Dietrich Kessler

John Dilworth

KESSLER, Dietrich Born 1929 Zurich Switzerland, d.2006 London UK. Trained at the Swiss Violin Making School at Brienz under Adolf König. Worked for Arnold Dolmetsch Ltd. in Haslemere, UK, later moving to Albert Arnold Ltd. in Charing Cross Road with Cyril Jacklin until that business closed in 1955. From 1955 to 1969 he worked freelance for the Withers shop in Wardour Street, London, succeeding to Stanley Withers on his retirement. In 1987 he sold the shop (which continued with the Withers name under Adam Whone) and worked from his home in North London. From an early period specialised in viol making, building a commemorative viol for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 1953. At Withers kept up production of viols of all forms and sizes, developing a particular interest in the then underestimated English school and acquiring a fine collection which still bears his name (now in the Royal College of Music, London). He was the first to distinguish and describe the 17th century English manner of building, using several staves of bent wood to fashion the arched front of the viol; a technique he subsequently adopted very successfully in his own work. Instruments made 1969-1987 bear the Withers label. Dietrich M Kessler of Zurich No.6 / London 1953 Dietrich M. Kessler / No. 250 1993