Three German Family Bands

Mother and Father,
with zither, violin, and flute.

Sister and Brother,
with violin and sailor suit.

Brother and Brother,
with violins too.

Together they make a family orchestra
posed in a garden
on 21.VI.25 or June 21, 1925.
The place and their names are unknown.

The only clue to their location is found on
the back of the sheet music advertising
ZITHER-VI....MUSIK
So it seems likely that this happy family group are somewhere in Germany or Austria. The father has the air of a professional man, though not necessarily a professional musician, perhaps he was an academic, a lawyer, or even a doctor. The musical heritage of the Germanic people makes for a considerable history that is far too long to elaborate here. Instead I'd like to focus on three families where music was indisputably an important aspect of their family heritage.

***

This musical family trio promoted themselves as the Salon-Trio Fischer, Leipzig. Father stands with a fine blackwood and ivory flute, as his daughter sits at an upright piano, and his younger son, who wears a sailor suit, is holding a violin. One the floor are two rotary valve brass instruments, an alt-horn trumpet and a bass-horn trumpet similar to a valve trombone. Behind them on top of the piano are another violin and a standard rotary valve trumpet. The boy looks about age 10 and the girl is maybe 14 or a bit over.



The postcard was sent from Leipzig by way of the German military Feldpost on 8 Nov 1915 to Artillerist - artilleryman Arthur Zinger. The message's handwriting is too challenging for my ability to translate, but the writer, I believe, is Kapellmeister - bandmaster Franz (?) Fischer, the flutist father pictured on the card. Another signature on the lower left reads Else Fischer, who is probably his pianist daughter.

***

This next family band are professional performers too, but they come from Dresden. 

Trompten-Quartett — Piston Virtuos  Oscar Schreyer
mit seinen Kinderen  Elisabeth, Althorn-Solistin
Zwillinge: Renata, Bass-Solisten, Kätchen, Piston-Solisten
Ständige Adress: NIEDERPOYRITZ b. Dresden

Unlike the typical German brass instruments with rotary valves, the trumpets that Oscar Schreyer and his three beautiful daughters hold have piston valves, which were a characteristic of the brass band instruments played during this era in France, Britain, and the United States too.

The eldest daughter, Elisabeth, seated right, holds an alt-horn trumpet, while one Zwillinge - twin daughter, Renata holds a bass-horn trumpet and the other twin, Kätchen holds the smaller standard size trumpet. The rotary vs. piston valve plumbing technology makes no difference in the sound of these instruments. However there is a slight difference in how the instrument's action responds for the player. At this time they would have been considered a novelty in Germany and Oscar includes the word Piston to distinguish himself and his three daughters from the ordinary German brass musicians. In 2015 rotary valve trumpets still remain the prevalent style for trumpet players in Central and Eastern Europe, but the variety of lower pitch trumpets has diminished.

Not content with just a quartet, Piston Virtuos Oscar Schreyer added another young member of the family to become a quintet. Little Antonia joined her sisters with a pair of Pauken - tympani.  Despite their miniature size, these tympani appear to have tunable drum heads that can change pitch just like orchestral tympani.

This postcard was sent from Marienberg in southern Saxony, Germany on 8 Nov, 1918 from an Elisabeth Lor..(?), not Schreyer I think, to Fräulein Helene Uhlig. It is interesting to note that just three days later the Great War would end. That would be as good a reason as any for Helene to save it for posterity.

But wait! There's more!

With the war over, Oscar Schreyer, Musikmeister, no doubt was encouraged to expand his family quintet into a septet by adding his two sons, Oscar and Eduard, on Glocken - bells. The two boys, dressed in white sailor suits, look about age 7 and 6 respectively and between them have about two octaves of small hand bells placed on Antonia's Pauken. Elisabeth Schreyer with her alt-trumpet is more mature than in the earlier postcards, perhaps about age 17-18. The twins Renata and Kätchen on bass-trumpet and piston trumpet have also become pretty young ladies. They do not look like identical twins.

The other photos were made in a Dresden photographer's studio, but this one looks like it was taken inside their home as there are two photos hanging on the wall behind them. Could that be a picture of mother Schreyer? The phrase: mit seiner Familie, im Besitze des Kunstscheines translates as "

with his family, in the possession of art certificate" implies that Schreyer has a proper diploma of musical artistry, and that his children are receiving an advanced level of music education.

Family bands by their very nature, have a relatively short performing career as the children grow up and move on. It is gratifying to think that the Schreyer family survived beyond 1918, but of course there were many more difficult trials awaiting anyone living in Germany in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. I find it especially challenging to research German and other European family names, as the various non-English internet archives are generally less than useful. So it was a great surprise that I found this small record from the 1949 Hamburg telephone book in the vast vaults of Ancestry.com.

In the middle of five columns of names, Schmidt to Schult, was an entry for:

Schreyer Oscar u. Barbara - Orc. Musiker Wickedestr 10
                                   (Orchestra Musician)

1949 Hamburg, Germany telephone directory

Is this Oscar Schreyer the father or the son? Or someone else with the same name and occupation?
I don't know that we will ever find out. But once upon a time
there was a family who truly loved music.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
where families are always posing for the camera.