SOUNDPOST
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LETTER of the MONTH
WEIRD AND WONDERFUL
An example of Antoni Hybel’s distinctive violins
In 1903 Polish violin maker, sculptor and painter Antoni Hybel (1872–1946) attended the School of Wood Industry in Zakopane, Poland, studying sculpture. He applied for a science scholarship, which was not permitted by the Austrian Ministry of Science. He also studied painting in Kraków and Vienna. After 1911 Hybel lived in Ropa, Poland. Among other places, his works were presented in Warsaw and Berlin. The most popular of them was the Polish violin with a ‘winged’ soundpost –a group of interconnected elements combined into one soundpost, which is movable but does not fall over. It is inserted into the instrument before it is closed and cannot be removed.
From 1924 Hybel’s instruments were a sensation and created headlines such as ‘Polish violin –a triumph of mastery’, explaining that the ‘new winged soundpost’ provided completely new sonic possibilities.