Sax.
Mathias Klotz
Mathias Klotz (1653-1743) was born in the Bavarian town of Mittenwald, Germany. His father, Urban, was a tailor, but the young Mathias did not want to follow in this path. Instead, Klotz, who was a music lover decided that he wanted to build musical instruments. At an early age, perhaps as young as twelve, he moved to the Bavarian city of Füssen. Lute makers can be documented in this city as early as the fifteenth century and by the middle of the sixteenth century the builders there had established a guild. The young Klotz would have had plenty of instrument builders in Füssen with whom to learn the craft.
Klotz later went to Padua, Italy and continued his training with the famed lute and violin-maker Pietro Railich. In 1683, as a highly skilled stringed-instrument builder (luthier) he moved back to his home town of Mittenwald, Germany. He set up his own workshop and spent the rest of his long life building instruments there with his three sons. Learn more about his instruments on the violin blog and database Tarisio.
Klotz Family
Mathias Klotz had three sons George, Sebastian, and Johann Carl. In turn, they taught their sons, all seven of them, the craft of violin making. In this way, the Klotz family established and maintained a dynasty of violin making for three hundred years. There were eventually twenty five violin makers across eight generations of the Klotz family, making instruments until the second half of the twentieth century. Learn more about this family tradition.
By Alois Wüst – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
Klotz’ violins today are quite rare. They show the skill of a finely trained craftsman, but one who chose (or could only afford) a lesser quality of wood. The instruments of his sons Sebastian and Johann Carl are today much more sought after. However, Mathias is celebrated as the progenitor of the extraordinary Mittenwald school of instrument building and the Klotz family dynasty. A statue outside of St. Peter and St. Paul’s church in Mittenwald honors his contributions to the city and to music.
The Stamp
The postage stamp has a rather simple, but striking, design. It shows various stages in the carving of a violin scroll, from the tracing of a pattern on a block of wood on the left to a finished, varnished scroll with pegs all the way on the right. It also has the name of Mathias Klotz and his birth and death dates. Harry Scheuner, a graphic designer and prolific creator of stamps, created the design of the stamp.
Germany, 1993
Scott Number DE 1888
