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Viola by Kurt Lothar Meisel, Lakewood, Ohio, 1955
Note: Click on any image below to see a larger image
NMM 5620. Viola by Kurt Lothar Meisel (1929-2011), Lakewood, Ohio, 1955. Serial no. 3. Tertis model. Arthur Richardson (1882-1956), a luthier from Crediton in Devonshire, designed and developed the first Tertis model violas in 1937, for the British performer, Lionel Tertis (1876-1975). It was in 1952, while working in the violin shop of Sidney Cecil Evans in Birmingham, that Lothar was introduced to Tertis. Working from Richardson's plans, Lothar made his first Tertis model viola before moving with his parents to Ohio. Lothar's second and third Tertis model instruments (NMM 5620 and 5621) were made after the Meisel's settled in Lakewood, Ohio. Gift of Neal and Karin (Meisel) Steffenson, Owatonna, 1993.
Lothar Meisel stands in front of display case featuring his two Tertis model violas in the Cutler Gallery at the NMM (2003).
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Soundholes
Technical Information
Inscriptions:
- Label text in Gothic lettering: [bird on branch] Lothar Meisel [KLM monogram over lyre] / violinmaker from Klingenthal / Germany / Lakewood-Ohio 1955 / No. 3 / TERTIS-MODEL. The bird on the label represents the family branch, known as the "Bird" Meisels.
- Branded on bridge: OWATONNA/MINN.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: fine to medium grain.
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple from the Carpathian area (Romania): medium curl descending slightly from center seam.
Ribs, Scroll: maple, similar to back.
Varnish: golden brown, lightly shaded.
Nut: ebony.
Saddle: ebony.
Pegbox and Scroll
Measurements
Back length: 427 mm
Upper bout width: 209 mm
Center bout width: 150 mm
Lower bout width: 269 mm
Rib height: 39.3-45.2 mm
Total viola length: 700 mm
Stop length: 221 mm
Vibrating string length: 388 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 159 mm
Lit.: K. Lothar Meisel with Betty Vos, The Meisel Family Violin Makers: Klingenthal, Vogtland, Saxony (Ely, Minnesota: Singing River Publications, Inc., 2007).
The NMM preserves violins from each of eight generations of the
Meisel family.
Go to the NAMM Oral History Interview Project to see a short video interview with Kurt Lothar Meisel (June 28, 2006)
National Music Museum
The University of South Dakota
414 East Clark Street
Vermillion, SD 57069
©National Music Museum, 2009-2014
Most recent update:
March 8, 2014
The University of South Dakota
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