zither
Object
Accession Number
992.023.001.001Description
A Menzenhauer-brand Guitar-Zither, model No. 2, made of wood and metal, the black lacquer finish over a six-sided wooden carcass rectangular in shape, the top corner cut-off on the diagonal, the centre front with a 6.3 cm diameter circular opening bordered with an elaborately patterned decal of repeating floral design coloured in sage green, red, purple and yellow, below this a horizontal banding (29.5 cm L X 3.5 cm H) of machine-printed decal with letters and numbers on a yellow background, the front top left corner bearing another decal in a banner shape with the manufacturer's name outlined in yellow and two pink flowers, starting on the left are four vertical sets of four metal strings, from the middle to the right are fifteen single metal strings, one end of each string attached at the bottom with a screw and covered with a bar of wood, the other end of the string threaded through a square shaped metal tuning-peg, the interior floor of the instrument supporting a label with a black background and white machine-printed lettering of the selling agents name, "James Traynor, Chicago", and a promotional advertisement, "Agents Welcome, patent date, May 24, 1894".Narrative
This guitar-zither, also known as a chord-zither, is a noteworthy item in the Craigdarroch Castle Collection primarily due to its history of use. The zither was a popular item in late 19th Century European and North American households. Below is a description of the instrument and its varieties edited from a Wikipedia entry on March 26, 2020:"The word Zither is a German rendering of the Greek word cithara, from which the modern word "guitar" also derives. Historically, it has been applied to any instrument of the cittern family, or to an instrument consisting of many strings stretched across a thin, flat body – similar to a psaltery. This article describes the latter variety.
Zithers are played by strumming or plucking the strings, either with the fingers (sometimes using an accessory called a plectrum or pick), sounding the strings with a bow, or, with varieties of the instrument like the santur or cimbalom, by beating the strings with specially shaped hammers. Like a guitar or lute, a zither's body serves as a resonating chamber (sound box), but, unlike guitars and lutes, a zither lacks a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty.
In modern common usage the term "zither" refers to three specific instruments: the concert zither (German: Konzertzither), its variant the Alpine zither (both using a fretted fingerboard), and the chord zither (more recently described as a fretless zither or "guitar zither"). Concert and Alpine zithers are traditionally found in Slovenia, Austria, Hungary, France, north-western Croatia, the southern regions of Germany, alpine Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Emigration from these areas during the 19th century introduced the concert and Alpine zither to North and South America. Chord zithers similar to the instrument in the photograph also became popular in North America during the late 19th and early 20th century. These variants all use metal strings, similar to the cittern."
Here is a link to an audio-visual performance on a zither similar to Craigdarroch's example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyHd4rDUd5g
History of Use
This zither was bought new by the Bossi family of Victoria, BC and stayed in the family until it was donated to Craigdarroch by long-term Castle Society member Anita Mary Amelia Bossi (1903-1998). Her father, Calvin Andrew Bossi (1866-1951), arrived in Victoria from northern Italy in 1889 to manage the general store owned by his brother, Carlo Bossi.In 1894, Calvin Bossi married Louise Caroline Schnek and they had three children: Olga Julia Louise (1895-1984); Alfred Louis (1901-1978); Anita Mary Amelia (1903-1998). None of the children married. The two sisters played this zither and kept it at their home at the corner of Quadra Street and Inverness Road, which their father and brother built for them. The Misses Bossi both taught at nearby Cloverdale Elementary School. They were also former students of Victoria College at Craigdarroch Castle.
Their father's cousin, Vincent Louis Bossi, was one of the 55 men, women, and children killed in the famed Point Ellice Bridge disaster of May 26, 1896. The poorly-maintained bridge collapsed under the weight of a heavily-loaded streetcar. For details, see: https://pointellicehouse.com/point-ellice-bridge-disaster/ (last accessed April 7, 2023).
The Italianate-styled brick house built in 1884 by Bossi family patriarch Gianfranco Bossi still stands at 1007 Johnson Street.
