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 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 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 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 :

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 worked like Salomon, such as : J-N Leclercq.

Nicolas -Augustin CHAPPUY (1730-1784) Born in 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. Mozart had composed his violin concertos in 1775 and Beethoven wrote his in 1806. The concert halls will get bigger and the amount of musicians in the orchestra will increase. We can well imagine that Viotti will urge the violin- makers to remodel the instruments to make them more powerful and will also push F-X TOURTE, the famous bow-maker to modernize the bow. The neck of the instruments get thinner and together with the angle, they will be standardized with specific proportions, and the instruments will from then on be considered as “modern”. It’s for all these reasons that in Paris during this period, there will be many new violin-makers who will appear such as Panormo, Fent, Renaudin, Bassot, Aldric, Pique, and later especially NICOLAS LUPOT, who was the most talented of all.

Vincenzo-Trusiano PANORMO (1734-1813) A real globe trotter of his time. Was born in Italy in 1730. We think he worked as an apprentice with Bergonzi, then worked in Turin, then in Marseille and finally settled in Paris in 1760. He could have travelled on to work in London but came back to work in Paris, before going back to live the rest of his life in London. While he was in Paris, his work was definitely French in style.

François FENT We are not sure whether he was German or English. But we do know that he lived in Paris from 1765 to 1791, rue Montmartre, near the rue du Mail. He was a very skilled violin maker and will, with Renaudin be the precurser of the evolution of the French violin making. He was much inspired by the Stradivarius model and his instruments are especially appreciated for their sound qualities.

Leopold RENAUDIN (1749-1795) Was born in Mirecourt in 1749, and comes to Paris in 1773. He worked in rue St Honoré in 1774 and will become the official supplier of the Academy of Music. During the French Revolution, he will be part of the revolutionnary judges and will actually end up guillotined in 1795.

Jean-François ALDRIC (1765-1843) Was born in Mirecourt in 1765 and settled in Paris in 1785. He died in 1843. His work was inspired by Nicolas Lupot and one can sometimes be mistaken between the two, only a few tiny but significant details can enable to recognize each one.

Joseph BASSOT (1750-1808) Was born in Mirecourt in 1738 and died in Paris after 1808. He was one of the most talented violin maker of his generation. His first instruments date back to the beginning of the 1770's. He will then decide to make his models bigger and will be inspired by the ones by Stradivarius.

François-Louis PIQUE (1758-1822) Was born in Roret, next to Mirecourt in 1758. He was an apprentice of Saunier in Mirecourt and the moved to Paris and will become supplier of the Paris Conservatory of Music. In 1778, he will move his workshop to rue Platrière, a few years later, he settled rue Coquillère and finally settled on 52 rue de Grenelle St Honoré. He will retire from business in 1816 and will die in 1822. His violin making was outstanding not only for the making itself but also for the elegance and final touches. Around 1792/93, he was in contact with Nicolas Lupot as proved by several letters between them.

One can line out different periods in the work of François-Louis Pique : 1)1785/90 very personnal work of Pique

2)1791/1794 a period of collaboration with Nicolas Lupot ( as mentionned in the letters) 1) After 1795/1816, very regular work . NICOLAS LUPOT (1758-1824)

He was born on December 4th 1758 in Stuttgart and was the son of F. Lupot, also violin-maker. He was 10 years old when his family left Stuttgart to settle in Orléans. He will start learning with his father in Orleans, probably around 1770 until 1775 and then he will officially work with him. 1n 1782, he marries Catherine Devreau and will leave his fathers’ workshop to start up his own in rue d’Illiers in Orleans. 1n 1794, he leaves for Paris and the next 4 years are rather vague.

Let me just remind you of the French history during this period : Louis the Sixteenth dies in 1793. 1794 is the devastating Terror and in 1795, the State is totally bankrupt. In 1797 we find Nicolas Lupot settled in 539, rue Grammont. He is making instruments but does not yet have any honorary title. The French Revolution will enable the creation of the Conservatory of Music in 1795 and this will help Lupot make himself known.

A famous violinist Pierre GAVANIES, son of the violin-maker François Gavanies, had become the Director of the Paris Conservatory of Music and will commission Nicolas Lupot to make several instruments. From this time on, he will become more and more famous and will finally be named in 1820 the official violin-maker of the King’s Chapel and the Royal School of Music (French King Louis the Eighteenth was on the throne since 1815 when Napoleon was exiled).

The golden age for his violins will be from 1800 on. He will have 3 important pupils and apprentices who will later become talented Master luthiers : Charles-François Gand, named Gand Père, Auguste Sebastien Bernardel, named Bernardel Père and Pierre Silvestre. Nicolas Lupot will die in 1824 at the age of 66.

This date is the start of the young and talented violin maker Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume who will give a brilliant start to the famous French violin making of the 19th century. But that is another story !