Martina Rosenberger

Martina Rosenberger is a master goldsmith, songwriter, musician and researcher living near Munich, Germany. She is a specialist in the waldzither, a German form of the cittern.

She began learning the basics of the waldzither from her father in 1983. Her father died the following year, leaving her his waldzither. Her interest in the instrument was rekindled in 2000 when she started making music for her children. At this time she also embarked on a long-running research project on the waldzither, including information about music, teaching materials, teachers, and makers. In 2001 she contacted Prof. Andreas Michel, of Leipzig, a leading cittern expert. She was consequently invited to the international cittern conference held in Michalestein the same year.

In 2002 she began looking for contemporaries of her father (he began learning the waldzither in the 1930s), conducting many interviews about playing techniques and history. She published her first book - Waldzither Puzzle I: The Waldzither in Germany in the 1930s - in 2003. This book documents the origins and historical circumstances of the German Walddzither in the 1930s in Middle-West-Germany. She interviewed her father's contemporaries about their personal relationship to the waldzither, which was the musical basis for an entire generation. That year she also began to plan and to organize the first German Waldzither Conference, in cooperation with the Arms Museum in Suhl, Thuringia, Germany. She eventually organized three such conferences, attracting cittern specialists and amateurs from all over Europe.

She made her debut as a songwriter in 2004, the year in which she also began doing research into the C. H. Böhm company of Hamburg. She accepted a personal invitation from Portuguese guitar virtuoso Pedro Caldeira Cabral to attend a cittern meeting in Dresden in 2005, when she also began the planning and organization for the 2nd German Waldzither conference. That same year she also began work on a Waldzither tutor in cooperation with the Thuringian music school, and she published her second book - Waldzither Puzzle II – The Waldzither at Hamburg. This book documents what people had told her in her first book through clippings, copies of old instrument catalogs and photographs of rare instruments. The conclusion reveals a new connection between Portuguese instruments, founded with the special historical background of the city of Hamburg by the clever merchant and luthier C. H. Böhm.

In 2006 she attended the opening of the 1st exhibition of Krienser Cittern, Switzerland, making new contacts with instrument specialists. She was invited, along with Petr Louis Gjip and Doc Rossi, to speak and perform at the Encontros Internationais de Guitarra Portuguesa, the International Cittern Conference at the University of Coimbra, where she gave a paper about the historical connection between the Hamburger Waldzither and the Portuguese guitar. She also premiered a Fado-style song in English. She planned and organized the 3rd German Waldzither conference, which was held in 2007.

Publications

Waldzither Puzzle I: The Waldzither in Germany in the 1930sItalic text (self-published 2003, Eigenverlag, 96 pages, 210 x 270mm,  colour-digital printed, written in German.)

Waldzither Puzzle II – The Waldzither at HamburgBold text. (self-published 2005, Eigenverlag, 52 pages, 210 x 270mm, colour-digital printed, written in German.)