Books › Old violins and violin lore, 1900 › scan 108
Scan 108
Old violins and violin lore, 1900
14 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1VIOLINS IN FRANCE
3Spanish and French Courts, and perhaps the small demand for stringed instruments in France compared with the huge demand in Italy and throughout Germany.
5So there was a poor market as yet for French work.
7In Italy, in the luxurious little Duchies and Principalities, as well as in the churches, and in Germany in the small Electorates, each of which supported its band and gave an indirect impetus to the churches, Reformed and Roman Catholic, violin-making flourished, and so it came to pass that Italy and Germany made for all the world.
9The Cremona period in France can boast of but two considerable names, Jaques Boquay (1705–30) and Pieray (1700–25). Boquay worked on the early Cremonese model, which had already been left behind by the modified forms of Stradivari (1700 great period). His violins have not yet reached a high selling figure, but may possibly rise; they are by no means scarce; his varnish is reddish brown, transparent, warm and soft. He reverted to the Jerome Amati type, arching even a little more than Jerome.
11The quality of his tone is good, but it lacks power, which in these advanced days tells against him except for cabinet playing.
13Claude Pieray (1700–25) worked in Paris, and followed the later Amati contour, but he was far enough removed from the Cremonese influence to follow a line of his own. Whilst varying, some think capriciously, the thickness of his wood, and not always securing the best quality of wood, he varnished pale red, and
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