German family of string instrument makers. They originated in the small village of Tieffenbruck, near Rosshaupten in Bavaria, in the region of Füssen. The family split into two branches, one of which settled in Lyons and soon became naturalized French, specializing in viols and other bowed instruments. The larger branch emigrated to Italy and became established principally in Venice and Padua, making mainly lutes. Tangled family relationships make a satisfactory reconstruction of the family tree impossible: some Tieffenbruckers might have shared only the place of origin, not a close family relationship.
Ulrich [Odorico, Rigo] Tieffenbrucker (i) (d before 1560), probably the earliest and one of the least-known members of the family, is said to have worked in Venice and Bologna. Toffolo and Cervelli attribute to him a lute inventoried in 1759 in The Hague, which bore the label ‘Ulrich Duiffoprugar Lutario A. 1521’. His children established the Venetian branch of the family.
Gaspar Tieffenbrucker [Duiffoprugcar] the elder (b Tieffenbruck, 1514; d ?Lyons, 1571), probably a close relative or even a son of Ulrich, was the most famous member of the French branch of the family; his name appears on labels in a number of French variants, of which ‘Duiffoprugcar’ is perhaps the most common. He settled in Lyons in 1533 and acquired French nationality in 1558. In 1564 his house and workshop were demolished to make way for the building of fortifications for the city and he was unable to get any compensation, a blow from which he never fully recovered. There is an engraved portrait of him by Woeiriot dated 1565 (see illustration). His eldest son, Gaspar Tieffenbrucker (ii) (fl late 16th century), moved to Paris on the death of his father; he married the sister of the Parisian instrument maker Jacques Delamotte, and his workshop was established in the rue Pot-de-Feu in 1582. Johann [Jean] Tieffenbrucker (fl late 16th century), another son of Gaspar (i), took over the business on his father’s death and seems to have remained in Lyons until at least 1585, when he had settled the outstanding debts.
The other principal members of the family were all of the Italian branch. The sons of Ulrich (i) were Magno Tieffenbrucker [Dieffoprukhar, Dieffopruchar] (i) (d 1560), Ulrich [Odorico, Rigo] Tieffenbrucker (ii) (d c1573) and Jacob Tieffenbrucker [Jacomo] (d after 1573). Not much is known about Jacob: he was apparently working in Genoa around 1564, but Venetian documents mention a ‘Jacomo di Rigo lauter’ in the late 1560s. Ulrich (ii) is described as ‘lute maker’ in a 1567 Venetian document, but he might have given up his craft, since by 1573 he is called simply ‘a merchant’. Magno (i) married in 1529 and had three sons, Magno (ii) (d 1576/7), Moisé [Moyses] (d 1581) and Abraam (d after 1575). After their father’s death Magno (ii) and Moisé took over the shop, which had been willed to their mother. Abraam (the black sheep of the family) left in 1561: in 1568, heavily in debt to his brothers, he agreed to a settlement that cut him out of the family business. In 1575 Abraam was accused of heresy by the Inquisition. At the time witnesses stated that he travelled regularly to ‘French lands’, carrying several hundred ducats’ worth of lutes: this might indicate that the French and Italian branches kept in contact. Magno (ii) and Moisé parted their ways amicably in 1571, setting up separate shops. Moisé retained the family shop (at the sign of the ‘Black Eagle’), and remained in the family house with his mother. The only son of the three brothers known to have survived into adulthood was Paolo (Paulin), son of Magno (ii), who rented a fairly expensive house with a workshop attached, from 1577 to 1591. Another Magno (iii) worked in Venice from 1589 to 1629: in the past he has been confused with Magno the younger. This third Magno called himself ‘son of Rigo’ and thus he might have been a cousin of Magno (ii). An Archlute by Magno (iii), now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, has been extensively copied in modern times.
