Das Fechten mit der Stoss- und Hiebwaffe in sportlicher und moderner Auffassung by Leopold Targler

Like many of the books I have presented on the blog, this latest addition to my library is a book which has been largely neglected by history. The 180-page Das Fechten mit der Stoss- und Hiebwaffe in sportlicher und moderner Auffassung ('Fencing with the thrusting and cutting weapon in a sportive and modern conception') was written by Leopold Targler, and various external sources date it to 1913 (as well as a previous owner of this particular copy, who wrote this year on the inner title page). Curiously it was published in the relatively small town of Arco in Trentino, which was then part of Austria-Hungary.

***Scans***

The book's author was well respected in his local Viennese scene at the time of publication, serving as for several years as the president of the Akademie der Fechtkunst, an Austrian organisation which certified civilian fencing masters founded by Luigi Barbasetti in 1904, as well as teaching at the Fechtklub Friesen and the Wiener Sportklub.

An excellent article on his career written by Maciej Łuczak and Michael Wenusch was published in the December 2018 issue of the American Historical Review, so I invite readers to consult this for full details. In summary, Targler was born in Gattendorf, Austria in 1865, and graduated from the Wiener Neustadt school in 1890. He later studied under Luigi Barbasetti, and after many years in Austria he began teaching at the military fencing school in Poznań (Poland) in 1922. Although he only stayed here until 1925, his impact on the local scene was significant and long-lasting, particularly for his role in introducing the Italian method to this region. He returned to Vienna in 1925, and in the year following Austria's annexation by Germany in 1938 he became a member of the Nazi Party. He died in February 1945.

Leopold's daughter Elisabeth or 'Elsa' Targler followed in her father's footsteps and became a fencing master in 1910. At the time of this book's publication, she taught alongside her father at the Wiener Sportklub as well as assisting Luigi Della Santa at the Wiener Fechtklub. A photo of her in the lunge is used as figure 3 in this book, between pages 8 and 9. Like her father, Elsa was a continuous supporter of the Nazi Party throughout the 1930s and 40s.

The influence of Barbasetti is clear throughout Targler's book, with the sabre material in particular being structured in a very similar manner, with the molinelli preceding the invitations and engagements, followed by the blows and parries. From here there is some evidence of Hungarian influence in Targler's 'cut-parry-cut' exercises, first seen in Károly Leszák's 1906 treatise Kardvívás. Just seven photos are placed throughout Targler's book, but an interesting novelty can be found at the very end in a single fold-out plate approximately 70cm in length, containing motion-capture images of Targler performing a lunge and recovery with the foil, a head cut with a lunge in sabre and a recovery from the same. It is interesting to note how Targler withdraws his arm all the way back behind the head prior to giving the cut, in a manner very similar to the coupé described in Del Frate's texts.

Although Targler's method shows many unsurprising similarities to Barbasetti's, a clear deviation is his preference for a somewhat low and semi-retracted guard of 3rd as opposed to the standard Radaellian 2nd. This is even more pronounced in the foil section, which shows a guard position more similar to the French school than the Italian. On the final page Targler mentions the texts he used as references for his own work, which are the foil book by Rudolf Brosch, Barbasetti's sabre treatise, and Josef Bartunek's Ratgeber für den Offizier zur Sicherung des Erfolges im Zweikampf mit dem Säbel.