History of French Bow Making in Mirecourt

A bow is crucial to stringed instruments. Without it, every note would have to be pizzicato! For  professionals, choosing a bow is as personal as choosing an instrument.

However, bows were not always considered as important  as they are today. In the beginning of lutherie, they were an afterthought, and most early bows were hastily constructed by violin makers.

The future of bow-making changed in the small city of Mirecourt in the eighteenth century. Located in the Northeast Vosges region of France, Mirecourt drove innovation in bow-making and influenced French archetiers from the Baroque period to the modern day.

The Beginning of Bow-Making in Mirecourt

It is uncertain how lutherie arrived in Mirecourt, but by the mid-seventeenth century, the art form was already thriving. Mirecourt was a part of the duchy of Lorraine up until the mid-eighteenth century, and ducal patronage allowed the arts to flourish. From the available records, we know that there were at least fifty violin makers operating in Mirecourt in the 1600s.

By 1732, the Mirecourt luthiers were numerous enough to establish their own guild. The guild established strict quality controls for instruments, which encouraged Mirecourt’s violin makers to develop their skills to the highest possible level.

The increased international trade of the 18th century gave Mirecourt luthiers two other important edges in the industry: the city’s role as a commercial center in France and access to quality Pernambuco wood from Brazil.

Around this time period, bow-making began to assert itself as its own craft. Records from 1756 reveal archetiers appearing for the first time as their own profession in Mirecourt. Although bows remained anonymous and were not stamped with their maker’s brand, bow-making was finally stepping into the limelight.

The Man Who Changed Bow-Making: François Xavier Tourte

Although bow-making had been establishing itself as its own discipline over the course of the 18th century, François Xavier Tourte “le Jeune” (1748-1835) truly put bow-making on the map.

Tourte was born in Paris, but his influence on bow-making as a whole, and therefore on Mirecourt, make him a worthy addition to a discussion of the city’s history.

Tourte began his career as clockmaker, but around 1774, he switched to bow-making. He often collaborated with his brother, Nicolas Leonard, and by 1800, he had established his own workshop.

Tourte drove the innovation of bow-making as its own art form. Responding to changes in violin-making and playing techniques, his bows unlocked new colors in an instrument. Tourte lengthened the sticks, created a concave shape, and added screws and ferrules. The results were the first truly modern bows.

Musicians quickly became Tourte’s biggest advocates. His bows were a favorite of Giovanni Battista Viotti, whose powerful playing made a sensation in Paris. When Viotti’s students became faculty members of the newly founded Paris Conservatory, they cemented Tourte’s place in history.

Shaping the Mirecourt Style: Étienne Pajeot, Dominique Peccatte, Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, and François Nicolas Voirin

In the 1820s, the Napoleonic Empire was crumbling, and the dust of the Revolution was settling. France was forced to find a new path forward. At the same time, Mirecourt bow-making also entered a new phase: Tourte’s model began to soften and give way to a new model pioneered by Étienne Pajeot (1791-1849).

This creative Mirecourt archetier kept close tabs on Parisian trends, and he was unafraid to explore new styles and techniques. Pajeot’s experimentation led to shifts in bow construction, namely using metal to reinforce fragile areas of the frog. His high standards of craftsmanship and scrupulous choice of materials ensured exquisite bows, even across his considerable output. Several major archetiers, including Nicolas Maire, Claude Joseph Fonclause, and Nicolas Maline, received training in Pajeot’s workshop.

While Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (1798-1875) is remembered first and foremost as a luthier, he understood the importance of bows and encouraged the young archetiers in his atelier. He influenced Jean Pierre Marie Persoit and went on to employ the next major player in Mirecourt’s bow-making history: Dominique Peccatte (1810-1874).

Like Tourte, Peccatte did not begin his career as an archetier. His first apprenticeship was as a hairdresser, but in 1826, Peccatte took a job at Vuillaume’s Paris workshop. He eventually went on to work for François Lupot, alongside other notable bow-makers such as Joseph Henry and Pierre Simon, and took over the atelier upon Lupot’s death. Peccatte also provided mentorship to the founding member of a Mirecourt luthier dynasty, François Xavier Bazin. In 1847, Peccatte returned home to Mirecourt, where he divided his attention between his atelier and the family vineyards.