Other members of the family include Leonardo the elder (fl early 16th century), who lived and worked in Padua; Leonardo the younger (fl late 16th century), probably the son of Leonardo the elder, who also worked in Padua before moving to Venice in about 1590 and who is said by Baron (1727) to have been the teacher of Michael Hartung; Johann Tieffenbrucker, who was apparently working in Venice in 1592; and Michael (d c1585) who is mentioned as a lute maker in the Rosshaupten archives in 1554 and 1573.
Wendelin Tieffenbrucker has created many problems for biographers, in part because of the appearance of his name in different forms, including ‘Wendelio Venere’. Instruments with his name bear dates spanning an unusually long period, from 1551 to 1611, and have fuelled speculations that this name might have been shared by several members of the family. Archival discoveries by Peter Király (1994) have shown conclusively that ‘Venere’ was simply a nickname, and that three lute makers of the family, all working in Padua, produced lutes using this name on the label. Wendelin was a son of one of the Leonardos (probably the elder), and he signed his last lute in 1587: after 1591 the labels bearing his name were altered to remove the patronymic, and by this date Wendelin – who had been at least 50 years old in 1576 – had probably passed away. His activity was continued in the 1590s by his nephew, Christoforo Heberle [Eberle] (b c1546; d before 1621), whose son Wendelin Heberle (1576–1643) took over the lute maker shop and the nickname of his great-uncle. Such a continuous use of nicknames through several generations of a family was not at all uncommon in the Renaissance. The initials ‘WE’, found on some instruments, and the source of considerable speculation in the past, are likely to refer to ‘Wendelin Eberle’. Paduan documents also record the death of a lute maker by the name of ‘Giorgio Venere’ in 1624, at the age of 34. He might be a member of the same family.
A Jachomo Tieffenbrucker seems to have worked in Milan in the 17th century. Moises Tieffenbrucker is known to have worked in Venice in the 18th century, and was apparently the last maker to bear the family name.
Several instruments by members of the family survive in many of the major instrument collections in Europe and North America, most dating from the late 16th century or early 17th. The list includes lutes, archlutes, theorbos and chitarroni, some with later modifications. Many of those instruments, especially those attributable to Magno (ii), are of the highest quality and must have been commissioned by wealthy patrons. An example of Magno's craftsmanship is the lute now in the Castello Sforzesco in Milan, made of ivory and ebony and richly decorated, that was commissioned by the Duke of Mantua.
MGG1(G. Hellwig)
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E.G. Baron: Historisch-theoretisch und practische Untersuchung des Instruments der Lauten (Nuremberg, 1727/R; Eng. trans., 1976, as Study of the Lute)
H. Coutagne: Gaspard Duiffoproucart et des luthiers lyonnais du XVIe siècle (Paris, 1893)
L. Cervelli: ‘Brevi noti sui liutai tedeschi attivi in Italia dal secolo XVI° al XVIII°’, AnMc, no.5 (1968), 299–337
F. Hellwig: ‘Makers’ Marks in Plucked Instruments of the 16th and 17th Centuries’, GSJ, xxiv (1971), 22–32
R. Bletschacher: Die Lauten- und Geigenmacher des Füssenes Landes (Hofheim am Taunus, 1978)
A. Layer: Die Allgäuer Lauten- und Geigenmacher: ein Kapitel schwäbischer Kulturleistung für Europa (Augsburg, 1978)
S. Toffolo and M.P.Pedani: ‘Una famiglia di liutai tedeschi a Venezia: i Tieffenbrucker’, Il Fronimo, no.51 (1985), 56–62
S. Toffolo: Antichi strumenti veneziani 1500–1800: Quattro secoli di liuteria e cembalaria (Venice, 1987)
G.M. Ongaro: ‘The Tieffenbruckers and the Business of Lute-Making in Sixteenth-Century Venice’, GSJ, xliv (1991), 46–54
P. Király: ‘Some New Facts about Vendelio Venere’, The Lute, xxxiv (1994), 26–32
IAN HARWOOD/GIULIO ONGARO