Always a women's instrument
A portrait of an instrument that is still not widely used today and is played almost exclusively by women.
Rosina Baumgartner-Bäbler worked in a Glarus textile factory to provide her three daughters with vocational training and found distraction in playing the Glarus zither. This social environment is typical of the Mittenwald-shaped board zither, which is only used in the canton of Glarus. The author of the new publication, Rosina's daughter Adelheid, grew up in this milieu: her grandmother (see picture), her mother, her godmother and many other working women were able to relax from their hard everyday lives with this 11-15-stringed musical instrument.
The one-hundred-page, simple and beautifully designed book records all the amateur musicians, their zithers and, where possible, their repertoire in old and many new photos and reports.
The history of the Glarus zither - this stringed instrument has been known since 1876 - cannot be written without acknowledging the achievements of Albin Lehmann (1924-1995) in Näfels. This bricklayer's foreman selflessly collected and restored old Glarus zithers in the 1970s. The free lessons he offered were attended by 55 people aged between 12 and 80. During these group lessons, ensembles were formed: Glarus zither duos, the zither trio "Stubete", the zither groups "Glarner Unterland", "Bergli" and "Alperösli" as well as - with one male member - the "Original Glarner Huusmusig".
The traditional Glarus zithers made by Alois Suter, Salomon Trümpy and Kaspar Dürst were no longer sufficient to meet the demand for good instruments: Charly Hofmann provided new Glarus zithers until his death in 1993; Herbert Greuter is still at work today.
The beautiful volume is accompanied by a CD documenting the Glarus zither in various, mainly private recordings. It is striking that this simple stringed instrument has not yet found any use in experimental folk music or ethnoclassical music and has remained a women's instrument concentrated in the Glarus region to this day.
Adelheid Baumgartner, Glarner Zither, 104 p., 80 photos, Fr. 30.00, Ortsgeschichstverein 8765 Engi, 2014, ISBN 978-3-85948-149-7
