Joachim Tielke (14 October 1641 – 19 January 1719) was a German maker of

musical instruments A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

. He was born in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was name ...

(now Kaliningrad),

Duchy of Prussia The Duchy of Prussia (german: Herzogtum Preußen, pl, Księstwo Pruskie, lt, Prūsijos kunigaikštystė) or Ducal Prussia (german: Herzogliches Preußen, link=no; pl, Prusy Książęce, link=no) was a duchy in the region of Prussia establish ...

a fief of

Kingdom of Poland The Kingdom of Poland ( pl, Królestwo Polskie; Latin: ''Regnum Poloniae'') was a state in Central Europe. It may refer to: Historical political entities * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom existing from 1025 to 1031 * Kingdom of Poland, a kingdom exi ...

, and died in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. A publication was dedicated to him by Günther Hellwig. Hellwig lists the total number of 139 instruments still existing of Tielke's oeuvre, with lutes,

angelica ''Angelica'' is a genus of about 60 species of tall biennial and perennial herbs in the family Apiaceae, native to temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, reaching as far north as Iceland, Lapland, and Greenland. They gr ...

theorbo The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ...

es,

bell cittern The Cithrinchen or Bell cittern was a distinctively shaped instrument of the renaissance and baroque periods. It was usually strung with doubled courses of thin, light tension brass or steel strings. It usually had 3 soundholes (with decorative r ...

s (Ger ''Hamburger Cithrinchen''),

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, pochettes,

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

s, viole d'amore without sympathetic strings,

baryton The baryton is a bowed string instrument similar to the viol, but distinguished by an extra set of sympathetic but also pluckable strings. It was in regular use in Europe until the end of the 18th century. Design The baryton can be viewed as a ...

s, viole da gamba, and bows. The publications of 2011 and 2020 omit few instruments and the bows as unauthentic, but new findings raise the total number of instruments and fragments from the Tielke workshop to 174. More recent research shows that all theorboes were originally either lutes with bent-back pegboxes or are modifications of angelicas. The bows have shown to be non-authentic. On the other hand, nearly thirty instruments not known to Hellwig have come up, among them the fragment of a baryton, a cello, more viols, guitars, and lutes. Tielke's existing oeuvre is therefore one of the most comprehensive and by number close to that of

Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the collo ...

and the other great Italian makers. Tielke's instruments are famous not only for their

marquetry Marquetry (also spelled as marqueterie; from the French ''marqueter'', to variegate) is the art and craft of applying pieces of veneer to a structure to form decorative patterns, designs or pictures. The technique may be applied to case fur ...

and carved heards, but also for their tonal qualities. A much-debated question is that of the contribution Tielke himself made to the instruments signed with his name. The examination of his work leads to the idea that he engaged outside craftsmen and artists for the supply of carvings and marquetry, possibly even complete instruments.

Bibliography

* Friedemann and Barbara Hellwig, ''Joachim Tielke. Neue Funde zu Werk und Wirkung'', Berlin/Munich 2020 (in German) * Friedemann and Barbara Hellwig, ''Joachim Tielke. Kunstvolle Musikinstrumente des Barock'', Berlin/Munich 2011 (in German, with an English summary) * Günther Hellwig, ''Joachim Tielke: ein Hamburger Lauten- und Violenmacher der Barockzeit'', Frankfurt/Main 1980

External links

The Tielke website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tielke, Joachim 1641 births 1719 deaths Lute makers German musical instrument makers Businesspeople from Königsberg People from the Duchy of Prussia