Vieux Paris » School

Presentation by Jean-Jacques Rampal at AFVBM Biennial General Meeting, May 2010 THE « VIEUX PARIS » SCHOOL UNTIL NICOLAS LUPOT INTRODUCTION Until the reign of Henri the Fourth (started in 1589), there is near to no mention of the making of musical instruments in the French history but at the end of the 16th century, there is a document which does prove that this art was becoming important in France even though it does not give many details on the violin making itself. In the year 1599, the makers of musical instruments are subject to the general corporations’ regulations and certain specific regulations are added for them by the King : to be part of the corporation of the “Masters of the making of musical instruments of the City of Paris”, one must do a 6-year apprenticeship and achieve a masterpiece and also have the certificate of good character and moral. It is forbidden to all those who have not succeeded in becoming a Master to follow this profession. These regulations were reconfirmed by letters patent of 1681, signed by Louis the Fourteenth. But what was the importance of violin-making in the Europe of the 16th and 17th centuries ? In Italy of course, it was very important especially in Brescia with Gasparo da Salo and Paolo Maggini, and in Cremona with the Amati family and then towards the end of the 17th century with Antonio Stradivarius who was already at the pinnacle of his art. Medard Family In France, the first French violin-makers came from Nancy. The Médard family for example with François Médard who is supposed to have worked in Cremona in the Stradivarius work-shop, and Jean and Nicolas who were good workers. They all worked until the beginning of the 18th century . Jean CHRISTOPHLE d'Avignon This violin maker worked probably in Avignon in the second half of the 17th century. We have here an example of a viola which belongs to the Muséee de la Villette, dated 1695. In 1715, Louis the Fourteenth dies and his great grand-son, future Louis the Fifteenth is only 5 years old. During the Regency and the youth of Louis the Fifteenth, there will not be much interest in music. It’s during this very difficult period that the school of “Vieux Paris” appears with several violin-makers of which Bocquay, Pierray, Véron and later Grosset who will live and work in difficult conditions. JACQUES BOCQUAY (1680-1730) He was born around 1680 and arrived in Paris around 1700. He got married in 1711 and will settle in a modest shop in 1713. It's around 1725 that he leaves this shop which is now too small to open a workshop on rue de la Juiverie, which was one of the most commercial streets of Paris in those days. This will enable his activity to develop and thus to employ several workers of which Antoine Veron. Without reaching the wealth that he deserved, he will die on May 19th 1730, leaving a widow, a young daughter and a prosperous workshop. 7 months later, Antoine Veron will be in charge of the workshop and will soon marry the Bocquay widow. CLAUDE PIERRAY It is generally said that he is the main personnality of this Ecole de Vieux Paris His date of birth is unknown but we do know that he died in 1729. 2 documents have been found regarding Pierray : - his apprenticeship contract - the inventory after his death which states that he was not married and without any family. He lived in the company of his housekeeper. His workshop was located in the Rue des Fossés St Germain des Près. He does not seem to have had any wealth but lived only for his job and his instruments. He made mostly violins and cellos. It is interesting to note that there is the same evolution between his model in relation to the ones of the Medard family or J-C d'Avignon and the evolution in Italy at the same time between Stradivarius and certain venetian violin makers. Pierray was most certainly influenced by the Italian school, like most of the Parisian violin-makers at the time, especially in the cutting of the FF’s or the soundholes which strongly look like those of Amati. The varnish is generally an orangey brown or a reddish brown, quite thick and crisp. Pierre VERON (1690-1730) Brother of Antoine Veron, had opened an atelier in Paris and will also die in 1730, leaving a widow and 4 children. 