Junge mit Tuba (Boy with a Tuba)

A work by Guido Messer

Learning to play a musical instrument is a time-consuming business. "It requires a whole lot of hard work and perseverance, as well as the courage to brave the attempt, so it deserves respect," says Guido Messer. This is just what the sculptor wants to express with his work "Boy with a Tuba" – a small boy endeavouring to master a large instrument.

This bronze figure serves as inspiration for the students of Waldenbuch's School of Music, where it was installed to mark the school's inauguration in 1991. The figure of the boy sitting on a stone wall with his tuba blends in well with the little square next to the School of Music. This was one of the reasons for deciding in favour of the statue, says Susanne Götz, head of the School of Music and a member of the decision-making committee in 1991 for the competition, in which several artists took part. They were looking for a sculpture that would be an eye-catcher without taking up too much space on the small square. And an eye-catcher it certainly is. Waldenbuch's inhabitants like the sculpture. "The children climb all over it and think it's nice. And many of those visiting the castle also stop and take a closer look at it," Susanne Götz observes.

Only on closer inspection can one see, for example, the filigree reproduction of the instrument's mechanism. "For a work of this kind bronze is the best material. Iron would be too brittle, bronze has more elasticity," says the sculptor, explaining his choice of material.

Guido Messer, born in Argentina in 1941, lives and works in Korb, though he also has a workshop in Italy. It took him around half a year to complete the figure. Parts of the work were carried out in Italy. For the figure of the boy his then 8-year-old son posed as a model. In 1991 the sculpture "Boy with a Tuba" cost 68,000 marks, of which well over half was donated by the Kreissparkasse Böblingen's art foundation.