Herman Lowendall Violin Berlin 1926 – CURRENTLY OUT ON TRIAL –

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Branded in oval:

HERMANN LOWENDALL
BERLIN
Label:
Hermann Lowendall
Berlin 1926 (insignia)
Reproduction of Antonius Stradivarius
Cremona 1721
LÖWENTHAL, Lowendahl, or Lowendall, Louis was born in 1836. At the age of seven he constructed a violin according to his own ideas; namely, from non-planed wooden boards, making the neck, pegs, and all parts. The strings he made from strong cotton thread, and he secured a supply of hair from the tails of horses in the street. Louis was later given a violin by his father after he noticed his son’s love for the instrument. This creative mind then learned to play the cello as well by 13 and by his 19th year he was a proficient performer. In the making arts he was apprenticed to bow making by Bausch in Leipzig and violin making to Heinrich Knopf in Berlin. Louis founded his own music retail business 1855, from that time on building it into larger scale and eventually expanding into an American branch in 1867. There he anglicized his name from Löwenthal to Lowendall. He was a talented businessman, willing to travel and get his company to grow with new contacts in the West and creating the best instruments possible. He began a trade in antique instruments and tonewood, and returned to Dresden 1873, while also visiting the United States and London regularly.

Our instrument has a label inside the violin attributing it to Hermann Lowendall, who does not exist. Hermann was a higher end trade name used to differentiate the same line of instruments between competitors. The violin is also branded inside the violin above the label. These instruments were marketed and sold from the city of Berlin from 1889 going forward while the company occupied a large building on Reichenberger Strasse, Berlin. Lowendall only hired the best makers he could find and in Germany he generally could find many. Our violin is one of these instruments, made in the Stradivarius pattern. This instrument has a gorgeous one-piece maple back that is highly flamed. The ribs, neck, and scroll also jump in degree of flame. This violin was marketed for export and sold by Lowendall after his 1889 move to Reichenberger Strasse in Berlin, and most likely in the first 20 years following the turn of the century. We have meticulously gone over the entire instrument and given it all new ebony fittings with a set of Thomastik Rondo strings, a new bridge, soundpost, and alike. The violin is in very good condition.

Corpus 359.0 mm., Major Width 208.5 mm., 168.0 mm., Rib Height 30.0 mm.

As to the sound of this almost 100 years old violin- Wow on the sound! It has power and a robust bottom end with a sweeter top palate. The voicing on all the strings is well defined. It lacks nothing in the sound and response categories. I love the overtones the violin displays, and a player will simply smile when the extension of their arm disguised as wood & hair, with the assist of rosin, strike the layers of chrome, silver, or steel strings to produce a gorgeous sound. I hope you like the sound as much as I do.