W. Moennig 3d, crafter of violins
Tue, Mar. 02, 2004
By Gayle Ronan Sims
www.philly.com
William Harry Moennig 3d, 73, owner of one of the most prominent
string-instrument shops in the world - Jascha Heifetz, Isaac Stern, Itzhak
Perlman and other famous musicians sought his services - died Thursday of
non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
Started by his grandfather, William Moennig & Son Ltd. at 2039 Locust St.
has been a Philadelphia institution since 1905. But that does not do justice
to Mr. Moennig's pedigree in the world of classic string instruments. He was
born to a family that has crafted violins for 13 generations, here and in
Germany, dating to 1633.
His son, William IV, continues the family tradition.
A soft-spoken, self-effacing man, Mr. Moennig was destined for his work.
With an early interest in history and fine arts, especially painting, "it
just fell into place for me," he said in a 1982 Inquirer interview.
The half-brother of actors Blythe and Harry Danner, Mr. Moennig grew up in
Springfield, Delaware County, and on the Main Line.
"My brother was a Renaissance man," Harry Danner said yesterday. "He painted
all the murals on the walls at the old Springfield High School." (Mr.
Moennig graduated from there in 1948.)
"He was an expert sailor, won an award from the Smithsonian for a diorama he
made, and was a walking encyclopedia on the history of everything," his
brother continued. "He was brilliant."
Mr. Moennig regularly was quoted in Sotheby's catalogs to verify rare
instruments. He aided the FBI and Interpol in investigations of fraudulent
verification and in identifying stolen string instruments worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars.
Mr. Moennig got his early training in the shop. After serving Stateside in
the Air Force from 1948 to 1951, he studied with the masters in France,
Germany, Holland, England and Italy in the early 1950s. In 1954, he joined
the family business.
The shop has an old-fashioned look with its dark wood and, hanging in glass
cases, violins, violas and cellos in warm shades of beautiful wood from
tawny to dark brown.
On the walls are photographs going back 70 years of major string soloists -
Fritz Kreisler, Mischa Elman, Efrem Zimbalist, Gregor Piatigorsky and others
- bearing affectionate expressions of gratitude for the care and workmanship
given their instruments.
His wife of nearly 30 years, Mary M. Zahn-Moennig, said he had perfect
pitch. "My husband, who resembled Sean Connery, had beautiful, slender
hands," she said. "They were capable of magic."
In addition to his wife, son, half-brother and half-sister, Mr. Moennig is
survived by daughters Katherine and Pamela Moennig Taplinger; one
granddaughter; his mother, Katharine Danner; and his former wife, Mary
Crouse DeBaufre, to whom he was married from 1952 to 1971.
Services will be private.
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