On the history of industrial factories in Mirecourt

An artisan's sense of accomplishment - at least professionally speaking - is not necessarily a question of achieving perfection with uniquely successful pieces, but often merely in finding a happy medium. With this thought in mind, Didier l‘Ainé Nicolas initiated a new era of violin making in his hometown of Mirecourt in the late 18th century. Rather than concentrate on premium instruments (which he was perfectly capable of crafting), he chose to create affordable violins with a powerful sound. The craftsman standards of these instruments were simpler, yet they still offered his clients the musical properties they sought. The national and international success he soon enjoyed confirmed his strategy: in 1802 he was the first instrument maker from Mirecourt to take part in an exhibition, and in 1806 he received a silver medal at a show in Paris. More important than these milestone dates, however, was the fact that in the later years of his life, his factory employed some 600 people, making his business the first large-scale operation of its kind in the tradition-rich town in northern France's Vosges mountains.

Nicolas was Mirecourt's local example of a change which slowly evolved in other European violin-making centres of the day. The customary form of the craft – an art which was never entirely abandoned – was still being passed from masters to journeymen, especially within the family. But alongside this tradition, mass production emerged as well, which met a constantly growing and widespread demand. A piecework approach to making instruments was soon followed by mechanically supported production, and while this did not guarantee excellent quality, it did yield reliable products and supplanted the individual work of a master with an identifiable and more marketable profile of an instrument series. Maintaining branch offices in larger cities, especially (and obviously) Paris, as well as international trade connections helped secure the sales of these musical instruments which were manufactured in huge numbers.

By no means was Didier Nicolas' factory the apex of the expanding industrialization of violin making, however. A look back on this period, which lasted into the late 1960s, shows that three main companies must be mentioned as the key figures which shaped French violin making and represented Mirecourt around the world: Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy and two family businesses, Laberte and Couesnon.

Next chapter: Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy – J.T.L.

Related articles in our information archive:

Introductions:

Mirecourt: the spacious home of French violin making

Biographies and company histories:

Bazin: the great name of Mirecourt bow making

Chanot: Savoir-faire - The Chanot family of luthiers

Couesnon: The third defining element in modern violin making in Mirecourt

Laberte-Humbert and Magnié: The Laberte family companies

Morizot, père et frères: the short history of a great family of bow makers

Helpful links:

In the Corilon online catalogue you can find selected masterpieces of the art of bow and violin making.