9 months later, another violin maker Pierre François Grosset, probably a companion of Pierre Veron, will marry Pierre Veron's widow... I wonder which violin maker will marry my wife after my death... Pierre ou Paul-François GROSSET ( -1756) He was the apprentice of Claude Pierray. He marries the widow of Pierre Véron in 1731. He continues the work of Véron but with a lot of difficulties and will die in 1756 without any money and leaving the poor widow with the same problems as before. As you can see, these artisan violin makers had a lot of financial difficulties and often led a miserable life. LOUIS GUERSAN (1700-1770) With Louis Guersan, it will be a professional and commercial success ! After 1740, the French King Louis XV (the Fifteenth) will start to be interested by arts and crafts in general and music in particular. Violin makers like Guersan, Salomon and others, will be able to progress in this more positive climate. Louis Guersan was born in Paris around 1700 and was the half brother of Jacques Bocquay (through his mother). The start of his life was very modest. He marries a Mrs Lecuyer in 1725 and will be able to settle in 1730 in the elegant area facing the Comédie Française of the time, rue des Fossés St Germain des Près. He has a big house and will lodge not only his own large family but also 2 orphan girls who will later marry 2 violin makers (Mr Benoit Fleury and François Lejeune). In 1754, he is named the Master Violin maker of Monseigneur the Dauphin, son of Louis XV and father of Louis XVI. His wife will unfortunately die, but he remarries 3 years later and will continue to lead a prosperous life and business until his death in 1770. Pierre SAINT PAUL (1714-1749) Married the widow of Louis Guersan, but will die at the age of 35 and will not make many instruments. Benoit FLEURY (1719-1792) Was very close to the Guersan family as he married one of Louis Guersan's nieces and will settle in his own workshop after being Guersans apprentice. During the same time period lived another famous Parisian luthier : JEAN-BAPTISTE SALOMON (1713-c.1772) Was born in Reims (capital of the Champagne country) in 1713, son of a violin maker, he will settle in Paris with his wife around 1740. She will die in 1748, so he will marry the widow of another violin maker. He will transfer his workshop to Place de l'Ecole and business will do well as proved by the fact that 6 boys will work for him. He will continue working and prospering until his death after 1772. His work is a bit heavier than that of Guersan. Several other luthiers worked like Salomon, such as : J-N Leclercq. Nicolas -Augustin CHAPPUY (1730-1784) Born in Mirecourt in 1730, he moves to Paris around 1750, but will return to Mirecourt around 1770. He's one of the rare 18th century French violin makers to go back to work in his birth place. He had a brother also called Nicolas but who will sign Nicolas AINE. Joseph-Nicolas LECLERCQ Born in Mirecourt, will settle in Paris around 1760, in one of the privileged dependances rented out by the 15-20 Hospital. In parallel to Guersan and Salomon, other independent violin makers Andréa Castagneri,Joseph Gaffino and Louis Lagetto were italian and chose to live in Paris Andréa CASTAGNERI (1696-1747) and Joseph GAFFINO (1720-1786) Of Italian origin probably in Piemont Andéa Castagneri arrived in Paris in 25 years old man and he started working in Paris from 1732. He was married with the sister of Joseph Gaffino. Naturelly Joseph Gaffino came from Italie later to Paris and began by working in the Castagneri's workshop. This collaboration lasted few years. After the Castagneri's death he bought his stock and later he settled independantly. LOUIS LAGETTO He was also of Italian origin and would have come to work in Paris around 1750 in Rue des Saints Pères. I cannot give you all the names of the other violin makers who worked in Paris during this period, but it's interesting to notice a typical french style on their worker. The French School will considerably change at the end of the 18th century, with the outburst of the French Revolution, and for mainly 2 reasons : - First of all, the suppression of the corporations, which will take place in 2 stages : in 1770, the community of professions is forbidden, and then in 1791, the corporations are abolished along with their rules which were sometimes too rigid and prevented innovation and the comparing with other techniques. - Secondly, the evolution of the shapes of the instruments with the imitation of the Italian violins of Stradivarius and Guarnarius especially, as well as a new way of working on the sound of the instruments. It is also important to talk about the music world at the time, and Paris was able to hear the virtuoso violinist VIOTTI who gave his first concerts around 1782.

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