Peccatte combined his teacher, Persoit’s, style with the Tourte model to create uniquely powerful and beautiful bows. Influenced by Romanticism, composers at the time were expanding their orchestras and exploring more emotional extremes, and Peccatte’s bows were the perfect choice for the new style.

François Nicolas Voirin (1833-1885) led the next shift in Mirecourt bow-making, and he was so influential that he earned the sobriquet, “the Modern Tourte.” The son of a Mirecourt organ builder, Voirin was also Jean Baptiste Vuillaume’s cousin, and he received training at both Vuillaume and Jean Simon’s workshops. While working for Vuillaume, Voirin produced intricate “picture bows,” which featured a tiny portrait of Vuillaume in the eye of the frog.

When Voirin opened his own atelier in 1870, he developed his own mature style. Voirin’s bows are light, elegant, and delicate, in contrast with Peccatte’s more robust model. They are admired for their sensitivity and agility. Voirin’s bows proved especially popular among the blossoming amateur salon culture of the 19th century and, like Tourte before him, he was supported by the faculty at the Paris Conservatory.

Similar to his mentor, Vuillaume, Voirin’s workshop provided a training ground for a whole generation of archetiers, including Charles Husson I, Joseph Lamy père, Charles Peccatte, and Louis and Claude Thomassin.

Belle Époque Bow-Making: Charles Nicolas Bazin, Eugène “Cuniot-Hury,” Émile François Ouchard, and Eugène Sartory

By the end of the nineteenth century, Mirecourt’s position as the center of French bow-making was well established. Voirin’s students enjoyed thriving and influential workshops, and his style dominated the market.

One of Voirin’s most influential students was Charles Nicolas Bazin (1847-1915). The son of archetier François Xavier Bazin, Bazin took over the family atelier at the age of eighteen after his father’s death from cholera. While he was initially trained in the Peccate style, Bazin began studying under Voirin and quickly adopted his teacher’s model. Bazin’s business flourished, and by 1900, his workshop was one of the most prominent in Mirecourt. Archetiers Jules Fétique, and Victor Fétique, Émile Auguste Ouchard, Louis Piernot, and Claude Auguste Thomassin all learned their craft from Bazin.

Eugène Cuniot (1861-1910), more frequently known as Cuniot-Hury, who struck a balance between his forefathers’ styles. He maintained Peccatte’s square head but added Charles Bazin’s rounded frog. Cuniot-Hury oversaw a large, thriving workshop that provided a training ground for major archetiers such as Alfred Lamy, Louis Morizot, and Albert Thomassin.

Starting as an assistant in Cuniot-Hury’s atelier, Émile François Ouchard (1872-1951), set the standard that led Mirecourt bow-making into the twentieth century. Ouchard took over Cuniot-Hury’s atelier after his employer’s death in 1910, and in 1923, he established his own equally successful workshop.

Ouchard’s contemporary, Eugène Nicolas Sartory (1871-1946), proved the apotheosis of Mirecourt’s bow-making traditions. He trained under Dominique Peccatte’s nephew, Charles, and Voirin’s student, Joseph Alfred Lamy père, and his early work also shows some influence from his relative, Joseph Arthur Vigneron.

Sartory opened his own workshop at eighteen years old, and his bows bring together the best of his training. Selecting only the highest quality materials, he created well-balanced bows prized for both their strength and their agility.

The story of Mirecourt bow-making is really the story of French bow-making. Although Paris remained the center of commerce, its bow market was dominated by transplanted Mirecourt makers, and the innovations made by Mirecourt archetiers drove Parisian trends.

Today, Mirecourt remains a vibrant center of violin and bow making. Modern archetiers of note who have made Mirecourt their home base include Jean-Pascal Nehr, Gilles Duhaut, and Ary France. When you take home Mirecourt bow, you are truly a part of history.