Ulrich Rück (October 18, 1882 in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

– November 6, 1962 in Nuremberg) was a German collector of musical instruments,

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

and dealer in

pianos The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Biography

Ulrich Rück, together with his brother Hans, continued the work of his father Wilhelm Rück, who had founded a collection of historical musical instruments in

around 1880. Particularly in the 1930s Ulrich Rück succeeded in expanding the collection considerably. Shortly before his death he bequeathed the collection containing approximately 1500 items to the

Germanisches Nationalmuseum The Germanisches National Museum is a museum in Nuremberg, Germany. Founded in 1852, it houses a large collection of items relating to German culture and art extending from prehistoric times through to the present day. The Germanisches National ...

in Nuremberg. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

this was undoubtedly the largest and most important private collection of historical musical instruments in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and Rück saw himself as patron of a new area of performance using examples of such historical instruments. He cooperated with music scholars from all corners of Europe and maintained contacts with restorers, most notably Otto Marx of the Heyer collection in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

. Amongst Rück's most important projects was the work to restore to playability

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

fortepiano A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...

in the possession of the Internationale Stiftung

Mozarteum Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Moz ...

in Salzburg in 1937. Extensive notes, photographs and a wealth of correspondence belonging to Rück's estate, currently being added to the archives department of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, provide detailed information about the collection history and the work involved in it.

Works

• Mozarts Hammerflügel erbaute

Anton Walter Gabriel Anton Walter (5 February 1752 – 11 April 1826) was a builder of pianos. The ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most famous Viennese piano maker of his time".Latcham (2009) Life Walter was born in Neuhaus ...

, Wien. Technische Studien, Vergleiche und Beweise. In: Mozart-Jahrbuch 1955 (1956), p. 246–286

Literature

• John Henry van der Meer: In memoriam Dr. Dr. h.c. Ulrich Rück, in: Monatsanzeiger des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, No. 80, 1987, p. 638ff

External links

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Rück's estate at the Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruck, Ulrich People from Nuremberg 1882 births 1962 deaths German collectors