Panel 10 Settlement by Religious Exiles: the Quittenbach

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the few people living in this area of poor soil and rugged nature made their living mainly from forestry and the growing demand for iron and tin, whereupon numerous blast furnaces, fresh smelters and hammer mills were founded.
Against the background of the Thirty Years’ War (1618 - 1648), one may well assume that the founding years of today's Klingenthal districts are already connected in particular with the settlement by Bohemian religious exiles: For after the lost Battle of White Mountain (Bilá Hora) near Prague in 1620, recatholicization began in Bohemia by the emperor, the Habsburg Ferdinand II. The Counter-Reformation by the Austrian rule caused the Protestants from Bohemia to move across the border to the Wettin lands in Saxony.

In 1625/26 and 1628, among others, the settlements of Untersachsenberg and Brunndöbra were founded - places which in the present day belong as districts to the town of Klingenthal. It was the time when not only the population in the Klingenthal area generally multiplied due to Bohemian religious exiles, but also a new craft settled, namely instrument making. In Klingenthal’s neighbouring town of Graslitz (today: Kraslice, Czech Republic) on the other side of the border on the Bohemian side, there is evidence of mentions of violin makers in the church’s marriage register. This is also how the knowledge of violin making came to the Klingenthal area.

On January 24, 1716, the Klingenthal violin makers’ guild met for its founding convention.

However, the masters did not always indicate the general place name KLINGENTHAL on the slips of paper in their instruments. Instead, the names of the smaller settlements, today’s districts, such as Brunndöbra, Untersachsenberg or Zwota can be found. Occasionally it even happened that the exact place of residence was noted (instead of a precise address, which was not possible at that time due to the lack of dedicated streets according to today’s model): Thus, the settlement area “Quittenbach” is one such example of a place name on violin slips.
Around 1840, the seven rural communities in the valleys of the Döbra and Zwota (Oberzwota, Zwota, Klingenthal, Brunndöbra, Untersachsenberg, Obersachsenberg and Georgenthal with Steindöbra and Aschberg) had together 5800 inhabitants. Eventually, the manufacture of other orchestral instruments as well as reed instrument production also found their way to Klingenthal.

In 1913, the musical instrument production in the Klingenthal area covered more than half of the world’s demand for harmonicas. At that time, violin making had largely been displaced by harmonica and button accordion making.
Instrument making brought the population modest prosperity. The age of industrialisation and increasing globalisation made Klingenthal a world centre of instrument making. In 1920, the population of the entire district court area was 17,300. The violin makers had once laid the foundation for this.


“The Quittenbach” - between Bohemia and Saxony

Caspar Hopff (1650 - 1711) is considered the forefather of Klingenthal violin making. The reason for this is not least because of the design method of violins developed by himself, the famous Hopff model.
According to current sources, he was the first violin maker in Klingenthal. The family from Graslitz settled in the Quittenbach Valley. Right where the mountain stream bearing the same name marks the border between Bohemia and Saxony. Similar climatic conditions and the same wood resources made the continuation of instrument making uncomplicated on the Saxon side as well.
In 1716, Caspar Hopff’s sons were among the founding members of the Klingenthal violin makers' guild. The master and initiator
Caspar Hopff himself did not live to see this significant moment. However, “his” Quittenbach has long since resembled a regional brand of origin, because the narrow mountain gorge was probably the first settlement area of several masters whose instruments promised special quality.
As early as 1800, profit-minded instrument dealers took advantage of this, and the booming trade in counterfeit labels further boosted the flourishing instrument business and drove up prices.


“Johann Krauß Violin Maker in Quittenbach 1672”:


 
The violin with this label was probably made by Johann Adam Krauß (1764 - 1815) from Markneukirchen. Both the age information and the geographical location Quittenbach were knowingly misstated for reasons of value enhancement. This was also proven beyond doubt by a dendrochronological wood examination of this instrument.
Signatures of violins with the place name of “Quittenbach” (today’s spelling) can be found especially on violins in connection with the name Hopf: “Friedrich Carl Hopf violin maker and bass maker in Quittenbach 1805”
The identity of this violin maker is considered controversial. No church book in the area ever mentioned a violin maker of his name.
Even the fictitious creation of violin makers from Quittenbach for commercial reasons proves that the settlement by religious exiles was beneficial for Klingenthal: The knowledge of violin making brought a new perspective for the future to the previously sparsely populated valley near Döbra and Zwota. In terms of settlement history, the Quittenbach is part of the origin of Klingenthal’s history as a city of music, which continues to this day.