The Rosenberg FAQ Archive

---

Introduction

The current, or active Rosenberg FAQ page can be found here, or by following the link at the bottom of this page.

Chief Curator
Rosenberg Archive
Melbourne

The Rosenberg FAQs

---

Subject: Simon Greenozo
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2001 18:15:58 -0400
From: Bill Townsend
To: Rosenberg Archive

Do you know how to get ahold of this person, Simon Greenozo, that is
referred to in your website?

Bill

Subject: i have a question.
Date: Mon, 11 Feb 2002 17:38:48 EST
From: Hannah
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Sir or Ma'am,
              My name is Hannah, and I am in the 9th grade
at Quabbin Regional High School. I have to do a report on
the maker of my violin. It wasnt factory made. It was made
by a guy named Jan Kriml from Germany. I was wondering if
you knew anything about this maker or even when he lived.
It would be a great help.

Thank you very much.
sincerely,
Hannah

Subject: Rosenberg Archive site
Date: Sat, 4 May 2002 14:40:44 +0300
From: CEMAL SEVINCHAN
To: Rosenberg Archive

S.O.S.
I'm lookıng for a leftıe electronıc violın
sınce two years but could'nt fınd for to buy ...please help me how
can ı fınd it.
regards.

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 11:54:22 -0500
From: Dan McCracken
To: Rosenberg Archive

Hannah, did you ever learn anything about the Kriml violin? I have a
cello with the same maker and was wondering?

Thanks,
Dan McCracken

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 15:52:21 -0500
From: Eugene Wiggins
To: Rosenberg Archive

Hanna or Dan
My son is now playing a violin "handmade" by the same person - 
Jan Kriml.  I played it too, and my sister played it before me - this 
dates to .... circa 1972. 
Did you find out anything on this maker?  

Subject: Rosenberg info
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 17:17:54 -0700
From: "MMR" 
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Sir,
my great aunt Josephine (on the German side of the familly) always 
spoke with great affection about a certain hermaphrodite violinist who
was well known in the Chicago of the early 1920s. Quite a stage act 
according to my great aunt.
Can you help me track down a biography or something similar, or 
indeed any information would be most welcome.

yours in expectation,
Maria Magadalena Armena.

Subject: Rosenberg info
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 2002 17:25:34 -0700
From: J. Arthur Bloomberg
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Director,
I seem to have been wrongly informed as to ' his father, a former 
slave, who was an accomplished violinist'. I realize that you are 
trying to answer all serious enquiries and that your time must indeed 
be limited. BUT I would prefer no information at all than to be brought 
complete white  elephants, if not pink ones, on enquiries of such a 
delicate nature. I repeat ' a female boxing champion who studied with 
Czolgosz and took up violining only after exhibiting talent as a bomb 
maker under Malatesta'. I think the Italian connection to be 
quite specific, don't you?
 
yours distractedly,
J. Arthur Bloomberg

Subject: Islamic Violinists
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 17:45:09 -0700
From: J.Arthur Bloomberg
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Sir,
I am speaking as a member of the Society for Islamic Violinists.
 
 I understand that you have published (at the time of the last 
vicious attack on the mother of all oil fields) a particular volume
which enquires into the psychological nature and pathology of 
Saddam Hussein. According to one of my sources, you infer that 
Saddam's political statements are due to "he never having cut it 
as a violinist".
 
