Archive

More detailed information about stringed instruments and the history of violin making.

Hopf: a dynasty of Vogtland violin makers

On the history of industrial factories in Mirecourt

International violin making competitions: Ente Triennale Cremona, Concours Etienne Vatelot, VSA competition, Mittenwald violin making competition and other contests

The end of violin making in Klingenthal

Contemporary violin makers: the modern artisans

Cremona: the early Lombard history of violin making

The end of the great instrument-making companies in Mirecourt

1/2 - French half violin. Mirecourt approx. 1900

This French 1/2 violin is a beautiful and rare childrens viola after a well-proven Stradivari model, with a body length of 31.3 cm that features sound properties appreciated by many jung musicians. The reddish-brown varnish is very transparent and shining, and as the characteristically shaped scroll it expresses the old 1/2 violin´s provenance from the well-known violin making town of Mirecourt in the Vosges mountains, where it was presumably built in the workshops of Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy (J.T.L.), approx. 1900. The attractive mild flaming of the two-piece back determines the character of the instrument, that is completed by interesting traces of use on the table. They indicate that the 1/2 violin was played by good young musicians who knew the higher ranges very well. The violin, which is in ecellent undamaged condition, was worked over thoroughly in our atelier and is offered ready to play, a special recommendation for its warm, dark, resonant and deep sound.