Cellobow K V D MEER Amsterdam

It is thanks to Karel van der Meer that the somewhat sleepy Dutch violin building world was able to spring up at the end of the nineteenth century. He made few instruments himself; his merit lay more in the fact that he brought many young, talented builders to the Netherlands. He encouraged his collaborators to develop further without imposing a model or method. Bows and instrument from his workshop therefore showed a great diversity of styles and models. For him, this diversity was the appropriate result of the diversity of his collaborators. He himself was self-taught, but his collaborators were mostly skilled craftsmen. Karel van der Meer began his career not as a violin maker, but as a violinist. First in small Amsterdam venues to be hired a few years later by the Concertgebouw Orchestra. There he resigned somewhat disappointed four years later.

With violin makers trained in Germany he oriented himself to that profession and started his own workshop in Amsterdam and Arnhem. Among his employees were violin makers Josef Fedral Sr, Eugène Eberle and Johann Stüber. As a bow maker, Auguste Toussaint had already gained a wealth of experience at major French builders before he joined Karel van der Meer. Considering the excellent bows by his hand, he was probably the most gifted bow maker in the workshop. Important was Paul Max Muller who, as chef d’atelier, did allow the employees a great deal of freedom, but also set high standards for the quality of their work. Paul Max came from St. Petersburg and brought with him knowledge about old master instruments.

Karel van der Meer maintained good relations with the musicians of the Concertgebouw Orchestra who would continue to provide employment for a long time to come. He expanded the business, which he ran together with van Roosmalen, to Arnhem and later moved into a large workshop next to the Concertgebouw. There instruments were built after the old masters from Cremona. Karel van der Meer ended his business in the Van Baerlestraat in 1920 and moved to Bussum. There he continued to work for several years before his death in 1932. In 1930 he participated in another exhibition in Liege. His co-workers continued to speak of him with appreciation even after their departure. Only later did it become clear how important Karel van der Meer had been for the revival of violin making in the Netherlands.

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