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SZ series: Property obligates – Charity has a fine tradition in Munich (III) Lucky Pull of an Aficionado The “Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation” wants to improve the guitar´s reputation among friends of classical music.

Andrés Segovia (left) 1893-1987, was amongst the pioneers of classical guitar music. Even today guitarists in the field of classic music feel disadvantaged. A foundation owing its name to the world-famous Munich luthier Hermann Hauser (right), wants to change that. Photo composition: Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation Hermann Hauser is considered the Stradivari of luthiers. At the beginning of the 20th century he manufactured guitars that can be admired behind glass windows in the New York Metropolitan Museum today. In the United States, people are willing to pay very high prices for instruments built by the luthier native-born in Munich. “In Japan and America people prostrate when they hear the name”, says Klaus Wolfgang Wildner, “whereas here only insiders know the name Hauser”. Guitar collector Wildner doesn´t understand why Munich doesn´t appreciate its famous son: “That´s a drama. As we have such a tradition we should care for it”. As of April, Wildner takes matters into his own hands. Together with Hauser´s grandson Hermann Hauser III, who still manufactures guitars for world stars of classical music, he established the “Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation”. A foundation that made it its own business to increase reputation for the guitar in the field of classical music. Six years ago, Wildner, business manager of an academy for media and music, didn´t know much about the Munich instrument manufacturer dynasty. Then he discovered a run-down quint bass guitar in a shop window. Acquiring the stringed instrument with the long neck turned out to be a lucky pull: he had bought a Hauser quint bass guitar from 1922, a low sounding instrument Hauser had only built 3 copies of during his lifetime from 1882 to 1952. from left: Derek Gripper, Klaus Wolfgang Wildner The fourty-two year old guitar aficionado with a hint of a Beatles haircut is an exceptionally young founder. When he made his application at the Government of Upper Bavaria, he had the impression that “they were happy about a young face”. Also the mission of the foundation is unusual. “I´m not the guy who has to place his million dollar fortune after the third apoplectic stroke”, Wildner says. His foundation is not about supporting people in need, but about establishing contacts and publicity for young musicians and successful guitar professionals. “I don´t want to park millions of dollars. I want to activate and establish networks!”. There are effects of synergy for the founder himself: In autumn 2006 he wants to open a private university for music. As for lecturers and exchange programs, he can count on the network of the Hermann Hauser Guitar Foundation. The young and dynamic entrepreneur represents a new kind of founder, in succession of the reform of foundation laws which allows establishing foundations starting at €50,000. Wildner puts an emphasis on “political reasons” which pushed him towards the foundation. “All of that cant around here is getting on my nerves. With the instrument simpatico I want to show that you can make a difference and sway something in this country”. There are already prosperities to be celebrated. The curatorship comprises many grand names of classical music. Besides stars like Eliot Fisk and Pepe Romero there are also aficionados from the Seychelles who take part in the project. To the broad public the foundation makes its first appearance from August 22 thru 24. The foundation presents classical guitar music at the “Tiroler Festspiele Erl” (Tyrol Festival Erl). Wildner does not want to deal with strict purists. His foundation is supposed “to be undogmatic, not a conservative club for classical music”. At the moment Michael Koschorrek (Söhne Mannheims) accompanies his rap band with a 1913 Hauser guitar. When serious musicians gasp for breath at that sight ,Wildner is happy. “I especially like that”, laughs the man who used to play jazz rock with his band Xtreemono. However, his commitment has nothing whatsoever to do with nostalgia. “The guitar sounds completely up-to-date”. When he demonstrated his Hauser guitar in a music shop, “the metal-minded party was blown away”. PDF (480K) Hauser guitars are even manufactured this very day, in Reisbach close to Dingolfing (Lower Bavaria), where Hauser had to hide from the Nazis, because the “Gitarristische Bewegung” (Guitaristic Movement) which he had co-founded at the turn of the century, was too international for the regime. The movement had brought international guitar virtuosi like Andrés Segovia from Spain to Munich. At Hauser´s home in Bayer Street 33 the pioneer of the classical guitar was searching for a guitar he could play in big concert halls without amplifier. Hauser, whose father had gained fame as a ducal zither manufacturer, had been tinkering for 15 years when he presented the so-called “cover patent”. The surface tension of the wood makes the guitar sound fuller and more solid. Today Hermann Hauser III, born in 1958, builds about 17 guitars a year. It takes one year for a guitar to be completed. “The corpus in winter, sizing and gluing in spring and so on”, says Wildner. Music companies with bags of money have been knocking at the door trying to buy the brand Hauser, but the family have refused any offers. It takes some six years until you can hold a commissioned Hauser guitar in your hands. There are no priviliges. In the SZ of November 7, 1961, there´s this notice: Even the Persian shah´s wife has to abide by the time of waiting. By Marco Eisenack SZ (Southern German Newspaper), Aug 9, 2005