It has bows, strings and is over four meters tall. Two musicians are required to move the bow which, in case you were wondering, is more than five meters long. A third man has to hold the strings pressed. Its sound? Grave, vibrating, and…underworldly, we might say?
Ekkard Seidl, a Master Luthier active in Markneukirchen (The hometown of Germany’s First luthier League, it had a thriving economy in the 1920s, mainly thanks to the music industry) is the mastermind behind the Franken-violin, which took 1700 hours, 15 luthiers and craftsmen to manufacture.
Even though its size is seven times the normal one, the proportions are consistent. Its range is three octaves lower than the one of its regular-sized counterpart. The violin weighs more than 130 kgs, while the bow alone is 15 kgs heavy: it requires the two musicians handling it to have lot of stamina, and coordination. Well, at least they can be spared the gruelling sessions at the LAT machines or at the shoulder press. Instead, they have to perform Stefan Koenig’s Rhapsody for the giant violin (Riesengeige) and orchestra.