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Scan 557
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910
24 lines. Read by computer on 10 September 2026. Printed page 499. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHANOT
3was born in 1787 at Mirecourt in France. He entered the army as an engineer under the Empire, but quitted it after the Restoration. Returning to Mirecourt, he made special studies on the construction of the violin, and ultimately built one which deviated considerably in form from the accepted pattern. Believing that, in order to make every part of the instrument partake equally of the vibrations of the sound, the fibres of the wood should be preserved in their entire length, he considered the corners and curves of the outline as so many obstacles to the propagation of the waves of sound, and accordingly gave his violin a pear-shaped form, resembling that of the guitar. The belly he made quite flat, and left out the sound-post altogether, on the ground that it merely served to break the waves of sound, while in reality it transmits them from belly to back.
5This violin (if one may still call it so), the only one Chanot ever made, he submitted to the authorities of the Institut de France. After having been examined by a committee of eminent men, both scientific and musical, and tried against instruments of Guarnerius and Stradivarius, it was pronounced not inferior in quality to the violins of these great makers. ('Rapport de l'Institut,' in the Moniteur, August 22, 1817.) It is difficult to account for this decision, which experience quickly proved to be a complete delusion, as all instruments made after the new pattern turned out of indifferent quality. A brother of Chanot's, a violin-maker at Paris, for some time continued to make violins of this kind, but was soon obliged to give it up. This endeavour to improve upon the generally adopted pattern of the great Italian makers, resulted, like all similar attempts before and since, in complete failure. Chanot died at Brest in 1823.
7P. D.
9CHANOT, GEORGES, brother of François, was born at Mirecourt in 1801, came to Paris in 1819, and, as stated above, worked with his brother for a time in making violins of the 'Chanot' model. In 1818 he began to work for Clément, and in 1821 for Gand, whom he left in 1823 to set up for himself. After several changes of address he settled in 1848, on the Quai Malaquais, where he remained until his retirement from business in 1872. Georges Chanot was an admirable maker of violins and a skilful repairer. Madame Chanot, his wife (née Florentine Démoliens), was also a violin-maker, and is probably the only female one known to fame. She made several violins with her own hands, worked assiduously with her husband at his trade, and died leaving him a widower some years before his retirement. The violins of G. Chanot command high prices (£80 to £50).
11E. J. P.
13CHANOT, GEORGES, junior, born 1831, son of the last named by Madame Chanot, the female violin-maker, learnt the trade from his father, and in 1851 left Paris for London, where he worked for several years with Maucotel. In 1858 he set up for himself, and was known for many years as one of the best workmen in London, gaining gold medals at various exhibitions, including the London Inventions Exhibition, 1885. He died in 1895. His eldest son, G. A. Chanot, of Manchester, is an excellent violin-maker. His second son, F. W. Chanot, is also a violin-maker, but is better known as a publisher of violin music. His business in Wardour Street is carried on by his third son Joseph Chanot, an artist-craftsman who fully sustains the reputation of the family, and specially excels in making and adjusting bridges and sound-posts.
15E. J. P.
17CHANSON. The French chanson, derived from the Latin cantio, cantionem, is a little poem of which the stanzas or symmetrical divisions are called 'couplets.' Being intended for singing, the couplets are generally in a flowing rhythm, and written in an easy, natural, simple, yet lively style. As a rule, each couplet concludes with a repetition of one or two lines constituting the 'refrain'; but the refrain is sometimes separate, and precedes or follows the couplet, in which case it may be a distich or quatrain, or even a stanza, of different rhythm from the rest of the song. The history of the chanson would involve a review of the whole history of France, political, literary, and social. Suffice it to say here that all modern songs may be classed under four heads—the 'chanson historique'; the 'chanson de métier'; the 'chanson d'amour'; and the 'chanson bachique': four divisions which may be traced in the ancient poets.
191. The historical songs may be subdivided into four classes, sacred, military, national, and satirical. The sacred songs include the 'cantique,' the 'noël,' or Christmas carol, the 'hymne,' and also the 'complainte,' or lament, and the 'chanson de solennités politiques,' composed to celebrate an accession to the throne, or other public event. The 'cantatas' performed on state occasions by other nations took their origin from these 'chansons de solennités.' The national songs of France are entirely modern. [See HENRI IV., VIVE; MARSEILLAISE; DÉPART, CHANT DU; PARISIENNE, LA, etc.]
212. The 'chansons de métier,' like the 'chansons militaires,' were originally merely cries. (Kastner, 'Les Voix de Paris.') Of all the popular songs, these professional chansons are the fewest in number, and the least interesting both as regards words and music.
233. On the other hand, the 'chansons d'amour' are innumerable and well worth studying. In them the French poets exhausted all the resources of rhythm. The 'lai,' an elegiac song, accompanied by the rote, harp, or vielle (hurdy-gurdy); the 'virelai,' turning entirely on two rhymes; the 'descort,' in which the melody, and sometimes the idiom, changed with each couplet;
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