I find this accusation to be an outrageous slur and would enjoy 
seeing the entire original article posted on your Rosenberg Archive 
Web Site as soon as possible or before Bush 'Little Boots' do what 
his daddy done all over again.
 
yours always the optimist,
war correspondant for the Strad Magazine.
J.Arthur Bloomberg (the younger)

Subject: violin comics
Date: Sat, 28 Sep 2002 17:52:00 -0700
From: name withheld
To: Rosenberg Archive

I am an unhappy woman violinist looking for another violinist to 
add meaning to my life. I am a fan of the violin-playing master of 
comic, the late but surely great Jack Benny. Forgive me Jack. 
As you can presume, I was close to the great man. 
All ersatz violin comics will be answered most sincerely,
name withheld.
violin dates from the last century.
insured? yes

Subject: Judy Rosenberg
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2002 08:51:12 +1000
From: Margerite Pepper Productions
To: Rosenberg Archive
 
Dear Sir,
    It has come to our attention that an important 
composition by Judy Rosenberg has recently been
discovered on the West Coast of America by Dr. Alan 
Strange. He refuses to admit any knowledge about this find. 
He also suggested writing to you for further information.
What are you hiding there in Melbourne?

    The Rosenberg public has a right to be told what 
is going on. I shall be visiting your other research centre in 
Slovakia next month, and I assume some relevant answers 
to be made clear before I buy my ticket. At this late stage of 
Rosenberg research, for a complete composition from
the pen of Judy to be found is nothing short of disturbing. 
AND I am disturbed greatly at not being informed. As you 
know many compositions for violin are requested by our 
clients on a regular basis.
 
yours sincerely,
Marguerite Pepper

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2002 20:58:13 -0500
From: "hubiehse"
To: Rosenberg Archive

Eugene
My mother-in-law won a violin by this maker and she was 
wandering the value and history of this Jan Kriml.
 
Did you find out anything?
 
Thanks,
Karen

Subject: Greenday
Date: 3/12/02 1:20:15 AM
From: B. Gibson
To: Rosenberg Archive

My son has a band. They play alternative and classical rock mostly. My 
daughter plays violin, and wants to play with her brother's band. I notice 
that there are a lot of popular songs in this catagory that use the 
violin............ but there is no music out there for it. Example: you can 
buy guitar tabs or music for songs from "Greenday" But not the violin parts. 
Do you have any idea where I can find this type of violin music? Worse yet, 
she has asked for it from Santa! Please help!

B. Gibson 

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - Greenday
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 12:57:16 EDT
From: Violinchef9
To: Rosenberg Archive

HI there . 
I am Adam from Kentucky and all the advice anyone can realy 
give you on a matter concerning the violin is to have a discusion 
with your daughter about not choosing to view her instrument in a 
"classic " or "traditional " role. 
I know it is hard to do but tell her that she needs to justify herself 
by practicing and learning the songs herself, as her talents go her 
ear will get better and she will be "shredding" all the pop and punk 
she wants. (not to mention she will be the envy of all her peers -not 
just her brother-) The thing is, she may go through a few fits of 
anger at herself and her instrument (I know I did when I was trying 
to learn from ear) but it does get better. 
Well, good luck in child rasing and I hope you know you will have 
to beat the boys off of your daughter when she gets older. (every 
boy in a band will fall for a girl with a violin.)(that was a joke to 
lighten the mood, not serious) 

Subject: Rosenberg info
Date:  Wed, 18 Dec 2002 09:50:41 -0500
From: EKDavenp
To: Rosenberg Archive

Can you tell me about violins made by Jan Kriml

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Tue, 14 Jan 2003 22:33:27 -0800
From: JOLANTA JONCZYK
To: Rosenberg Archive

Happen to be I have also Jan Kriml violin.  Wonder if is worth anything?
Jolanta

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 15:13:30 -0500
From: "Jesse Kamien" 
To: Rosenberg Archive


I also own a violin whose label reads Genuine Jan Kriml Made in Germany.
It is a beautiful handmade violin with a now antique, but formerly antiqued
finish.  It seems to be too nice a violin to be a cheap one.

