Norwegian bassist who became leading acoustics researcher
The double bassist and acoustics researcher Knut Guettler has
died at the age of 70. A successful performer and teacher, he spent
the last decade of his life focusing on the science of
stringed-instrument acoustics.
Born in Oslo in 1943, Guettler joined the Oslo Philharmonic at the
age of 22, and later became an alternating principal double bassist
with the orchestra. After nearly 30 years, he left to perform music
in theatres, but continued to teach bass at conservatoire-level. He
taught at the Oslo Conservatoire from 1967 to 1973, and at the
Norwegian Academy of Music from 1973 to 2009. He was also a guest
teacher at the Royal Conservatory of the Hague in the Netherlands
from 1986 to 2009.
Guettler began studying the physics and acoustics of instruments
after reading Lothar Cremer's book The Physics of the Violin
in 1986. He published the first of many scientific papers on the
subject in 1992. Among the topics he addressed were the creation of
Helmholz motion in the bowed string, playing harmonics, how rosin
affects sound, and the contact between double basses and the stage
floor.
He wrote a textbook for bassists, A Guide to Advanced Modern
Double Bass Technique, which appeared in 1992. He also composed
and arranged music for theatre and radio, and his Variations on the Tune 'Greensleeves' has
become well-known among bassists.
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