Viola by Kurt Lothar Meisel, Lakewood, Ohio, 1956

NMM 5621. Viola by Kurt Lothar Meisel (1929-2011), Lakewood, Ohio, 1956. Serial no. 4. Revised 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 Kurt Lothar and Patricia A. Meisel, Owatonna, Minnesota, 1993.

Lothar Meisel stands in front of display case featuring his two Tertis model violas in the Cutler Gallery at the NMM (2003).

Inscriptions:

• Label text in Gothic lettering: [bird on branch] Lothar Meisel [KLM monogram over lyre] / violin maker, from Klingenthal, / "TERTIS-MODEL" Germany / Lakewood Ohio 1956 No. 4. 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: medium to wide grain.

Back:  two-piece, quarter-cut maple from Bosnia: broad curl descending slightly from center seam.

Ribs, Scroll:  maple, similar to back.

Varnish:  orange-brown oil varnish, slightly shaded.

Nut: ebony.

Saddle: ebony.

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.

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