The luthier, who created his own viola model, was 92 years old
The luthier Wilhelm Brückner died on 2 January 2025, aged 92, in Erfurt, Thuringia. The violin maker came from family of luthiers; his grandfather August Wilhelm Brückner established the family’s workshop in Erfurt in 1897.
Now in its fifth generation, the Brückner Violin Making workshop’s tradition is continued by Brückner’s daughter, Ruth Brückner.
Wilhelm Brückner was born on 30 September 1932. He served as an apprentice to master violin maker Willi Dölling in Markneukirchen at the age of 15, completing his journeyman’s examination in 1951, before working for Willi Lindörfer in Weimar.
He passed his master craftsman’s diploma in violin making in 1956. He had a self-professed love of making violas, describing it as a ‘burning passion,’ and dedicated much of his professional activity to the instrument.
Brückner developed his own viola model, the ‘Urmutter,’ which was played by Alfred Lipka. The instrument was a result of years of previous experimentation, where he widened the instrument and adapted the bass-bar, soundpost, rib height and width of the bridge, in an aim to obtain a richer and more adaptable viola sound.
Lipka said the instrument produced ’a dark sound on the C string, the G and D strings have more of a baritone sense to them whereas the A string is characterised through a sparkling tenor quality.’
Brückner won the gold medal at the 1972 Henryk Wieniawski violin making competition in Poland, and also took part in the violin making competitions Antonio Stradivari (Cremona) in 1982 and Louis Spohr (Kassel) in 1983, where he won six prizes.
Brückner was a member of the German Violin Makers Association and the International Viola Society.
On the occasion of Brückner’s 80th birthday, the Brückner family became the subject of a book by Stefan Sethe, called Violin Making in the reflection of time – the Erfurt violin maker family Brückner brings wood to life for five generations.
He retired from active work at the age of 90, having made 350 stringed instruments throughout his career.
Read: Why I only make violas: luthier Gabrielle Kundert
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