Past Hirtory, Thanks to Chicago Becker Shop:
The Becker family story begins in Germany the 1800s with Herman Macklett (1834 – 1884). An upholsterer by trade and violin maker by avocation, he was the first to show an interest in making violins.
Macklett immigrated to the United States and was a talented furniture upholsterer. He met Elizabeth Kahlert, whose brother made violins. Herman and Elizabeth moved to downtown Chicago to run a violin and upholstering store–Herman making instruments and Lizzy rehairing bows. Making violins from the 1860s-1880s, Herman would ultimately make about 150 violins, and they are a rare find these days.
Elizabeth Kahlert-Macklett
Unfortunately, The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 destroyed their violin shop. They rescued the most valuable violins by stuffing them into large grain sacks and carrying them across the Chicago river. We currently have a few Herman Macklett violins in our collection.
Herman and Elizabeth had 5 children. One of their children, Adeline Macklett (1865 – 1959) was a well-known pianist. She would later marry a recent German immigrant, Carl Johannes Becker (1858 – 1921), a violinist and teacher.
In Germany, he attended the Stuttgart Conservatory, as well as studied under Edmund Singer and Joseph Joachim. Carl J. became a successful violin teacher, performer, and even concert master. In his lifetime, he became associated with leading professional organizations such as the Bismark Gardens Orchestra, the Chicago Civic Opera Orchestra, and Turner Hall Orchestra.
Carl G. Becker
Adeline and Carl J. had a son, Carl G. Becker (1887 – 1975), whose active career spanned 73 years and encompassed every facet of the luthier’s art. After graduating grammar school at age 13, he apprenticed under a music store owner, William T. Lane, and made his first violin at 14 years old. Soon after, he began to work with Lyon and Healy, under the direction of John Hornsteiner. Once Hornsteiner opened his own violin shop in 1908, Carl G. joined him.
In 1924 he accepted an invitation from William Lewis & Son, a leading Chicago violin dealer, to become master luthier and instrument appraiser, with the understanding that they would allow him to spend summers up in Northern Wisconsin to make instruments…and to fish.Carl G. Becker
Carl G. Becker
Carl G. married Elsa Toenniges, a pianist. One of their sons, Carl F. Becker, continued the family tradition of violin making.
Carl F. Becker (1919 – 2013) apprenticed for William Lewis & Son after graduating from high school in 1937. He worked there, under his father’s supervision, and quickly established a solid reputation for restoration. He was entrusted with the task of restoring a violin that is thought by many musicians to be the world’s finest: the “Lady Blunt,” a 1721 Stradivarius.
In 1941, he was called into the military service to fight against Nazi Germany in World War II. He ranked second in his Company in rifle marksmanship, with the rating of Expert Rifleman. He was selected, as one of eight men from his Company, for appointment to Officer Candidate School. Carl F. was a First Lieutenant and although he entered the Air Force Reserve with the rank of Captain, he later advanced to the rank of Major.
When he completed his tour of duty, Carl F. rejoined his father at the bench of William Lewis & Son in 1946.
Then, in 1968, Carl G. and Carl F. formed Carl Becker and Son.
Carl F. continued repairing and crafting instruments into his late 90s. He and Geraldine Smetana had 4 children, with 2 continuing the tradition of violin making.
From the Wall Street Journal !!
Following a family tradition that he worked to perfect, Carl Becker became one of the most acclaimed violin makers of his time.
Symphony orchestras around the world feature players who depend on Mr. Becker’s instruments, known for their bright, loud sound. Others are collected by wealthy amateurs.
Carl Becker BECKER FAMILY
“He was, in my opinion, the Twentieth Century’s outstanding maker of new violins, violas and cellos, as well as a meticulous restorer,” said Charles Beare, a London-based violin dealer. Mr. Becker died Jan. 30 at age 93.
Mr. Becker worked on some of the most famous Stradivari and Guarneri violins at his Chicago store, Carl Becker and Son. Mr. Becker was the son, having learned the craft from his father, a mostly self-taught craftsman who made his first violin in 1901. The family had already been in the violin business for two generations, but it was Carl Becker Sr. whose reputation spread as a master luthier.
Carl Becker Jr. learned the craft in his teens at his father’s workbench, making cello ribs and moving on to crafting whole instruments. After serving as a flight instructor during World War II, he turned down an airline pilot’s career and returned to the workshop. With his father, he produced about 500 instruments.
The elder Mr. Becker hated paperwork and for decades the father and son worked for another Chicago dealer. But in 1968 they opened their own shop, one of the few offering new instruments, valuable old Italian instruments as well as repair and restoration services.
By then, son had long surpassed father as the more acclaimed luthier. “Compared to this boy, I’m a shoemaker,” the elder Mr. Becker once exclaimed. Yet most of the Becker instruments were joint productions. Carl Becker Jr. on his own produced just 13 instruments, at an increasingly leisurely pace in recent years. But they were his best, his son Paul Becker, also a violin maker, says.
The family tradition continues with Mr. Becker’s son, his daughter Jennifer and two granddaughters, all violin makers and repairers.
Unlike his father, Mr. Becker left voluminous documentation of his methods, though his heirs struggle to organize it all.
“His workmanship is so meticulous and perfect,” said Peter Seman, a Chicago violin maker and president of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. “When you see them, that’s what you strive for.”
“Carl was a titan who wore his greatness lightly,” said Charles Rufino, one of many apprentices and assistants who trained with Mr. Becker over the years.
Mr. Rufino remembered visiting Mr. Becker at his summer workshop in Pickerel, Wis., where newly-varnished violins hung by their necks on the clothesline, drying in the sun and wind off Pickerel Lake.
A benefit of the summer workshop was Pickerel Lake, where Mr. Becker fished for muskie. He had recently applied to renew his pilot’s license.
—Email remembrances@wsj.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324906004578292242155388044