An unusual instrument for experts
14.11.2025,
This baryton, which belonged to the Bavarian Elector Max III Joseph, is an unusual instrument from the time of Johann Sebastian Bach. Joseph. He was famous for his viol playing. The viol-like instrument was built in 1745 by the "Electoral Court Lute and Violin Maker" Johann Andreas Kämbl in Munich.
The baryton has additional resonance strings that are not bowed or shortened, but resonate through vibration transmission. The instrument shares this principle with the violas d'amore, which are presented in the same display case in Room 88 of the Bavarian National Museum. The special feature of the baryton compared to these is that the resonating strings, which run under the fingerboard, can be plucked from behind through an opening in the neck with the thumb of the gripping hand - which requires the highest level of skill.
While Bach used the viola d'amore prominently as an accompanying instrument in the "St John Passion", he is not known to have written any compositions for baryton. However, the somewhat younger Joseph Haydn is known to have written at least 160 works for this instrument for his master Prince Nikolaus Esterházy from 1765 onwards, for which Esterházy was apparently even more enthusiastic than Max III Joseph.
