Mittelrheinisches Musikfest in Trier program booklet
The Mittelrheinisches Musikfest, or Middle Rhine Music Festival, took place in May 1925. It was organized in Trier, Germany, in cooperation with the cities of Saarbrücken and Coblenz (since 1926 spelled Koblenz), and directed by Heinrich Klapstein.
The cover and the title page of the program booklet feature a typeface that was issued only a year or two before: Messe-Grotesk halbfett from 1923 is an extension to Messe-Grotesk-Versalien, a black all-caps design that was first cast in 1921. The series by the AG für Schriftgießerei und Maschinenbau in Offenbach/Main was concluded in 1927 with an inline version. In the 1930s, Berthold sold it abroad under the name Advertisement Grotesque.
The design by Albert Auspurg is characterized by diamond-shaped middle bars (in E, F, H), triangular forms (A, i), and descending diagonals (K, M, R, S). Note the compact capital umlauts in the stacked and justified setting on the cover, and the ligature for ck (but not for ch, although there was one) on the title page.
5 Comments on “Mittelrheinisches Musikfest in Trier program booklet”
I wonder if the designer was inspired by Ludwig Enders’ specimen for Messe-Grotesk which had a sample with the type stacked-and-justified within bold stripes.
Also, this sample from the same booklet.
On the other hand, this seems to be a style that evolved from the hand lettering, and stencil and wood cuts, of the Vienna Secession in which the basline and capline were emphasized.
It does strike a related tone! And the festival booklet was printed soon after the typeface came out. I have added our “similar to specimen” tag.
Here’s another, much later example in the same style, from a Berthold specimen. This one features a different typeface – their Block – but also mentions the city of Saarbrücken!