Four Pairs of Zithers

 

Brothers?
Cousins?
Friends?
Sadly, many portraits
of pairs of young men
do not tell us.

But when they include musical instruments
the relationship at least discloses a shared interest
between two fellow musicians.

And when the instrument is unusual
it often connects the players to a common culture.

And even in a less sophisticated portrait
a musical instrument can reveal
a more lighthearted personality
than a formal photo could.

 

Today I present
four pairs of zither players.

Mostly.

My first pair are two serious young men who face the camera at Jacks Studio at 136 Bowery, in New York City. They are dressed in their best suits and have two concert zithers displayed upright at their feet. Their zithers have ribbons tied to the tuning peg side, a decorative feature which suggests they have just come from a performance. The young man standing is marked with an X and has conveniently left his name and date on the back of this cabinet card photograph.

In ink is written: Compliments of FredK Orphal, 1895. Another notation in a different hand reads; Al & Elinor's father. Fred's full name was Gottlieb Frederick Orphal and he was born in Germany in 1874. According to the 1920 census, Fred immigrated to the United States in 1881 and became a citizen in 1887. In 1920 Frederick Orphal lived in Brooklyn with his wife Louise and daughter Elinor, age 21, and son Alfred, 18. Fred's occupation was Manager, Roofer.

* * *

My second pair of sober young men are also from New York, sitting in the Gardiner Art Studio at 461 Fifth Ave. corner of 10th St. in Brooklyn, N. Y. Only one man has a zither while the other holds a mandolin. Unfortunately there is no note to identify them but I think their clothing and the style of the cabinet card date this duo to around 1895-1899.

A Zither is a string instrument with many metal strings stretched over a flat wooden box and played by plucking  or strumming. There are many cultures around the world that have zither-like instruments, but the ones pictured in my photos today are concert zithers developed in Bavaria and Austria in the early 19th century. They have between 29 to 38 strings with four or five melody strings fixed above a chromatic fretboard that is similar to a guitar.  

Perhaps the best way to explain a zither 
is to hear the music of two played together.
Here is Elfi Gach & Maria Ledinek
performing "Der Badewaschl".

* * *

My third duo are from München, Germany. This is a smaller carte de visite photo with two young men posed like the men in the first photo, one standing and the other seated. But the man on the right is wearing dark glasses, an accessory used by blind people to distract attention from their eyes. 

The photographer was Joseph Werner whose studio was located in München at Zweibrückenstrasse 2.

* * *

My last portrait of a pair of musicians is on a German postcard. With a comical "Mutt & Jeff" difference, a short man plays a zither placed on his lap while his taller companion holds a crude folk string instrument made out of a cigar box. It seems to have four strings and a bow like a violin but he holds it between his knees so it may be played like a cello. They are both dressed in nice  suits but someone has mischievously drawn a Prussian mustache under the tall fellow's nose. 

The card was sent from Freiburg on 6 August 1903 by a soldier using the German free military post. The message and signature is too messy for me to decipher, but I assume, even though it went by military post, that it was written by one or maybe both of the two men pictured in civilian attire. However it's interesting that it was sent to Herrn Hermann Heüer, a Hoboist or Haut-oboist of an infantry regiment in Freiburg. A Hoboist was a military rank in a German military band that was equivalent to a chief musician or staff sergeant. No doubt Hermann got a laugh from their little joke.  

In conclusion here is some more zither music
from a Tyrolean ensemble of three zithers and a guitar
playing  "Für'n Phil", a waltz by Dominik Meißnitzer.
The musicians are Anton Mooslechner, Dominik Meißnitzer,
Kathrin Matzenberger, and Markus Brodinger.
It may be a recent composition but I think 
it demonstrates why the beautiful sound of a zither
remains popular with the people of Germany and Austria.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where sometimes two is better than one.