David Tecchler is considered the leading maker of the Roman school, although he was Austrian by birth and did not move to Rome until the 1690s. He was active there for more than thirty years, and although much of his work shows the influence of Stainer, he also used a flatter model that is more Cremonese in inspiration. Tecchler\'s cellos are particularly well regarded. Most of Tecchler\'s cellos were built on the large model prevalent at the time, and have since been reduced in size. (excerpted from Four Centuries of Violin Making by Tim Ingles.)
David Tecchler (1666–1748) was an Austrian luthier, best known for his cellos and double basses.
Tecchler was born in Salzburg, Austria, where he worked for a time. He also lived and worked in Venice and in Rome, Italy. Most of his career was in Rome.
His instruments are Germanic or Italian in their style of construction.
Possibly the most famous Tecchler cello known today is the "ex Roser" of Rome 1723, currently being played by soloist Robert Cohen. The scroll of the "ex Roser" is a sculpted portrait of its commissioner, David Tecchler's employer in Rome, who resided in the Vatican.
A 1706 Tecchler cello was acquired by the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank and is on loan to the Canadian cellist Denis Brott.
Other musicians who own or play Tecchler instruments include Anne Martindale Williams, principal cellist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, who plays a Tecchler cello made in Rome in 1701;[1] the young Turkish cellist Benyamin Sönmez, who plays a cello made in in Rome in 1723; Martha Babcock, Assistant Principal cello at the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Principal cello for the Boston Pops owns a Tecchler known as the “ex-Feuermann”, made in Rome in 1741; the Danish cellist Jakob Kullberg, known for his collaborations with the composer Per Nørgaard, plays a Tecchler cello made in 1703 in Rome; the Israeli cellist Yehuda Hanani performs on a 1730 Tecchler of particular beauty, tonally and visually, previously in the possession of the Von Mendelssohn family; Marcy Rosen, soloist and member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, plays an exceptionally beautiful Tecchler cello dated 1720. Her cello, owned by the famous Francais family of Luthiers for three generations, was shown in Jacques Francais’s Lincoln Center Stainer exhibition in the 1980s.
Steven Doane, Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, USA, plays a David Tecchler cello dated 1720. Professor Anthony Elliott at the University of Michigan owns a particularly beautiful Tecchler once owned by the Duke of Edinburgh.
Ray Shows, founding member of the Artaria String Quartet (Boston 1986), professor at St. Olaf College and 2004 prizewinner of a McKnight Fellowship plays a violin by David Tecchler from 1726.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is home to an Archlute by David Tecchler from around the year 1725.
Tecchler,David
