Scan 256
Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians Vol. 3, 1925
14 lines. Read by computer on 12 September 2026. Printed page 216. See the scan on archive.org.
1Andreas Amati), of Claude Trevillot, and of Jean and Nicolas Médard, who held appointments at the Court of Louis XIV. These were all clever craftsmen, who built their fiddles with reverential love for their art, and now worthily head the list of notable names connected with the Mirecourt violin manufacture. The nine members of the Vuillaume family, including the great Jean Baptiste, were all born in Mirecourt. Claude Vuillaume, the first known violin maker of the family was born there in 1625. (He married a daughter of François Médard of Nancy.) Six members of the family lived and died as violin makers in Mirecourt, two settled in Paris, and one in Brussels. The brothers François and George Chanot, Simoutre, Lupot, and his pupil Auguste Phillipe Bernardel, Caillot, Maucotel, Miremont, Rambeaux (who settled first in Paris and later returned to Mirecourt) and his successor Menehard; Voirin the bow maker and many other familiar names all belonged to Mirecourt. Owing to the ever-increasing demands for cheap instruments, especially of the violin type, the market value of individual work has greatly diminished all over the world, consequently Mirecourt makers, like others, have been forced to content themselves with making imitations, at moderate prices and working for the wholesale manufacturing houses. The largest manufacturing firm in Mirecourt is that of Mons. Thibouville-Lamy, who employs over 5000 persons, sends out yearly about 40,000 instruments, has a manufactory for strings at Grenelle, another manufactory for brass instruments at La Couture, and trade branches in Paris and London. A little before 1867 Mons. Lamy became sole proprietor of many of the various manufactories in Mirecourt, and by substituting mechanical for manual labour greatly reduced the cost of making a violin. In 1873 he was awarded a medal at the Vienna exhibition for his remarkable 4s. 8d. and 16s. violins. Since then he has received medals in Santiago, Philadelphia, and a gold medal in London in 1885. He was made Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur, April 10, 1877, and Officer, Jan. 15, 1892. Other manufacturing firms are: Paul Bailly, who has branches in London and Paris; Coutureux & Heroux (established in 1850 by N. Coutureux) who manufacture cheap bows also; L. Gaspard & Co.; Laherte Humbert Frères; Lété, a good guitar maker; and Paul Mougenot, an individual maker of talent, whose son G. Mougenot of Brussels is responsible for a recent pamphlet entitled The Mercury Stradivarius (Brussels, 1892).
3Mirecourt to-day is undoubtedly the greatest emporium of cheap musical instruments in existence, but besides this it is an excellent school in which many talented amateur and professional makers have been instructed. (Le Comte A. de Pontecoulant's Organographie; Heron-
5Allen's Violin making as it was and is; Hart's The Violin; Von Lutgendorff's Die Geigen-und Lautenmacher; Haweis's Old Violins.) E. H.-A.
7MIREILLE. Opera in five acts; words by M. Carré (from Mirèio, a Provençal poem by Mistral), music by Gounod. Produced at the Théâtre Lyrique, March 19, 1864. Reduced to three acts, with the addition of the waltz, and reproduced Dec. 15, 1864, at the same theatre. In London, in Italian and five acts, as Mirella, at Her Majesty's Theatre, July 5, 1864. G.
9MISERERE. The Psalm, Miserere mei Deus, as sung in the Sistine Chapel, has excited more admiration and attained a more lasting celebrity than any other musical performance on record. Its effect has been described, over and over again, in sober Histories, Guide-books, and Journals without end; but never very satisfactorily. In truth it is difficult to convey in intelligible language any idea of the profound impression it never fails to produce upon the minds of all who hear it, since it owes its irresistible charm less to the presence of any easily definable characteristic than to a combination of circumstances, each of which influences the feelings of the listener in its own peculiar way. Chief among these are the extraordinary solemnity of the service into which it is introduced, the richness of its simple harmonies, and the consummate art with which it is sung; on each of which points a few words of explanation will be necessary.
11The Miserere forms part of the service called Tenebrae, which is sung, late in the afternoon, on three days only in the year—the Wednesday in Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. [See TENEBRAE.] The Office is an exceedingly long one, consisting, besides the Miserere itself, of sixteen Psalms and a Canticle from the Old Testament (sung, with their proper Antiphons, in fourteen divisions); nine Lessons; as many Responsories; and the Canticle, Benedictus Dominus Deus Israel. The whole of this, with the exception of the First Lesson, [see LAMENTATIONS] and the Responsories, is sung in unisonous Plain-song; and the sternness of this ancient music forms the most striking possible preparation for the plaintive tones which are to follow, while the ceremonial with which it is accompanied adds immeasurably to the intended effect.
13At the beginning of the service the chapel is lighted by six tall candles on the Altar, and fifteen others, placed on a large triangular candlestick in front. Of these last, one is extinguished at the end of each division of the Psalms. The six altar-candles are put out, one by one, during the singing of Benedictus. The only light then remaining is the uppermost one on the triangular candlestick. This is removed, and carried behind the altar, where it is completely hidden from view, though not extinguished. The chapel is by this time so dark
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