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 20:46:02 EST
From: judynrose
To: Rosenberg Archive

How long ago did your mother-in-law win the Jan Krilm violin, 
and was it new then? 
Rose 

Subject: geopolitical psychoacoustics FAQ
Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2003 18:06:12 EST
From: Filipe
To: Rosenberg Archive

is the Saddam Violin, the one at the Mother of All Museums, a weapon 
of mass destruction? if so, can it produce an ultra-high-wavelength, 
infrasound frequency that could disintegrate certain americans (GW 
Bush, etc) while leaving others (Eugene Chadbourne, etc) unharmed?
Could the soundwave also disintegrate Saddam himself in the process?
(I'm assuming Bush and Saddam have the same resonant frequency.) 
Could the reverb of such a sound get to the UK and do some work on 
Tony Blair?

best wishes

Filipe (amateur utopian)

Subject: Saddam violin
Date: Thurs, 27 Feb 2003 22:46:02 EST
From: sammi
To: Rosenberg Archive

The holy Saddam violin has long been thought to have mystical powers. 
According to legend, it will "sing in eternity for those who have lost 
their voices to the son of Satan". 

This has been taken as a reference to the subversion of democracy in the 
United States by a small coterie of oil interests, fronted by George 
Bush Jr (cf the Florida vote counting scandal etc). As the story goes, 
the violin will sing "one mournful note for each" of the voices silenced, 
and that this will precede the demise of evil. 

Attempts by musicologists to investigate the Saddam violin in light 
of recent events have unfortunately been hampered by those events.
Any connection between the singing and the demise of evil on the one
hand, and an ultra-high-wavelength infrasound frequency that could 
disintegrate certain americans on the other, is yet to be established.

sammi

Subject: Rosenberg info
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2003 09:37:51 -0600
From: "John Neilson" 
To: Rosenberg Archive

I have a cello made by Kriml and have found nothing about 
this man or his instruments.  Let me know if you find anything I
would appreciatte it.
John

Subject: Saddam violins
Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 09:21:32 +1000
From: Tariq Ali
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Infidel,
you western dogs better start taking the Saddam Violin seriously. This is a 
pivotal moment for violin music. The violinists of Saddam are going to melt 
into the masses in all the lands of the infidels and just when you think 
that your pitiful world is safe from violin music, we will suddenly emerge 
from the shadows playing faster, harder and better than ever before and we 
will send you and your doggy handlers all to hell. You have been warned.
Tariq Ali

Subject: greenday
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2003 19:16:30 +0100
From: "Melissa Barker"
To: Rosenberg Archive

i know somebodies already asked this, but were can you find violin 
music for the rock band Greenday?
 
thancks, Melissaa Barker

Subject: greenday
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 13:01:52 EDT
From: Violinchef9
To: Rosenberg Archive

Have you tried just writing the bands fan club? 
That would work better than asking all us unhip violinist and 
neo-virtuos. 
adam the hill jack 

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2003 14:27:14 -0400
From: Rod Sturdivant
To: Rosenberg Archive

I too have a Jan Kriml violin – anyone find out about it?

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2003 02:47:55 -0800 (AKDT)
From: kjmusic (fiddle dude)
To: Rosenberg Archive 

i  just  obtained  a  jan  kriml  4/4  violin  bow  ..  it  is  in
great  shape  &  i  would  like  to  know  about  the  maker  ....  and
approx.  price  range  (  it  came  with  the  fiddle  )   ....  any
help  would  be  greatly  appriciated  ..  thank  you  .... Keith

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Mon, 18 Aug 2003 09:12:19 -0600
From: "Brian Allred"
To: Rosenberg Archive 

I am interested in any information about Kriml or his instruments.  
I own a cello made by him and would  appreciate any info.  Thank
you.
Brian

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 22:11:37 -0700
From:  "Chris" 
To: Rosenberg Archive 

Anyone know anything about Jan Kriml????
Thanks, Chaney

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - Greenday
Date: Sat, 6 Dec 2003 00:30:04 +1100
From: "Terry Kratzer"
Organization: RMIT
To: Rosenberg Archive 

B. Gibson,
I was wondering if you ever found a place to get the violin music 
to greenday? i have been looking for ages and cannot find any 
sites containing it. 
Thanks

