The following is a guest post from Double Bass Blog contributor Phillip W. Serna. Check out Phillip’s recitals and interviews on his Contrabass Conversations page, and visit him online at http://www.phillipwserna.com/. Enjoy!
Contrabass Conversations and the Double Bass Blog are continues is series on early bass performers. It will highlight many different perspectives on early bass/ violone performance. Our next guest is luthier Thomas Schiegnitz. We hope that you will enjoy these interviews and glean a good deal of information from our esteemed guests.
About Thomas Schiegnitz:
Thomas Schiegnitz is an instrument builder and restorer at the Musical Instruments Museaum Berlin. Thomas Schiegnitz trained at the Geigenbauschule in Mittenwald (1978-1981), worked in violin building in Germany and abroad and has been a restorator with the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Berlin since 1992. He is a builder and restorer of period instruments including cellos, double basses & Viennese Basses.
You can visit Thomas Schiegnitz’s website at http://www.geigenbau-schiegnitz.de/.
Viennese bass, Johann Josef Stadlmann, Vienna, about 1750
When and how did you become interested in early music, and how has it shaped your life musically?
In about 1980 ( being ca.24 years while studying at the “Geigenbauschule” in Mittenwald) looking for a facsimile for a Boccerini-Quintett at the Munich Bibliothek, which we played then, still on modern instruments, but impressed by the praxis of baroque-music performance by dutch groups ( Koopman, Kuijken family etc.)
What instrument did you start on?
First treble recorder ( my mother teached recorder, my father piano and organ), then with 12 years violoncello as main instrument, later double bass also. During this time also a 3 years period of learning piano (father teaching).
In addition to violone, what other instruments (period instruments or otherwise) have you studied or played? Have these informed your approach to period bass/ violone performance?
See above.
Who were some of the early music performers who have had a lasting affect on you?
Living later in the Netherlands (1982-85) I had more intensive contact to groups and musicians of the baroque-scene there through listening to and talking with them.
Where did you go to college?
I became violinmaker in Mittenwald during 1978-1981
Viennese bass, Johann Josef Stadlmann, Vienna, about 1750
What ensembles have you performed in (period instrument or otherwise)?
On the Violoncello in quartet and double bass Bach Kantaten and Jazz (both modern instr.),
After 1990 baroque cello in different groups, and double bass in contemporary and improvised music.
Do you have any favorite performers you have worked with?
Thomas Wiedermann, trombone (contemporary and improvised music.
What advice would you give an aspiring double bassist who might want to immerse themselves in early music?
Studying the sources and a good teacher.
What are the advantages of using period instruments?
The experience of how good baroque music can sound actually ( for example Harnoncourt).
Have you undertaken any research in regards to period instrument performance?
Looking for facsimile written music.
What information would you impart regarding what kinds of instrument played at the bottom end in the 17th-18th centuries?Always look at instruments who survived in the original state. What repertoire do you find works well on contrabass register instruments? Why?
Only the original, transcription is not acceptable.
What kind of basses and violone do you play on?
Baroque cello copy after a Peter Rombouts cello, Den Haag, ca. 1690, double bass copy after Andreas Jais, Tötz, 1730.
How long have you owned these instruments?
Self made in 1995 and 1999.
Do you play German bow, French bow? When you play violone, do you use a violone bow (large viola da gamba bow)?On bass French bow.
What kind of strings do you use? What other brands have you used in the past?
Gut strings from “Efrano” and Nicholas Bulldog.
What kind of rosin do you use?
Nymans.
Viennese bass, Johann Josef Stadlmann, Vienna, about 1750
For future installments in the Early Bass Performance – Early Music Interview Series, please visit the Double Bass Blog (http://www.doublebassblog.org/) and the Contrabass Conversations Podcast (http://www.contrabassconversations.com/).
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