John Friedrich (1858–1943) was a German-born violin maker who worked in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Biography

Friedrich was born 26 June 1858 at

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

. He was a pupil of Oswald Möckel, a prominent German violin maker and repairer. Friedrich came to the United States in 1883, and in a short time ranked among the American leaders in his profession. His older brother William (1855–1911) joined him soon and they established the company "Friedrich, John, & Bro." on 5th Avenue in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In addition to violins, Friedrich also made bows,

violas ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

, and violoncellos. He received the highest award bestowed for violins, violas, and violoncellos at the

World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordi ...

, Chicago, 1893. One of his violins was also granted the highest awards, Grand Prize and gold medal, at the St Louis World's Exposition in 1904. He also became known among collectors as an expert in the identification and valuation of rare instruments. In the early 1900s, four of the choicest specimens of his violins were in the possession of Frank Waldo, of

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

. He married the Kassel native Emma Brenzel (1869–1950), with whom he had one daughter. Friedrich died July 8, 1943, in

Peekskill, New York Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fro ...

, and is interred with his wife at

Cortlandt Manor, New York Cortlandt Manor is a hamlet located in the Town of Cortlandt in northern Westchester County, New York, United States. Cortlandt Manor is situated directly east, north and south of Peekskill, and east of three sections of the Town of Cortlandt, ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Friedrich, John 1858 births 1943 deaths American musical instrument makers Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States German luthiers Businesspeople from Kassel