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - Greenday
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 13:02:38 EDT
From: Violinchef9
To: Rosenberg Archive

WRITE THE BAND NOT A VIOLIN MUSEUM

Subject:  Rosenberg info
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:53:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Dave Wakefield 
To: Rosenberg Archive 

I am interested in any info about Jan Kriml. I have an
upright made by Jan Kriml, and have been able to find
zero iformation about him or his products. The label
on the inside says "Genuine Jan Kriml - Made in U.S.
Occupied Germany" So, the only thing I can infer from
this is that it was made in the German zone the U.S.
occupied after WWII, putting this between 1945-1949.
Anyway, thats all I know and was wondering if anyone
would be able to add to this . Thanks.

Dave Wakefield
Cincinnati, OH

Subject:  Rosenberg info
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2004 09:53:17 -0800 (PST)
From: Edward Sidehall
To: Rosenberg Archive 

Dear Sirs,

on the points raised by mssrs Wiggins and Wakefield:

1. The Kriml violins differ from the majority to such an extent
that the omission of all reference to the differences gives a 
distorted view.  Statements made about them, or any other
branch of the upright family, are not necessarily true of 
all Krimls.

2. Violins 200 miles away are also by Kriml, as stated
in the texts referred to.

3. If the boards and the upright were not made to order, it 
is unlikely they are relied upon as records or the owners 
would not part with them.

4. The boards cannot be written records in any accepted
sense, because it is not possible to understand every 
symbol  without instruction from the individual who drew
it. My information is that the boards are temporary aids
to memory used only for teaching the more difficult parts
of the violin, and then not by all.

The writers give no indication that any enquiries
have been made except in 'Kriml' areas. Such enquiries
would have added complications, but would also have 
shown, for instance, that the principle informant, Mujah, 
is neither unique nor known elsewhere, and that the 
treatment of the upright is peculiar to Kriml.

I agree with the authors that violin history is in danger of
extinction and must be recorded; but I maintain that this
is so precisely because it has so far been preserved
by memory and word of mouth, and not by any visual
system. I fear that the account will be lop-sided and 
untrue if it concentrates exclusively on a minority of
uprights and attaches too much importance to the boards.

Edward Sidehall
University of West Cambridge

Subject: Rosenberg info
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2004 13:13:37 EST
From:  PEPPINOTHEBARBER
To: Rosenberg Archive

hello, 

my friend has a violin without any date on it. 
but it does say: "mother of sorrows orchestra", "genuine jan kriml",
"made in germany" 
do you know of anywhere that could help him find the value of this? 
please write back                                      thank you, peppe 

Subject: Rosenberg info
Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2004 15:45:32 EST
From:  Percival Lake (OBE)
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Sirs,

I wish to enter the debate referred to by Mr Sidehall, previously, on 
the relative importance of the boards and uprights in the kriml strings
and in doing so perhaps offer some inital comments on what these
contraptions may be worth, given the level of interest in the matter
among your esteemed correspondents.

Common sense informs us that modification of the uprights can 
serve only one purpose, namely to support the bridge - "and is 
therefore a determining factor in archaeoviology" (my emphasis). 

Correspondingly, a recent search of the former GDR patents office 
has revealed patent no 28-1142 (now owned by Exxon Mobil), a 
kind of super-bridge that was mounted on most krimls of the period. I 
attach a detail from the patent documents showing the revolutionary 
new type of cello bridge, which was later miniaturised to fit the 
p-series violins.



Clearly, the relationship between the bridge and boards holds the 
secret to these instruments, being responsible for their peculiar 
tone, while the uprights have only a perfunctory structural role
to play.

The immediate postwar demand for these bridges - "with or without
violin" - has made them a rare commodity indeed, and may give your 
readers an indication of what they are, in fact, holding.

yours in scholarship,
Percy L (OBE)

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2004 17:27:58 EST
From:  Ratroll
To: Rosenberg Archive

I have Jan Kriml Violin in a case with it's Bow. I'm trying to 
find out it's worth. It's at least 25 years old, and my dad had
it stored away all this time. 

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 12:53:04 -0500
From: Hines, Jeffrey
To: Rosenberg Archive

I have one also.  I've searched a while and no one seems to have 
heard of it.  Its about to become kindling since I have several others. 
Take Care

Subject: Rosenberg FAQ - i have a question
Mon, 19 Apr 2004 12:54:56 -0500
From: Hines, Jeffrey
To: Rosenberg Archive

Check this link out. They have a Kriml for sale, not much.

www.starvingmusician.com/pages/subpages/band/1.htm

Subject: paganini......thanks for the helping hand into history for me
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 03:01:42 EDT
From: Violinchef9
To: Rosenberg Archive

you 
jon rose (or is it rosenberg) 

I don't care 
I don't want anything from you anyways..... 
just the pretence that something on the other end is at least programed 
to respond! 

I have visited your site under many names (as I have had to ajust my 
internet access with my cash flow and provider services) but I never
found more than the Paganini as what I always went bask to. 
Each time I went with out it , .....well , that was what I missed the most. 

I hope you are not shut down by the american gov . here because I 
would miss the site dearly....... (but to be warned, the saying goes
what? something about a man in the bush?) 

I made my first violin using pie pan resonators the last week but when 
I took it to the music shop up the street they did not seem to like it to 
much, (some did somew didn't ) anywho. I hope to come to see the town 
of Violin when I am old and near death , maybe I will bring my nazi 
violin wih me ........ (inside joke for me only) 

well well 
to whom ever has the trouble of proofffffing these shity things for you
I wish all the luck in pleasing your over stimulated master ....(s?) 

P.S. thanks Jon Rose for the inspiration to throw my sheet music back 
in it's case when I get bored and just play what I am affraid to in 
public.... I will remember you for that if nothing else....or to all of you 
(i also like the trumpet guys , I used to do that when I was young and 
didn't understand money and culture placement back when ...) 

Subject: Re: Paganini
Date: Sat, 1 May 2004 19:51:58 EDT
From: Boris Van Weingarten
To: Rosenberg Archive

Dear Sirs,
thank you for your mail regarding pie pan resonators. 

I have written to Jozef Cseres who is the curator at The Rosenberg
Museum, Slovakia. There are indeed a some pie pan violins in the 
collection. Quality is variable as they seem to have been made in 
the early 1970s when high grade pan metal was unavailable in 
communist countries. Apparently, there is one in a terrible state of 
repair and the museum is unsure of how to reconstruct it. Maybe 
you could help in this matter. 

I have forwarded your letter to our Melbourne office, where we are 
collating letters on violin design and metal detectors.

Jon Rose is currently engaged in fence research in central Australia, 
so I have taken the liberty of replying to you on his behalf. It is an 
extremely busy time for us now what with Slovakia joining The 
European Union and all that means for the Rosenberg Museum. It 
seems that EU directives require regular violins to be  2.5 cm shorter 
than the traditional East Block models. It has caused chaos here. As 
you can imagine, shortening the 67 Slovakian folk fiddles down to the 
new dimensions in time for the EU enlargement was, how do you say 
it, 'a real drag'.

Please excuse my concern but I notice from your letter too, a certain
trait known to us here as 'The Paganini Paralysis'. I do suggest you 
keep a close watch on this. We have known this condition to 
mushroom into full blown 'Paganini'. The museum, however, is able 
to offer some simple on line treatment (takes a while to down load 
but it is surely, as all good things, worth the wait)

sincerely,
Boris Van Weingarten

I would also draw your attention to the new publication on line 'The 
Genetic Tendency in  Violin Music by Dr. Willy Orwig - quite a 
meisterwerk!